One of the trips I booked while on Zanzibar was to go snorkelling off a small reef they have. I was taken out on a boat and the area was very busy with other tourists. There wasn’t loads to see but it was still a lovely experience. Getting back into the boat was a bit of a struggle, but managed eventually with just a few bruises.
Stone Town every night has a night food market. At dusk, makeshift tables, propane tanks, and grills are brought out and before long, you can chose from fresh fish, meat, shrimp kebabs. There was also Zanzibar pizzas, grilled seafood, fresh fruit salads, sugar cane juices with ginger and gyro. I chose a tuna and a chicken kebab with coconut bread, found a spot on the walls of the pier, ate my food and did a little bit of people watching. It is a great way to spend a night in Stone Town. There was also music and dancing going on, and young men jumping off the wall into the sea (Tomb-stoning, as we call it in the UK). The evening was ruined a little by the hotel messing up my taxi transfers, but it was all ok in the end, just a later night than I had planned.
New Years Eve, I went on a Quad Tour, which was different to the ones I had been on before, as this involved going to local villages, meeting the children (giving them sweets). It also had a bit of a spice tour and local history. I really enjoyed it….not that I’m not also into thrashing around sand dunes.
For New Years Eve, night, the hotel management had arranged for us to go back to the bar, on the beach, where I had had my Christmas Day wobbles. I wasn’t really looking forward to it, but felt I should make the effort. This time, however, I got talking with a really nice woman from Kenya, Faith and her daughter, Christine. Faith was hilarious, and when we got to the beach bar, it was dead. Me being very British, would have stayed there so not to appear rude, Faith however had other ideas!! SHE MADE ME…..walk along the beach until we came across a large hotel that was ’rocking’. Here we stayed there until 1am. It was great…there was live entertainment and then just before midnight we went onto the beach, where there was a huge fire. We saw the New Year in, dancing barefoot on the sand and then watching fireworks let off from a boat out at sea. It was perfect….Thank you Faith.
The following day, Faith, Christine and myself shared a taxi to the north/west of the island, to see what was there and see the sunset. This part of the island is definitely more lively, lots of beach bars and hotels. The tide also doesn’t go out for miles, like on the east of the island, so you can swim in the ocean all day if required. We went for a swim in the Ocean (really warm), watched the sunset and dinner at one of the beach restaurants.
Armed guards on the beach 
When we got back to the hotel, they had arranged some local musicians/dancers (as a surprise) but because we hadn’t know about them, we hadn’t rushed back and missed the majority of the ‘show’. Such a shame.
And so to my last night on Zanzibar, I was back to being the only guest again, but the hotel staff pulled all the stops out for me. I had a table all specially decorated for me. After the meal, the staff gathered around and sang me some traditional songs….such a beautiful gesture. I was moved by their kindness.
So my thoughts on Zanzibar….It’s a lovely Island, has lots to offer, a week is definitely long enough, unless you are north of the island and like beach holidays!! I did struggle emotionally while there, which was probably more me than Zanzibar. I felt I was insulted quite a lot (mainly about my weight), which really knocked my confidence. Most of the time it doesn’t get to me but I guess because I was missing home over Christmas, and this made me a bit more vulnerable to the insults. I would recommend it as a destination but maybe not as a solo traveller.
And so to the city of Dar Es Salaam….. I caught the ferry from Zanzibar back to Dar, once again a really crazy experience. Arriving in Dar the hotel I was going to be staying in sent a driver to collect me and I settled in. It was nice to be in a faceless hotel where I could be anonymous. I enquired about ‘city’ tours and was introduced to a taxi driver who (for a price) would show me around the next day.
My driver turned up the next day as arranged, and it quickly became apparent that his English wasn’t great and he was really only a taxi driver and I would be lucky to learn anything useful. He took me to a few ‘sights’ and his car battery kept going flat whenever we stopped which would involve him flagging down motorbikes to try and jump start his car with some bare wires!!! It was all so bad it was quite funny really.
I asked the driver to take me to the museum, which once again wasn’t quite what I was expecting. It turned out to be a load of different, traditional huts from across Tanzania that you could go into. There was also information about the different tribes and their beliefs and rituals. I also watched some women doing a traditional dance.
And so to my 1st time of feeling genuinely scared for my life (mum stop reading now). My driver at a loss of what to show me, decided that he would take me to the main football stadium where a huge match was going to be taking place between the 2 biggest teams in Tanzania. I was up for this, I like football, thought it would be interesting to see…..We got near the stadium and there were people everywhere thousands of them, it was about 2 hours to kick off, I was still ok at this point. The driver then decides I needed a picture of the front of the stadium and bribed a security guard to let him pass a barrier (we are still in the car). There were other cars going through this barrier (VIP’s I think). It was a slow crawl to the entrance, with 1000’s of people milling about, I’m still ok at this point. Then some flashing blue lights and sirens started and the cars moved over to one side…..VIP’s in blacked out cars come whizzing pass, my driver then decides to join the back of this cavalcade. As we reached the main entrance, guards with very large guns approached our car and told him to move…. he didn’t…..the guards then started rocking the car and banging the bonnet and waving their guns around….I asked the driver, what was going on, he either didn’t understand my high pitched questions or chose to ignore me…..he didn’t move. At this point the crowd around us started running in all directions, I was now very concerned….he still didn’t move….the guards got more animated, so did my question ‘what is going on????’ It felt like forever, but the driver did eventually move away from the entrance of the stadium, just as one of the team buses came along!!! “Did you get your photograph” was his question ?? “Yes” I replied (I hadn’t)…”can we go back to the hotel now?????”.
The rest of that day was spent rocking in a darkened room. The next day I left for Kenya alive and well ??
