So it was time to leave Selous and head for Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar. Another early start. Up at 3am to get the some time between 4am and 5am bus. We’d anticipated the journey to take around 8 hours. We were soooo wrong. We sat on the local ‘In God We Trust’ bus at 4.30am. It started it’s engine and started beaping it’s horn. Thought we were going to leave. It didn’t. Made the same wrong presumption at 4.45, 5.00, and 5.15.
At 5.20 it set off then stopped around the corner. The owners of the camp site had put us on the bus with some reservations as the local buses had a reputation for going very fast and then breaking down. Speed was clearly not going to be an issue!
Finally left at 5.40. At times, it would have been faster to walk. It stopped at every village and loaded on masses of people, vegetables, wood and bricks. The journey actually took us closer to 12 hours but by the end of it after seeing the bus in action we fully appreciated how ‘lucky’ we were for it to actually arrive in Dar.
But arrive in Dar it did with only a short time left to get the ferry over to Zanzibar. Anyone who has ever being to Dar will know it’s not really a place in which you can travel anywhere fast. They will also know of the con men who hang around the ferry port hoping to relieve unexpecting tourists of their cash. They swarmed us but we were well prepared and pushed our way through avoiding a few attempts to fleece us without any trouble.
Really, we were very surprised to be on the ferry at all. Many points earlier in the day we had expected to be staying the night on the roadside or in Dar so sitting on the ferry, speeding along with the wind in our hair and great views around us was lovely.
Zanzibar
We arrived in Zanzibar just before sunset. Dropped our bags off, had a much needed shower and went off to explore Stone Town.
We went to eat in the gardens over looking the sea. Here locals have set up food stands in the gardens offering all kind of fish and meat dishes. You then choose what you want and they warm it up on hot plates. Very ambient. We tried Zanzibar pizzas which was really yummy (see ‘Rate the local food’).
It was very odd to be somewhere where there are lots of other westerners. We had kind of got used to being the only ones. We both agreed that we preferred the atmosphere when it was just us and the locals.
The next day we spent wandering the streets of Stone Town. This is a quirky place that was once an important trading island. As such, it has many different cultural influences ranging from Swahili, other African countries, Arabs, Portugese, and British. You can see it in the architecture and dress. It is very different to the other places we had visited, far more asian and a very atmospheric place to wander around.
We had a look around the museum then did more strolling. In the tourist area it’s very hassly with touts trying to get you and shop owners trying to sell you their products. However, walk a few streets back and you are in the ‘real’ Stone Town. In the space of about 5 mins we had left the other westerners behind, were in the busy local market and were again getting curious looks from the locals. Found that far more interesting. Later on we mooched around the shops and I (Vicky) am tempted to buy a large wooden African mask to send home. Phil bought a new hat to replace his ‘ride or die’ which is a great loss.
At 5.20 it set off then stopped around the corner. The owners of the camp site had put us on the bus with some reservations as the local buses had a reputation for going very fast and then breaking down. Speed was clearly not going to be an issue!
Finally left at 5.40. At times, it would have been faster to walk. It stopped at every village and loaded on masses of people, vegetables, wood and bricks. The journey actually took us closer to 12 hours but by the end of it after seeing the bus in action we fully appreciated how ‘lucky’ we were for it to actually arrive in Dar.
But arrive in Dar it did with only a short time left to get the ferry over to Zanzibar. Anyone who has ever being to Dar will know it’s not really a place in which you can travel anywhere fast. They will also know of the con men who hang around the ferry port hoping to relieve unexpecting tourists of their cash. They swarmed us but we were well prepared and pushed our way through avoiding a few attempts to fleece us without any trouble.
Really, we were very surprised to be on the ferry at all. Many points earlier in the day we had expected to be staying the night on the roadside or in Dar so sitting on the ferry, speeding along with the wind in our hair and great views around us was lovely.
Zanzibar
We arrived in Zanzibar just before sunset. Dropped our bags off, had a much needed shower and went off to explore Stone Town.
We went to eat in the gardens over looking the sea. Here locals have set up food stands in the gardens offering all kind of fish and meat dishes. You then choose what you want and they warm it up on hot plates. Very ambient. We tried Zanzibar pizzas which was really yummy (see ‘Rate the local food’).
It was very odd to be somewhere where there are lots of other westerners. We had kind of got used to being the only ones. We both agreed that we preferred the atmosphere when it was just us and the locals.
The next day we spent wandering the streets of Stone Town. This is a quirky place that was once an important trading island. As such, it has many different cultural influences ranging from Swahili, other African countries, Arabs, Portugese, and British. You can see it in the architecture and dress. It is very different to the other places we had visited, far more asian and a very atmospheric place to wander around.
We had a look around the museum then did more strolling. In the tourist area it’s very hassly with touts trying to get you and shop owners trying to sell you their products. However, walk a few streets back and you are in the ‘real’ Stone Town. In the space of about 5 mins we had left the other westerners behind, were in the busy local market and were again getting curious looks from the locals. Found that far more interesting. Later on we mooched around the shops and I (Vicky) am tempted to buy a large wooden African mask to send home. Phil bought a new hat to replace his ‘ride or die’ which is a great loss.
Today (Sunday) we hired a motorbike to tour the island.
It was a 250cc and rode pretty well. Phil did all the driving - I just clung on! (Took me a few minutes to get used to a bike again and I was just starting to feel good about riding when Vicky discovered she could grab a roll of flab on my belly and cling onto that. Way to ruin a mans ego! PB) We went over to the east of the island where all the best beaches are and worked our way down the coast (around 250k in total). The beaches are incredibly beautiful. The sand is like flour in colour and texture and the water is turquoise. Palm trees line the beaches and colouful fishing boats bob around in the sea. (turns out flour is tricky to ride a motorbike on, specially with a pillion, PB)
We stopped at some beaches where there were no other people in sight, some just frequented by locals, another that was a chilled westerners spot and another which was a bustling fishing village. Nice way to see the island. 
Vicky's cool Biker look.
Vicky's not so cool Biker look!
No comments:
Post a Comment