The last two weeks I have spent on the beautiful island of Zanzibar.
The moment I stepped out of the ferry I knew I loved the place.
I spent the first couple of days getting lost in Stonetown on purpose. Strolling down narrow and winding streets I listened to the people speaking in their fairytale-like language, enjoyed the smell of freshly brewed coffee and exotic spices in the air, watched women wearing colourful khangas and children playing ball in the streets. What I enjoy the most about this place is the way people with different cultures and religion live side by side in mutual respect and harmony. It is difficult to pinpoint exactly what Swahili culture is, because it is the mixture of many different cultural influences: African, Indian, Arabic, even Portuguese and English (to a small extent) that makes out the Swahili culture.
When I decided I had enough of getting lost on purpose I started getting lost involuntarily.
The streets here have no logic whatsoever and there are no street names. The streets are too narrow and the buildings too high in order to use 'classical' markers, such as church towers or mosques. But now, shortly before leaving of course, I feel like I have learned my way around :)
Even though I could have stayed in Stonetown forever, I decided to explore the island as well.
I went on a 'Spicetour' which was a tour to a spice plantation close to Stonetown. It was interesting to see how the fresh spices looked like and I think the guide was quite impressed with me, as I knew (or guessed correctly) many of the spices he showed us.. ;-)
After that I went to Jambiani in the southeast. I arrived there with the Dalla Dalla (public transport) and had absolutly no idea where I was going to stay. Furthermore I didn't know that Jambiani is Zanzibar's longest town (3+ km) so when I arrived I was at the southernmost tip of the town. I decided to start walking and ask every guesthouse along the way for the price of a room.. I soon figured that the prices are considerably higher at the beaches than in Stonetown (most of the places charging 60+$ per night!!) After having walked for 90 minutes with my backpack in the midday heat and being REALLY tired I was approached by a guy wearing a Bayern Muenchen Tshirt. He told me that his friend owned a new Guesthouse which he could show me if I wanted. Even though my natural reaction was to be somewhat sceptical I decided to trust the guy and he showed me to the place.
The place was called Jumba Baya (bed palace) or in short 'JB' and it was owned by this local guy Kishuka. The price for a night was fair (15$) and the place was clean. So I decided to stay there.
In retrospect I am really happy that I did. I had the most amazing 3 days in Jambiani. Kishuka would sit and teach me Kiswahili every morning and evening and told me many things about Swahili culture. The first night he said to me that he thanks God that I arrived at his place as low season has been especially hard on him..
The beach in Jambiani was beautiful. The sand was so fine that it felt like soft butter between the toes.The water was very clear but only swimable during high tide. At low tide you would see all the women of the village either sitting in the sand or standing bent-over their small fields of sea-grass, planting, maintaining or picking the sea grass for drying. Apparently sea grass is exported to the EU and USA for the cosmetic industry..
The second day I went to the beach and a guy, who called himself 'Captain Cook' approached me and asked if he could cook lunch for me: octopus in coconut sauce. Even though I'm not the biggest fan of octopus I agreed and Captain Cook ran off into the lowtide and caught an octopus for me (it doesn't get any fresher than that!). When it was time to eat he put several pots on the table.. rice, vegetables and the octopus which he hadn't bothered to cut into pieces and therefore was still whole and watching me. Normally I am not squirmish with food but I must admit that I lost my appetite jut a little.. I asked him how do you eat it. He replied: 'you just cut!'.. Easier said than done.. the octopus was very chewy and tasted fishy.. The problem was he was watching me eat the food so I had to pretend I liked it ('mhhh') in order to not insult him. The rice and coconut sauce was delicous by the way! When I finished I said to my self I would never eat octopus again.. I arrived at the Guesthouse just to find a very proud Kishuka telling me that today he would cook 'Makujat', octopus soup, for me. Makujat is eaten by men only (especially two days before a wedding) and is supposed to make you strong. I didn't have the heart to tell Kishuka that I didn't like octopus and I was also very honoured that he considered me his 'Rafiki' (friend) and wanted to cook for me.. so I ate the soup.
After my stay in Jambiani I went up North first to Matemwe at the East coast and then to Kendwa West. Kendwa was incredible. The beach was swimable at all times and there was even a small coral reef just 5 meters from shore :) One day I went diving at the marine conservation area 'Mnemba Island'. The absolute highlight were the whitetip reefsharks and the turtles :)
And now I'm back in Stonetown heading for Dar es Salaam on Wednesday. I'll probably stay in Dar es Salaam for a couple of days and then taking the bus to Moshi afterwards. From there I will arrange my hike up Mt Kilimanjaro :)
