Elsebie Olivier

4th February 2011

Spicy Zanzibar (19-24/01/2011)

Zanzibar turned out to be more of a tourist island than we expected – almost everything that is done and setup is with tourism in mind. Spice tours, town tours, park tours, Prison Island tours, …

The island can easily be split into 3 areas:

–          Stone Town, rich in history with its very old buildings, small alley ways, impressive doors and markets.

–          The South with beautiful beaches, expensive lodges and the national park.

–          The North, buzzling, with bikini and speedo cladded people, parties and lots of activities.

Transport to and around Zanzibar could be very expensive if you do not shop around. We left DarEsSalam with a ferry called, Kilimanjaro – the air-conditioned, first class luxury view will cost you $40, but makes the 70km to Zanzibar enjoyable. (Regardless of ‘The Karate Kid’ movie showing over and over again!)

It turned out to be quite a mission to take our bikes across with us – quotes around $250 per bike makes renting a Vespa or Piaggio for roughly $20 fair enough. Michnus and I rented a ‘well-worn’ Suzuki Vitara for $30 a day to explore the island on our own.  BUT if you thought bribing is well and ripe in SA – you should see it around Zanzibar and Tanzania! We were stopped 4 times in 2 days – and blatantly asked for money as all our permits and paperwork were in order.

In Stone Town we were met by our guide, arranged via a guy in Dar, Amour (yeah, he has been named ‘love’!).  Initially we thought that we do not need a guide, but little did we now how essential it became – the history needs explaining, the alley ways direction and the tours a negotiator.  ‘Love’ was the perfect guide for us, not overbearing but quiet, knowledgeable and keeping a steady island pace.

Stone Town turned out the be the birth place of Freddy Mercury and it seemed fit to go to the Mercury pub first – traveling is known to be a thirsty job and the arrangement of beers must be explored! (Check out the roof fan!)

The small alley ways of Stone Town are amazing, initially you feel you can get lost quite easily.  You will find almost everything you need in these small alley shops. The history screaming at you once you see the doors which played a huge role in showing off wealth, religion and origins.

We found lodging everywhere on the island a bit more expensive at around $40 per night for a room with en-suite.  Now, for our camping budget averaging at about $10 this was expensive!  😉 But such a nice change.