Zanzibar Archipelago

woah, its been a while since i wrote, and i have kind of been putting it off because there is just too much to mention!!! i will cut it into sections otherwise i will be spending hours in the internet cafe..
So to start of my month of travels we hit up Zanzibar, with a 2 hour boat ride sitting indoors for so long, without windows was suffocating, but there was a good old documentary to keep us entertained!! Fortuantly i dont think anyone was sea sick... so as we got nearer to the coast line of Zanzibar, and we had no idea if it was actually Zanzibar or not, we saw a whale, it was waving to us!! quite a distance away but it was still really cool, i tried to take a photo, but since i didnt bring my good camera (stupidly.. very stupid) i didnt really get a decent photo! Then there was the view as we were getting closer and closer, the buildings on the coastline... i have no idea what style of building they were... Meg thinks maybe arabic, along with the crystal clear blue waters it was amazing! and was our first look into the fabulous Stone Town!

We were prepared for a bit of hassling once we got off the Dock, there was the 5 of us, all Mzungu... but i guess over half the boat was Mzungu.. So for our month of travels it was mainly Meg, Ross, Marie, Phoebe and I. We had a plan just to keep walking and go into the nearest "cafe" we could find.. which wasnt hard because we werent paid as much attention as we had been told we would, maybe its because we had already been in Tanzania for 2 months and we had gotten used to it, ( I remember going to the tuk tuk stand to begin with, that was hectic enough!) So after having a soda and agreeing on a plan of attack, that we probably should have discussed earlier but didnt, we got in a taxi... a 5 seater when there was 6 all up.. not very comfortable, and we set of for the Northern Beaches!

Kendwa Beach,
ok so pretty much i just walked into a postcard and spent a few days there!! The beach was beautiful, the whitest sand and the bluest waters! no seawead and NO RUBBISH!!! Zanzibar was actually a really clean place! Although i dont recall ever seeing a bin! We stayed at a resort-like place called Le Tois De Palme, French name obviously... they were able to organise for us to go snorkelling!!!

The first night we started drinking mid afternoon and met a few beach boys ( guys that sell things on the beach) i cant remeber his name at the moment, but he promised to give us cheap "fair" prices if we bought paintings from him... i didnt, i think the others may have, then we walked up a few resorts and went to a beach party!!! it was awesome!! Marie and I hired a shisha... like a bong but with flavoured stuff, and you dont get high... i dont think you do anyway? haha so Marie and I entertained ourselves for a good while with that, taking photos blowing smoke at eachother... the photos are ridiculous! haha that was upstairs.. then we went down and their was some ladies there playing music with dancing, there was a huge crowd... they were dancing around in a circle, shaking their bootys and there was 2 white girls in there... i dont no why but they just looked like try hards... anyway i thought it would be funny so i joined in.. i was really just taking the piss out of the other 2 girls, and i said Shikamoo to the old ladies playing the music... and one of them was realllllyyy old! then the guy with the microphone was like say that again,.. so i did (into the microphone) and they all replied marahaba... it was so funny, the others couldnt even see me... but once they heard my voice, they new it was me!
There was also heaps of Maasai (traditional africans) i asked how many cows im worth... they said 5... Meg got 20.. personally i think 20 is a bit ridiculous ;) haha So i think Meg Ross and i went back at around 3am...
Not sure what time we woke.. would have been at least 7am because we had a day of snorkelling!!! we ate breakfast then waited for The Captain to pick us up, well we were all a bit hung over and the boat ride went for ages!!! We were able to sit on the upper l;evel of the boat, it was just a little wooden boat, with an extra storey attatched, so we soaked up the sun and sat on top... when we finally got to Mnemba Island, after dropping our chef and lunch stuff off at a nearby beach we were able to start snorkelling... i dont remember ever snorkelling so i took in a few breaths of water, but eventually got the hang of it, the little jellyfish or whatever they were stinging us was uncomfortable! but i could look at star fish and chase around the pretty fish, and Phoebe had an underwater camera so i'll be stealing her photos! I'm not sure how long we snorkelled for.. probably not as long as we should have considering how long it took to get there, but we were all tired, and everyone ended up getting back on the boat at a similar time. We werent allowed to go onto Mnemba Island itself because it is privately owned and we would get a huge fine if we did! Lunch consisted of Rice, fish, a sauce, fruit and warm soda! yum! haha no i really like the rice here, it tastes different to rice back home, and suprisingly i look forward to the rice and beans we get for lunch twice a week... but i guess when you compare it to Ugali, anything would be good!
Oh yeah... im sure everyone has seen The Lion King, but my god, the phrases Hakuna Matata and Asante sana, squashed banana dont say hapana got old verrrryyy quick! definately overused by everyone! ourselves included!
Not much else happened at Kendwa, just chilled out and eventually headed back to Stone Town.

Stone Town
well well well... where to begin... its a tiny area on Zanzibar with winding never ending streets lined with stalls and shops.. all selling pretty much the exact same thing.. after the 4 days we spent there i think i was only able to direct myself back to the hostel once (Manch Lodge DO NOT STAY THERE) the first day we spent just wandering around looking for an atm.. we found 3 or 4... but yep... they either had no money, or wouldnt accept our cards! we eventually found one and also found a tour operator where we were able to book our tours, that evening we went to Forodhani Gardens, which is an amazing sight really... during the day it is a plain gardens... like the botanical gardens.. but just grass and trees and not really any prime ministers heads floating around.. but at night a square is lined with tables and it becomes a food market, lots of different things to buy, seafood, chicken, beef, kebabs, simosas, chipatees, Zanzibar pizza (HEAVEN!!!) and Banana chocolate (HEAVEN) its supposed to be really cheap, but if you get a decent sized meal it just works out to the average cost. So we ate their every evening, except Marie and I skipped dinner one night.
So the following day we went back to the tour operator and we went to Jizani Forest and saw the Red Colobus Monkeys (i think they are only on Zanzibar) Mangrove swamps and we went on a nature walk, my god, the guide would point out tiny little brown frogs in the mud just as we were walking... i have no idea how he was able to spot them!!! The monkeys were crazy, it was kind of sad how comfortable they were around us, they werent afraid of us or anything, and we were able to get reallly close and get some amazing photos, but i couldnt help but feel intruding! the Mangrove Swamps were cool, we were able to climb on one of the trees, and the tide was out so we could see little crabs!... We spent the atfernoon shopping.
Next day.. Spice Tour, we were able to see all different fruits and spices in their natural state, it seemed like something that had to be done, everyone talked about the spices on Zanzibar.. but really... i didnt no what half the fruits or spices that i was looking at were... i think it was a bit too old for me.. but we met some cool English guys, Jamie and James. anyway we saw Vanilla, cinamon... haha uh? there was more... then we went to the beach (with the tour) ate some lunch cooked up by the locals... i ate wayyy too much, so we went for a swim.. but unfortuantly.. it felt like we were back in Dar Es Salaam... the water was gross... fishguts and heads and eugh... it was gross.. we didnt stay in for long, then went up and had a drink.. i got a gin and tonic.. no idea why.. i hate tonic!
So we got dropped back off near the hostel and we arranged to meet up with the English guys at Livingstones (a pub) for happy hour. so this is the night we skipped dinner, we couldnt really be bothered walking the 2 minute walk to forodhani... and werent really that hungry.. but we did keep drinking! didnt want to waste our precious drinking money on food haha. But really i dont think it was a very late night... we played this drinking game Spoof.... or fives or something.. i wish i could remember all the rules! i got jamie or james// not sure which is which to write it down but i think i lost it :(. I spent ages talking to 2 local girls, it was really good how much we used Swahili on Zanzibar, but now back on placement we hardly use it.. Then Marie, Phoebe and I decided it was time for bed and we started walking back to the hostel.. quite eerie walking through darkened alleyways that are so thin and uneven ground.
So Phoebe and I woke with quite a hangover!!! Marie (also in our room) seemed fine and decided to do some morning shopping before our Prison Island tour in the afternoon (we changed it to the afternoon because it was raining).. this was also the beginning of Ramadhan, where the muslims fast during the day for 30 days. anyway getting back to the point.. our door was broken and would not shut properly without it being locked... but since marie left when we were sleeping she couldnt lock us in... and we were asleep so we couldnt lock it after her.. Well Phoebe and i woke 3 times to the cleaner being just inside our room... using the broken door as an excuse.. but on the 3rd time Phoebe noticed he had my handbag... i searched the room to make sure, and i couldnt find it... so i went downstairs and started talking to the guy, he lead me back upstairs, where i just completely lost my tempor and Phoebe and I were just going nuts, we would have sounded like the biggest ghettos, we told him to get out of our room.. he eventually did... then came back in and tried to drop my bag on the floor without us noticing.... well phoebe was less than a meter away from him and saw him do it... so we went downstairs to reception so something could be done. but they all just thought it was a big joke, the lady who ran the place wasnt there so we waiting til she was in to talk to her.. i was so angry i just wanted to cry.. but i didnt. No one could really believe it happened.. with us in the room! We had lunch at the only place we could find, an Indian Restruant, all the street stalls were closed because of Ramadhan, im glad we only spent the 1 day of ramadhan there otherwise it would be very expensive lunches, dinner was okay because they broke fast every evening, and would feast again early morning 4amish. But we then spent the afternoon at Prison Island getting there in a teeny tiny boat, i think it was meant to be used for slaves or as a jail or something but ended up being used as a Yellow Fever quarantine. On Prison Island there was giant torteises, they were so cute! i want one :) and we were able to feed them! one of the tortieses was 185 years old!! and the ones that were 30 years old were still in a little caged area because they were too small to be around the big ones! We were meant to go snorkelling again but since it was so windy and just a shitty day in general we gave it a miss... but the boat ride back... against the wind was soooo scary, i really thought we were going to capsize, and i was just worried about my camera with all my photos!!! but we made it back to land safely!!!
Again we went to Forodhani for dinner, less food stalls there, but still alot to choose from, as we were leaving we bumped into Jamie and James, they were lawyors, told me i should get money from the guy who stole my bag, they thought since we went home.. obviously drunk.. we were easy targets and it was probably planned.
The shopping on Zanzibar was crazy, there was a forte full of stalls and the streets were lined with them, but you really had to be in the mood because you HAVE to bargain!!! they double the price if your white, or even more!!! it gets very frustrating because i assume some people are genuine with their prices but if you dont knock enough off the price you just assume your getting ripped off anyway! i bought alot of presents there, and i think i did pretty well with my bargaining.. i'm sure i got ripped off, but hopefully not too much!
The last day we wanted to leave early morning because we were told going back to Dar was best in the morning because the seas were calmer, something to do with the tide, and that it ws best to go earlier to avoid sea sickness, but i had to speak to the lady about my bag, the guy never even admitted to stealing it, and said he only came into our room once about the door, i said TSH 30,000 was taken from my bag, although i cant be certain because i dont no how much i spent the night before, anyway he paid up, and i used the money to pay for a taxi and bought some ice cream.. it probably equals to about $20 but it goes far if you use it well..
We got the 12:45 boat back and it started off fine, we were like cool lets sit right out the front, outside and work on our tan... well that lasted maybe half an hour, then the boat was rising and falling constantly, and i actually got air from the boat.. i didnt vomit, i think only 1 guy did, so we were all pretty proud that none of us did... i was laying down because i saw thats what the locals were doing, not sure if that makes it better or worse.. but when i tried to sit up to see the dolphins swimming in front of our boat, i couldnt hold myself up, and had to lay back down.. i think i ended up falling asleep towards the end..
well that was how i spend the first week of my holidays.. in paradise!
I will write again soon about Safari!!!
xo