Zanzibar - The Spice Island

Famous Wooden Doors of Zanzibar

Stone Town is the old part of Zanzibar City.  It's a maze of narrow, winding streets lined with shops, restaurants and homes.  The population and culture are primarily Muslim, very unlike the mainland.  Hot and humid are the only words to describe the climate - unless it's raining, in which case you can say hot, humid and raining.  Our hotel sits on the beach in the heart of Stone Town.  Fortunately our rooms are air conditioned and the pool is cool.

Slave Holding Cell at the Market

We took a 3 hour walking tour of the town.  Highlights included the site of the former slave market and the old market.  Three hours was plenty - we felt like we'd seen all there is to see, unless you want a bit of shopping.

The next day the six of us did a spice plantation and island orientation tour on the way to our accommodations at the Matemwe Beach Inn.  Not much to see on the island, but the plantation was interesting.  We saw local spices -- nutmeg, cardamon, pepper, etc. growing and sampled them in their natural state - right off the tree or bush.  Trust me, fresh pepper is HOT!

Beach at Matemwe

We arrived at our beach accommodations - home for the next 4 nights.  Our hope was to find a quiet place for R&R after the safari.  We succeeded beyond our wildest dreams!  Our days are packed - rise about 6:00 am, coffee and a walk on beach, breakfast, 3 hours in the pool to stay cool, lunch, afternoon in the hammock reading, then a drink and watch the sunset before dinner.  This is a place for serious relaxation!  We've titled the swim pool the hippo pool as we float around in it for hours, just like the hippos in the Serengeti.  Fortunately we are six friends, all talkers, so we've kept boredom at bay.

View from the Hammock

The Indian Ocean is beautiful, the beaches long and white.  Sadly our rooms are not air conditioned so Rand and I have difficulty sleeping.  We're  glad to have the relaxing time with friends, but are again reminded we don't enjoy heat and humidity.  We were ready to move on to Victoria Falls.  We say goodbye to Mary Ann, Byron, Carol and Fran at the Dar es Salaam airport.  They head back to the US and we had for Zimbabwe...