Mambo! (Hello) The past 10 days I explored the beautiful and unique island of Zanzibar, accompanied by my Safari-mate Daniel from Israel. Here is the Facebook Picture Album. After safari we hopped on the Dar Express, a “super luxury” bus, from Arusha to Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania. It wasn’t a bad 12 hour bus ride, except for the 7 hours of Swahili Christian music videos. This specific genre of music video, to an outsider, is formulaic, bizarre and extremely repetitive. Never have I wanted to be a director so badly to infuse these videos with different visual approaches.
After a stop over in Dar, a modern international city of with not much to offer tourists, we took a ferry to Zanzibar. At the heart of Zanzibar town lies Stone Town, a lovely labyrinth of narrow stone streets that reveal hidden houses, craft shops and restaurants. We had fun getting lost and learning our way around. The town has a rich mixture of history including, spice trading, slave trading, Islam and a dash of Rastafarianism.
After a couple days in Stone Town, it was beach time. We headed north to Nungwi. It is a beautiful beach populated with resorts catering to different nationalities and budgets. My favorite hustling tout on the beach Martin showed me around to a few places where I settled on Miss Safina, a nice budget option located behind the sexy Z hotel.
I met another Israeli on the bus, Hadas. Her, Daniel and I were a unit for a few days. After we were all settled, we traveled on foot to the nicest stretch of sand for swimming and sun in front of a resort inhabited by beautiful Italian people. Here a special subset of Masai (African nomadic tribe – assimilated into the mainstream to varying degrees) guards and craftsman spoke Italian and engaged the Italian tourists. There was even an afternoon Italy vs Africa soccer match on the beach, quite a surreal scene.
The next day I went Scuba diving with East Africa Diving company to two local dive sites. It was good to be back under water. I saw some cool marine life, including Sea Turtles, Trumpet Fish, Zebrafish, Kingfish, Barracudas and even a Lobster. A student on the dive was doing a research project on eco-tourism and had gathered over 400 interviews with tourists.Apparently tourists from the UK are the most friendly and tourists from Italy are the least. The next day Daniel, Hadas and I took a snorkeling trip to Mnemba, a marine conservatory island, followed by a fish bbq on a nearby beach. The turquoise of the water and whiteness of the sand were incredible.
Hadas left our group, traveling onward to Ethiopia, so Daniel and I went onto Jambiani for some real rest and relaxation at this less populated beach on the east coast. The beaches and water here were even more beautiful than Nungwi, with palm tree lined coasts and a small welcoming village behind the beach front guest houses. What was bizarre was that during the day when the tide was low, the water exposed a vast seaweed plantation, and we saw Jambiani women working out on the ocean floor collecting seaweed. We had no idea the afternoon before when we arrived during high tide.
The highlights in Jambiani were an octopus hunt and a dolphin excursion where we swam with dolphins. During low tide, we walked through the seaweed plantation and our guides took us to look for octopus. We walked on the reef for quite some time. I was quite happy I had my Tevas on, as the rest of the group were struggling to avoid sea urchins in flip-flops. Another guide called us over and somehow had spotted an octopus in a hole. I have know idea how he spotted it, as it was so well hidden. Our guide then proceeded to coax the octopus out of hiding with two metal rods which the octopus latched on to. He then got a grip on the octopus, pulled him out, and showed us how to quickly kill it by stabbing him through the mouth. The quick octocide left me a little sad, but I comforted myself knowing the octopus would make a yummy dinner for someone.
The experience swimming with dolphins was both exhilarating and a tad horrifying. Boats would chase after groups of dolphins and then Mzungos (foreigners) would jump in to “swim” with them. The swimming was usually a few seconds, and then the dolphins would dive down deep quickly. We would jump back on the boat and try again once the dolphins disappeared from view. It was amazing to be be so close to these creatures. They seemed curious and not threatened. However, they probably would have played longer if there weren’t multiple motorboats surrounding them with aggressive drivers vying to get as close as possible. One dive, I found myself looking down on a huge group and one tuned upside, circled and checked me out. We had a moment right dolphin? It wasn’t just me was it?
The quietness and slow pace were unparalleled in Jambiani. One night Daniel and I sat in a restaurant which wasn’t more than a thatch covered hut where we were the only patrons. After dinner the power went out as it does in Africa periodically. The only sounds were the surf and children laughing in the distance. We had time to watch an ant circling the lip of a plate a kerosene lantern was placed on. The unparalleled quiet and peace permeated the darkness.
As my time in Tanzania comes to a close, thinking back on this trifecta of Kilimanjaro, safari and beautiful beach island, I realize I have been on the trip of a lifetime already, and I’m just getting started. This country is amazing in all it has to offer, and while I haven’t gotten to know the locals well, the smiles and friendly reception of the owners at the guest house we returned to in Stone Town was heartwarming and indicative of the welcoming nature of this country.
Next stop Ethiopia…