Zanzibar Adventures
Luckily Franko (the guy from the bus) did offer to show me to a cheap place, because Dar is crazy!! The matatu/ dalla dalla system is much worse than Nairobi's! Anyway his wife was waiting at the bus-stop with a Taxi (which they kindly insisted on paying).
It turns out that the place he showed me to was literally next-door to his house and they invited me round for dinner after a quick but essential shower!
Franko and Lucy (his wife) then insisted on taking me to see a concert, which didn't work out in the end - the band was 4hrs late and I was really tired!
The next morning, again on Franko's insistence, he showed me to the ferry dock, where we'd already missed the early one and had a few hours to kill. He showed me round the fish market then we ate some soup and chapatis then he left.
While waiting for the ferry I started talking to a Dutch couple - quite strange people. Like me they'd paid for the full VIP lounge on the 'slow' ferry (the man in charge refused to allow wazungu to buy anything else - he said to me: "Look, you can sit wherever you want on the ship my friend, but you still have to pay 20 USD!" )
When it was time to board they decided to sit on the roof deck, not the VIP lounge. It was fairly cool up there, but soon became way to crowded so I wandered round the ship in search of the lounge. VIP was much quieter, and cool with the AC so I stuck around. I sat next to a large group of backpacker type people. As it turned out, they weren't a group... There were 2 English guys (volunteers), 1 American ('traveler' - been on the road for 18 months, going through 52 countries!!) and 2 Dutch girls (volunteers/placement year of med-school), all about mid-twenties. They seemed interesting and, after the 3hr journey came to an end, we stuck together in search of accommodation - with the exception of the 2 Dutch girls.
Wondering the streets of stone town, we were struck by the noise (many cars, mopeds and most of all... generators!). Zanzibar has not had power for about 2 and a half months! The other thing that struck us was the sheer number of people selling the island hit song "Jambo Bwana" on CD, either alone, or in combination with weed and/or a Maasai necklace!
We ended up in a place called Manch Lodge which was marginally cheaper than the Annex of Abdullah (ok it was a lot cheaper, but I just love that name!). Thanks to some very poor mental maths skills on the part of the receptionist, we got a big discount and so we booked and paid for 2 nights there.
We then wondered the streets looking for the music festival. Unfortunately it turned out that the main festival had finished but at least we could catch the after-party, which was to held the next day on the other side of the island.
That night we ate at the famous seafood stalls selling pretty much anything that once moved in the ocean. We sampled things like: shark, marlin, kingfish, octapus, squid, baracuda... We also tried the famous Zanzibar pizza, cooked on the lid of a dustbin, which was delicious!! To wash it all down with we had someone squeeze us some fresh sugar cane juice with lemon and ginger. Good stuff.
We spent the next day wandering through the markets and relaxing on the beach about 10 kms from stone town. That evening we got a ride with some rasta guy to the party, partied on the beach until the music stopped, then went all the way back to stone town. Bumped into the Dutch girls there... this became quite a habit on Zanzibar.
We had to wake up early the next morning - checkout time was 10:00. Then we sat on the street until a cheap enough taxi thing came to pick us up! We drove back to the place the party had been (Jambiani) and found a nice cheap place. We stayed in Jambiani for two nights, then moved up to the very top of the island - Nungwi. This turned out to be a Swedish colony - even some of the locals spoke Swedish!! We stayed there for 3 nights (two of which I spent on the floor because Joel (the American) left to continue his epic trip and I'm a bit of a cheapskate!). We went to two parties there, both pretty much on the beach which was cool.
While there we also got to swim with some massive turtles at a natural aquarium thing.
One of the Brits, Andy, had studied marine biology at uni and apparently the best place to snorkel in East Africa was the Mnemba Atole, so after Nungwi we jumped on a dalla dalla down to Matemwe, just opposite Mnemba. We spent two nights there waking up early one morning to check out sunrise.
After a breakfast of fruit, chapatis and a fried egg, we set off to try the snorkeling. The colour of the water was crazy, just picture postcard material wherever you looked! Of course the snorkeling was amazing (being my second time, I now had something to go by!). Andy also explained how to make the pressure in your ears equalize, which means you can go as deep as you want without them feeling like they're going to explode! I think I saw pretty much everything I'd hoped to see (except a seahorse, Tom said he saw one though).
After Mnemba we jumped on a dalla dalla back to stone town, left our bags at some cheap guest house (Tom and Andy were gonna stay another night or two). Then we went to the docks where I bought a ticket for the overnight ferry back to Dar. Naturally I went for the cheapest option - what a mistake that turned out to be!
We then went round the markets for a couple of hours, ate at the seafood stalls again, then I jumped on the ferry and , about 2 hours later (which was 2 hours late), we set off.
The ferry was really just a cargo ship with a lounge with some benches bolted on the side as an afterthought. It was of course loud, uncomfortable and overcrowded. And hot! I tried to get some sleep, but even though I was sleeping on my bags, I kept waking up thinking someone was trying to steal something! We were just waiting in the harbour most of the night but could only get off the boat when the port opened at about 06:00. Saw nice sunrise in the harbour though... a nice end to a great time on Zanzibar!
By the way, there are more pics here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=385625&id=731815045&l=7f1eb74028
It turns out that the place he showed me to was literally next-door to his house and they invited me round for dinner after a quick but essential shower!
Franko and Lucy (his wife) then insisted on taking me to see a concert, which didn't work out in the end - the band was 4hrs late and I was really tired!
The next morning, again on Franko's insistence, he showed me to the ferry dock, where we'd already missed the early one and had a few hours to kill. He showed me round the fish market then we ate some soup and chapatis then he left.While waiting for the ferry I started talking to a Dutch couple - quite strange people. Like me they'd paid for the full VIP lounge on the 'slow' ferry (the man in charge refused to allow wazungu to buy anything else - he said to me: "Look, you can sit wherever you want on the ship my friend, but you still have to pay 20 USD!" )
When it was time to board they decided to sit on the roof deck, not the VIP lounge. It was fairly cool up there, but soon became way to crowded so I wandered round the ship in search of the lounge. VIP was much quieter, and cool with the AC so I stuck around. I sat next to a large group of backpacker type people. As it turned out, they weren't a group... There were 2 English guys (volunteers), 1 American ('traveler' - been on the road for 18 months, going through 52 countries!!) and 2 Dutch girls (volunteers/placement year of med-school), all about mid-twenties. They seemed interesting and, after the 3hr journey came to an end, we stuck together in search of accommodation - with the exception of the 2 Dutch girls.
Wondering the streets of stone town, we were struck by the noise (many cars, mopeds and most of all... generators!). Zanzibar has not had power for about 2 and a half months! The other thing that struck us was the sheer number of people selling the island hit song "Jambo Bwana" on CD, either alone, or in combination with weed and/or a Maasai necklace!
We ended up in a place called Manch Lodge which was marginally cheaper than the Annex of Abdullah (ok it was a lot cheaper, but I just love that name!). Thanks to some very poor mental maths skills on the part of the receptionist, we got a big discount and so we booked and paid for 2 nights there.
We then wondered the streets looking for the music festival. Unfortunately it turned out that the main festival had finished but at least we could catch the after-party, which was to held the next day on the other side of the island.
That night we ate at the famous seafood stalls selling pretty much anything that once moved in the ocean. We sampled things like: shark, marlin, kingfish, octapus, squid, baracuda... We also tried the famous Zanzibar pizza, cooked on the lid of a dustbin, which was delicious!! To wash it all down with we had someone squeeze us some fresh sugar cane juice with lemon and ginger. Good stuff.
We had to wake up early the next morning - checkout time was 10:00. Then we sat on the street until a cheap enough taxi thing came to pick us up! We drove back to the place the party had been (Jambiani) and found a nice cheap place. We stayed in Jambiani for two nights, then moved up to the very top of the island - Nungwi. This turned out to be a Swedish colony - even some of the locals spoke Swedish!! We stayed there for 3 nights (two of which I spent on the floor because Joel (the American) left to continue his epic trip and I'm a bit of a cheapskate!). We went to two parties there, both pretty much on the beach which was cool.
After Mnemba we jumped on a dalla dalla back to stone town, left our bags at some cheap guest house (Tom and Andy were gonna stay another night or two). Then we went to the docks where I bought a ticket for the overnight ferry back to Dar. Naturally I went for the cheapest option - what a mistake that turned out to be!
We then went round the markets for a couple of hours, ate at the seafood stalls again, then I jumped on the ferry and , about 2 hours later (which was 2 hours late), we set off.The ferry was really just a cargo ship with a lounge with some benches bolted on the side as an afterthought. It was of course loud, uncomfortable and overcrowded. And hot! I tried to get some sleep, but even though I was sleeping on my bags, I kept waking up thinking someone was trying to steal something! We were just waiting in the harbour most of the night but could only get off the boat when the port opened at about 06:00. Saw nice sunrise in the harbour though... a nice end to a great time on Zanzibar!
By the way, there are more pics here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=385625&id=731815045&l=7f1eb74028
Yeah I can see how annoying it must be going to africa to be rid of all the swedish and dutch people and still you meet them everywhere :P
ReplyDeleteBut dude it sounds AWESOME!! I envy the snorkeling! I will so keep following your blogg (gives me a good reason for procrastination if nothing else)
heheh I know they're everywhere!! lol thanks 4 the support though.. hope ur studies r going well that side!
ReplyDeleteAhh, the food market you visited is called Forodhani gardens, it is a great place to eat after a walk around Stone Town.
ReplyDeleteDO NOT GO TO ANNEX OF ABDULLA IN STONE TOWN ZANZIBAR
ReplyDeleteWe had the worst experience at this place. The guide at the harbour referred us to this hotel. Dirty room, poor beds with bedbugs! Service was really bad, when we refused to stay, they wanted to charge us USD10 per person as they claimed they have paid a commission to the guide who brought us. They refused to let us leave until I had to pay USD5 per person even when I am not staying there. When it comes to business and money, Zanzibar sucks, I'm never going back to this hotel which spoiled its name.