Zanzibar

Zanzibar is a fantastic little island situated about 40km off the coast of Dar es Salaam. I flew from Kilimanjaro Airport to Stone Town and was very impressed by the level of quality of Air Tanzania. Since these airports are international airports, their security equipment is identical to the ones we find at home. Your luggage gets scanned the moment you walk into the airport. After check-in, you go through security again, outgoing passport checks (to collect “fines” if your visa is expired). After drinking my most expensive beer in Africa (U$2.50 = outrageous…), I boarded a recent Boeing 737, lifted from the tarmac on time, was served drinks and a sandwich for a 40 minute flight, which landed 5 minutes ahead of schedule. I chatted two South Africans up about different things including scuba diving. I was only expecting to snorkel in Zanzi but they informed me that you don’t need PADI certification to dive as long as you stay with a certified instructor. I

As I walked out of the airport, a security agent asked to look into my shrink-wrapped backpack, which I had paid U$4.50 at Kili for. I wanted to keep the bag sealed until I got to Amsterdam so I asked the guy if it was really necessary to ruin my nice packaging… He asked me if I had anything to declare, stared at my nice blue passport, and let me go without further argument.

I had arranged a hotel and flat-fee airport pick up, so I was greeted by a very informative taxi driver who gave me a quick drive around town to show me the different sights. I checked in to the Bughani house Inn, and was shown to a very charming room with air conditioning, safe, free bottled water, a huge Zanzibari-style bed, and elegant furniture. I dropped my ridiculous amount of luggage down and when right back out to explore the city. I recognize and approach a guy from the plane and we agree to have a beer on top of the Africa House Hotel, a great place to watch the sunset. Neil is a 29 year old bond futures trader in London and after a few pints, go out to the Fisherman’s restaurant, a decent tourist restaurant right of Kenyatta road. We both order the Fisherman’s platter, composed of prawns, fish, “lobster”, squid, calamari, crab etc. We called it a night after washing dinner down with a few more pints and a shisha at a beach-side.

The next day, I met up with Neil around 8:30am to catch “Mr. Mitu’s Spice Tour”, the best recommended spice tour in Zanzi. Znz contributed 80% of the world’s production of cloves, as well as being important producers of other fruits and spices. The guide showed us around different plantations and we were able to smell and taste the different species. I also tried the “Dorian”, famous for its hellish smell and heavenly taste. I don’t find its smell particularly offensive, and its taste is nice but not out-of-this world… Dorians are very popular in Singapore, but my understanding is that you cannot eat them near restaurants or other public places. The tour ended with a visit to the beach. Znz is world-renown for its beaches, but this once was very ordinary. I rushed into the ocean, but stepped onto a mysterious creature that burned my ankle. I floated about for an hour with a couple of charming American medical students. On my swim back to shore, I encountered a very friendly jellyfish which adopted my left arm as its new home. It delivered a mild electric current through my arm. I didn’t want to use my right hand to remove it to limit the damage, so I swam for about 30 seconds with an electrified arm to find a small branch and finally disconnect my assailant. A week later, the mutilation is still obvious. I couldn’t get enough sea adventures so I reserved a spot on a wreck dive with a rather dodgy company. Neil and a couple of other people were also victims of the mysterious sea creatures. After a quick shower, I was ready to watch the sunset at Africa House and hit Forodhani Gardens, with it’s aggressive seafood kiosks and strange street people trying to hustle tourists. The food was good but did not compete with the first dinner. We met up with several friends from the tour, had a few pints and finished a pleasant evening at Sweet Eazy, a popular pub near our hotel.

The big day was finally there, my first experience scuba diving! After paying a hefty U$95 for a two-dive expedition, I watched a lame dive-instruction video and boarded a shabby-looking boat with two Swiss couples, two snorklers and two PADI-certified Dive Masters. We reached the first diving spot after a 40 minute cruise. I slapped on the equipment, and was ready to discover the underwater world. The instructor gave me the signal to start diving so I pulled myself down the rope to about 2 meters. After the all-ok sign, I attempted to follow him two another meter or two, but shot right back up to the surface. I thought I had done something wrong, but I was simply not weighed down enough. I added a couple of weights to my belt, and sunk down no problem. Uncertified divers are not supposed to go lower than 12 meters, but we actually reached 15.9 meters deep. I saw many different types of corals and fish, but we did not see turtles or dolphins. 28 minutes later, my oxygen tank was at less than 5 bars and we had to surface. The second dive was a much more interesting “wreck dive”. The 50 year-old wrecked ship was sitting at 10 meters below sea level and was covered with colourful corals housing even more colourful tropical fish. At one point, the instructor was nowhere to be seen, and as I turned my head to find him, I lost the respirator and couldn’t immediately spot it. I remember not panicking but thinking I gotta find a solution fast! I looked around some more and found the spare respirator, tied to my jacket. I grabbed it and took the most rewarding breath of my life. The regular respirator soon floated in front of me, and I switched back, incognito. It was a fantastic experience, and I definitely want to complete my PADI certification in South East Asia, where prices are excellent. (but the quality of the education can be questionable. I was overall much more confident and breathing at a much more relaxed pace, stretching the tank up to 48 minutes. I met up with Neil for the last sunset at Africa House, and shared a seafood platter dinner at La Fenice, a posh Italian ocean-front restaurant, and shot some pool.

On the last day, I visited the “House of Wonders” and the Palace. I had a grilled fish and seafood salad at Mercury’s, a tribute restaurant to Freddie Mercury, Queen’s lead signer, who is perhaps the most famous Zanzibari. I grabbed a cab and caught my flight to Dar es Salaam for a long 5 hour wait. I decided to spend it at the Cafeteria&Lounge, the only decent place there. After reading and eating for 3 hours, I was ready to board for Amsterdam. I met a Haitian student living in Montreal and offered to show him around Amsterdam upon our arrival. For some reason, he was denied access to The Netherlands upon arrival, so I was only able to wave him good-bye after being allowed access to Europe without a single question, again, with my shiny blue passport.