Spicy Zanzibar

After all our adventures, everyone was really hanging out to get to the beach and give our internal organs time to rearrange themselves in the proper order and just relax.. had a few drive days to get to Dar es Saleem and was great to be by the sea and swim. The place we stayed at called Mikadi Beach was great and everyone had a great night fuelled by the infamous vodka slushies. When the tide went out discovered these little glow-in-the-dark plankton that lit up when you stood on them – was really amazing so we sloshed and stomped or way out for several hundred metres making them all glow. Somehow by the end of the night most people ended up in a reasonably drunken state and being thrown in the pool – typically was wearing my only clean, dry clothing. There is another Oasis truck heading down to Cape Town that has been pretty much shadowing us from Nairobi and despite a much younger age group on board they seem to be very quiet in comparison and were horrified that we were all in the pool fully clothed!!

Next day we headed over to Zanzibar on the ferry which took several hours and disturbingly several coffins were loaded on board first. Then another few hours to our beach stop at Nungwi, one of the northern beaches. At first impression our accommodation H&H Bungalows was seriously uninspiring but it had beds (first in 4 weeks – yeah!!!) and a bathroom so was positive luxury. The beach was amazing with the turquoise waters of the Indian ocean, the dhows anchored in the harbour and restaurants and bars right on the beach front. Basically ate loads of yummy seafood, had real coffee, real chocolate cake, lazed on the beach, had a fabulous massage right on the beachfront… bliss. The next day a group of us went out diving, the rest snorkeling at Mnemba Island a few hour boat ride away. Hadn’t dived for awhile so a few of us did a quick refresher, then explored the reef with all the amazing fish (think Finding Nemo) and on the second dive even saw a turtle!! Was really great diving and great day out, followed by more chocolate cake and coffee… didn’t ever want to leave. The only dampner on the whole experience was the damp washing episode – while it had been fine all day out at the island, it had rained all day at the beach so all our washing was wet, not hugely clean and worse we had to go and track it all down so several people lost stuff in the melee.

Next day took the early taxi back to Stone Town to go on a spice tour at a local spice plantation. Was really interesting seeing how everything grows (and in the most haphazard manner), most of the plants I wouldn’t have recognized even by smell as many are quite different fresh. Saw, tasted and smelt a big range of spices – nutmeg, citronella, cardamon, cinnamon, ginger, tumeric, pepper and also tasted a mangosteen fruit (yum) which is a delicacy here and super expensive. The guides had woven cocunut palm leaf necklaces, handbags and rings for the girls, and hats, glasses and neckties for the guys so we looked very stylish on our return to town. Had a quick tour around the market, the church and the old slave market, then the fortress, though have to say it was really hot and switched off listening to much of the information as brain was in meltdown stage.

Phil arrived on the late taxi and woke me up from a sound sleep on the nicest bed (four poster each!!) in the Safari Lodge hotel. We delighted in the novelty of having a TV and lazed about for a few hours watching it as had already slept through the sunset, so missed out on the traditional sundowners!! Ended up venturing out in search of food, past the seafood markets which looked really tempting but had been warned that was not the safest around so resisted. Glad we did as found a really nice Italian place by the water and had the most delicious meal, including my first ever taste of tiramisu. What was also nice was that it was just Phil and I rather than a big group of us - probably a good thing as made embarrassing noises of enjoyment over such gastric-orgasmic food. Also it was appropriate as it worked out to be a celebration - one month to the day that we had been tent buddies.