Zanzibar

Most people end their trip to Tanzania with a stop in Zanzibar. I started here.

I decided to stay for 4 days in Zanzibar on my way into Tanzania so I could reset my body clock a bit first. There is a 7 hours time difference from the east coast of Australia and Tanzania. Despite watching the sun rise and set for these 4 days, my body still woke up at 3.30am wondering where breakfast and lunch had gone! But it was awesome to watch the sun.

A cloudy sunrise. Early in the morning the beach is empty.

The main attraction for Zanzibar is spending time on the beach. Many hotels build way too close to the waters edge which is very disappointing. As a result the owners try to put in features to buffer the waves from destroying the walls of the hotel gardens. It made it quite tricky to walk along the beach when the tide was in.

Coconut palm logs placed to protect a concrete wall from high tide

In Australia, there are strict rules about building on beaches so nearly all beaches are in their natural state. Here in North Queensland it is also a safety feature for cyclones.

My hotel, Zan View Hotel, was not on the beach edge, although the sea could be seen from the restaurant. Instead, they had a little beach side bar where you could lie on a lounge and be next to the sea. This concept is a lot better for the environment as there were no concrete walls - although the neighbouring properties had them on either side.

Sun set at Zan View Hotel beach side bar

To get to the beach from the hotel there was a steep staircase down a rock wall. The local goats loved to sleep here at night.

Goats sleeping on the cliff below the hotel

Then there was a short walk through the ‘village’.

When it got too breezy at the beach, there were places at the hotel to relax and take in the view or stay by the swimming pool.

I met two lovely Welsh ladies, who had just finished climbing Mt Kilimanjaro, by the pool and joined them on some day trips to other parts of the island.

We did a walking tour of Stone Town and learnt about the history of this old slave trading port from our very knowledgeable tour guide. As tourism is such big business in Tanzania, there are a lot of opportunities for training in this industry. Our guide was fluent in 5 languages as well as the history.

From our guide we learnt all about the magnificent doors that adorn the entrances to houses in the city. The different carvings had different meanings. For example the chain carving indicated that this house was owned by a slave trader.

There are cats everywhere in Stone Town and they are completely chill. Some you even step over as they are asleep in the middle of the path. Nobody seems to bother them.

We also visited the Baraka Natural Aquarium, Nungwi. Here, injured turtles are cared for and then released back into the wild. The pool is connected to the sea so tidal action helps keep the pool clean.

Not really swimming with the turtles at Baraka Natural Aquarium

It wasn’t all touring and swimming though. With the excellent company of Kate and Nic, we tasted nearly all the cocktails on offer at dinner time! Meeting these two lovely ladies really made for a perfect holiday. It would have been a bit lonely without them. After all, travelling is all about the people you meet as much as the places you visit.

Next post I’ll start writing about my amazing homeopathy clinic experience.