Zanzibar

WE left Mambo View Lodge (http://www.mamboviewpoint.org/ ) and the coolness that comes with altitude and made our way to Dar es Salaam on an 8 hour bus. Then a two hour ferry landed us on the Island of Zanzibar. Zanzibar has been a trading hub for centuries and is a wild mix of cultures. It is mostly Arabic, African and Indian. It is also known as the spice Islands and is a semi autonomus region of Tanzania. These days tourism is the biggest industry though it is also still a busy port and has many spice plantations in the interior. The old section of Stone Town the main city on the island is a chaotic maze of narrow alleys and roads. We found a great coffee shop in the middle of the old town and with that as a reward we learned our way. It felt a little like being part of a mice in a maze experiment of our own making. The coffee was good and the women who worked there were quick with a joke. Our incentives were high. Our room was at the edge of town near the busy port but back behind several buildings which made it quiet. It provided breakfast on the roof top terrace with views out to the Indian Ocean and the port loading container ships. One day we hired a motorized boat and went out for some good snorkeling and on another we took the local bus up to the north of the island to a resort beach which had the advertised turquoise water and white sand beaches but with plenty of heat as well. In Old Stone Town we found several bars for sunset beers where we could watch soccer and gymnastics on the beach. Food sellers set up every night in a large park by the beach selling local fish, pizza, sugar cane juice and nutella baked goods. It was packed with locals and tourists alike and was an impressively diverse crowd. There were a lot of burkhas of different degrees of modesty and decoration. Few had the full face covering and many were decorated with extremely glittery sequined adornments and some were very form fitting in an oddly sexy look. We left Zanzibar for Dar es Salaam where we had a flight to Capetown South Africa. In Dar the most exciting thing I can pass on was sitting on a large shoe shaped chair in a dark overly air conditioned bar . We were glad to head out. https://picasaweb.google.com/111147902531600338534/Zanzibar"