Zanzibar
Unable to face the prospect of more nights in my hotel in Dar es Salaam, I decided to take a ferry over to the island of Zanzibar, a two and a half hour boat ride away, for a couple of nights.
The tickets cost the equivalent of 1,500 baht each way, and that’s for the best operator, but given the recent terrible Tanzanian maritime tragedy, when hundreds of people drowned when their ferry capsized off the Zanzibar coast, and the white sands of Zanzibar became littered with bodies, I wasn’t taking any chances http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2035825/Zanzibar-ferry-disaster-Desperate-survivors-cling-mattress-190-drown.html
Current government estimates are that over 1,000 bodies remain trapped in the sunken vessel, which lies too deep of the coast to be assessed by divers.
So I thought paying for the safest boat was a wise decision.
The boat
It felt good to wave goodbye to Dar for a while
The trip across was smooth, relaxed, and air conditioned.
A fishing boat
Stone Town comes into view
Coming into Stone Town harbour
As soon as I arrived in Stone Town I felt a massive weight of stress and hassle lift off me, as I excitedly found my hotel in the winding backstreets.
Nest morning I travelled over to the beach village of Kendwa, in the north of the island, where I have been before and where I knew I would find magnificent beaches and dazzlingly blue, clean sea, with surprisingly few people around.
The beach
The sea.
And it was just as I expected – a wonderful break from dire Dar and our tempestuous transaction.
Putting my feet up for a change
Lost: a Masai looking for the Serengeti
While I was on the beach a bikini photo shoot took place next to me, so I couldn’t help but take a couple of photos - for this column, of course.
Does my bum look big in this? (No).
Model behaviour
Jake
Someone needs to tell the Masai that his man-purse clashes with his traditional git.
Peter Lloyd
You're right - but the only bush meat these Masai are hunting on the beach wear knickers and are usually fat, ugly European women, and they won't mind if his man bag clashes.
Slacker
Seems that beach puts many in LOS to shame. BTW your toenails need a manicure......
Love the post, seems that Zanzibar is possibly worth a beach holiday.
Peter Lloyd
Thanks. It reallys is worth a visit. Not that expensive either, unles you stay in a ridiculously priced resort.
Re toenails - you're not my wife are you? She just said the same thing. That's what 3 weeks in Tanzania does for you, although my toenails were in better shape than my brain when I arrived here, that's for sure.
A Fool in Paradise
Pete, stop lazing out on a beach and do something important. Which famous person was born in Zanzibar? Freddie Mercury, of course. Now get over to the house he was born in and take some photos.
Peter Lloyd
Neil, that would have involved me exploring the dark, clogged, winding back passages of Stone Town, when I could be ogling bikini models on the beach.
No contest. I really WOULD have been a Fool in Paradise!