Zanzibarrrrr

Stone Town

           This past week the students at Peace House had national testing, so it was a great time for Chris, Julien, Simon, and I to take a little vacation to a new part of Africa. We went to beautiful island called Zanzibar just off the coast of Tanzania. The island has a long history being used as a trading post of spices and slaves by the Sultan of Oman. Sending the people from the main land to be slaves in Arabic countries. After being colonized by Germany and later Britain, Zanzibar became independent in 1960 joining Tanganyika. Zanzibar and Tanganyika together make up todays Tanzania. Our trip took a few days of harsh traveling, very little planning, swimming, and lots of fun.

sleeping on bus

            To get to Zanzibar we could either fly, or take a bus and ferry. We all agreed that rather than spending a couple hundred dollars to fly to Zanzibar, we would rather spend 20,000 shillings (13 dollars) on a bus trip. By taking the bus we knew that we would save some money and also experience something new by traveling like the locals travel. What we were told was going to be an 8 hour bus ride turned out to be a 13 hour trip with smells, and sights that I never knew existed. And they were not the good types of smells, and sights. They were the ones that you wished you were asleep for. When you are stuck on a bus for 13 hours with no AC and no bathrooms and one stop for lunch, you can only imagine what you would come out looking like. This only made the anticipation for the island grow.  We were getting more and more excited to go swimming and relax on the beaches. That night we missed the last ferry so we stayed in a YMCA hostel and got up early for the morning ferry.

            The view from the ferry into Zanzibar is very beautiful. The sight of the old buildings, old boats, and white sand beaches was amazing.  Once we got off the boat we headed north with a taxi to Nungui and Kendwa. We were only planning on staying on the north coast for three nights but because it was so beautiful we extended our stay to five nights. Here we shared a small room but we did not care. We spent all of our days out on the beach either reading, swimming, or playing volleyball. It was my first time swimming in the Indian Ocean and it was pretty sweet. The water was so buoyant that I could lay in it with out even paddling and just float. I could swim out super far and with little effort and relax in the water. The price of the food at the hotel was expensive so we explored through the streets to find a few local restaurants that would sell fresh catch of the day for a couple of dollars. Here I enjoyed some octopus, calamari, prawn, tuna, and kingfish. It was cheap, local, and very delicious. Way better than spending ten dollars on a pizza or burger. Every night we got to see some amazing sunsets. One night I was floating in the water watching the sunset and it was so cool to see the gradient of the oranges and pinks all the way to the darkness where I could see all the stars in the sky. It was an image that I have stuck in my head and did not need a camera to remember it.

me doing flip into ocean at sunset

walking through Stone Town

Stone Town market

Next we went to stone town for a night and a day. Stone Town is the main port of Zanzibar with tons of old buildings jammed closely with tight roads and alley ways. Because the roads are so tight people drive mopeds around so we had to be careful of a speeding driver every once in awhile. Here we walked around to see the old buildings made by the Sultan of Oman, and the old slave trade buildings. We did not spend our money on a tour guide we just walked around and got lost on our own. I think that’s the best way to learn about a place. You find the best things when you don’t know where you are going. We found a huge local market where they sold all of there clothes, food, and spices.  It was super cool to see the market but kind of gross to see how they would handle the food.  At nighttime we went to the local fish market. Here they had tons of stands selling the fish that they caught during the day and they would cook it in front of you. I was able to buy a skewer of octopus, some lobster, and shrimp for only a few dollars and was set for the night. I also got to enjoy some fresh sugar cane juice. All of it was made right in front of me and was very tasty. That night we began our journey home starting with a night ferry.  We slept on a slow rocking boat back to the main port in Dar es Salaam where we were to take our bus ride back.

Stone Town fish market

We did not get much sleep on the ferry. I got a stomachache half way through and it lasted me the rest of the journey home. During my stay in Zanzibar I felt that I was not able to fully relax because I knew that I would have to take that long bus back to Peace House.  The bus back to Arusha was the same as the bus to Dar the only difference was that I knew what to expect. It did not help the situation. Once we got back to Peace House I fell asleep and slept for twelve hours.  It was a great trip and experience full of ups, and a few downs. I am excited to spend my last couple of weeks here with the kids at Peace House.

The group at the beach in Kendwa ( Chris, Julien, Simon, Me)