Niels and I knew that we wanted some "beach time" after climbing Kilimanjaro and going on safari - and Zanzibar was just the place for that. A little island off the coast of Tanzania with beautiful beaches? Perfect. We took a boat from Dar Es Salaam to Zanzibar, a ride I found absolutely thrilling (picture bouncing all over the place in the huge ocean waves). We stayed at the Garden Lodge, which was great. We especially appreciated our relaxed breakfasts on the balcony. |
On day #1 we took a 45 minute walk to explore the gorgeous beaches - and got sunburned. Agh! I forgot how strong the sun is at the equator!
The sand seemed to stretch on forever! And there were not a lot of people around. It felt like we were the only tourists there... which we loved. Sun, sand and solitude!
We took a day trip to the Jozani Forest Reserve, one of the last remaining sanctuaries in the world for the Red Colubus Monkey. Our naturalist guide pointed out several monkeys, birds, reptiles and flora as we toured through our beautiful surroundings. He told us that the Red Colubus Monkey used to be a critically endangered species, but due to conservation work by the nature reserve their numbers have increased in recent years. We also were able to tour the mangrove swamp, which was a highlight for me as I love these trees and they brought me right back to my time in New Zealand.
We also enjoyed spending time in Stone Town, the older part of Zanzibar's main city. It's known as the flourishing center of the spice trade, as well as the slave trade in the 19th century. It was a maze of narrow alleys lined by houses, shops, bazaars and mosques. The streets were crowded with bicycles, motorbikes and people wanting to sell us their crafts!
When not exploring Stone Town, Niels and I roamed the beaches and relaxed. Zanzibar is known worldwide for its long stretches of sand and the boats that dot the shoreline.
Women in their colourful kangas (traditional Swahili dress) spend time on the beach and in the water collecting seaweed. They are out early to take advantage of the low tide, which lets them easily gather the seaweed that has washed ashore overnight. In terms of value to the Zanzibar economy, seaweed is the third most productive sector (after tourism and cloves). They export this seaweed all over the world to be used in numerous cosmetics, shampoos, toothpastes, medicine and carrageenan (a food additive).
We also often had an audience watching us... so many of the local children followed us and watched us eat.
They also loved it when we played soccer on the beach with them. Ha! Maybe that's why they followed us.
There were lots of places to stay right on the ocean, for a very decent price. These were bungalows that we stayed at for a few nights.
Can you beat this view?
Other than eat and sleep, we really didn't do much during our Zanzibar stay. We were supposed to go snorkeling at Mnemba island, but our sunburns were actually still really hurting us. We were also quite content to relax and do nothing after all that Kili hiking!
Pure bliss...
We did not want to leave Zanzibar. In fact, we did not want to leave Africa. What an incredible trip - from hiking through so many biomes on Kilimanjaro... to seeing so much of the African savannah and wildlife on safari... to relaxing and exploring on the tropical shores of Zanzibar. This trip held so much adventure for us and will forever go down as 'a trip of a lifetime' in our books.
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Click on the links below to see photos of the other parts of this trip: