We had to get up at 5am in Arusha to catch the early bus that we hoped would get us to Dar Es Salaam in time for the last ferry over to Stone Town, Zanzibar. The first obstacle was getting out of the guesthouse in the wee, dark hours. We’d told the reception staff the evening before that we would be up early to catch the bus and checked that the gate would be open. No problem they said but on finally waking up someone who had the key to the gate they wouldn’t let us out, as we didn’t have a taxi. Arusha does not have the best track record in terms of street safety, it was still pitch black and the girls we’d woken up were simply concerned for our safety. To be honest we’d not felt that the town was dangerous at all but we’d actually spent very little time there even though we’d been in and out of the place.
Anyway they woke up an older gentleman who I suspect has the eaves of shops as a place to kip in on a daily basis and asked him to go and find us a taxi. He duly did and off we set to the bus stand that to be honest wasn’t all that far away but even we didn’t fancy carrying all our gear that far. We were soon all aboard with the sun rising. We knew it was going to be a very long journey but it passed quickly while watching the scenery go by and gradually get greener and lusher as we descended. During the lunch stop we got down to wearing t-shirts – bare arms, unprecedented!
The bus annoyingly dropped us on the outskirts of town and showed no signs of progressing to the stop in town near the ferry point as we’d been informed. So we had to get down and were soon swamped by taxi drivers all asking crazy prices. Eventually got to the point where we were only going to be marginally ripped off and time was becoming of an essence if we were going to catch that last ferry. Once at the ferry booking office the bus stand had seemed calm and pleasant in comparison. Trying to get a ticket and get onto the ferry was about as frustrating as it gets. The touts are constantly in your face and hassle you to the point of anger and that is not an emotion you want to show as a guest in someone else’s country. Just to add to it all, tourist prices are quoted in US dollars but you pay in the local Thsilling with a shocking exchange rate. By this point we were totally wound up and it wasn’t a good introduction to our side trip to Zanzibar.
We soon relaxed on the boat only to be thoroughly wound up again within about 10 mins of being on Zanzibar. Even though the island is part of Tanzania we had to go through immigration so more annoying forms to complete and queue up at passport control. Steve only just had enough pages left in his passport for this trip and we hadn’t reckoned on the muppet behind the counter stamping a brand new page even though we were in the same country. This left the last page in his passport as the only blank one and sometimes countries are funny about using that page. Steve was understandably thoroughly annoyed by this point and our moods weren’t improved on being pounced upon by taxi and hotels touts the minute we got out of the gates. We hadn’t booked anywhere to stay but pretended we had so hopped in a taxi. He in turn pretended the road was closed and went 3 sides of a square to try to justify his rip-off fare.
Predictably the place we’d hoped to stay in was full and the taxi driver was still lurking around ready to turn into a hotel tout. I stayed in the guesthouse with all the bags while Steve went to find somewhere else to stay – the taxi driver followed him! No luck in the couple of places near-by and it was pitch black so we got the big torch out for Steve to be able to find his way and use as a weapon if need be. The girls in the guesthouse in Arusha had made us feel a bit wary after dark. Steve finally shook off the taxi driver and found somewhere for the night that was somewhat over-priced. Why oh why is everything so very expensive in Tanzania?
Anyway we grabbed something to eat and crawled into bed hoping to wake refreshed the next morning and ready to view Stone Town with new eyes. Unfortunately the bed wasn’t very comfortable and the included breakfast didn’t add to our enjoyment of our stay in Victoria House Hotel. However we were determined to start the day positively and we did have breakfast on an open sided upstairs balcony over-looking old colonial buildings and the sun was shining.
Stone Town
The first job was to find somewhere else to stay that night and move our bags. We eventually settled on a place that wasn’t brilliant but it was half the price of the previous night. It was only for one night before we headed off to the beach. So we spent the rest of the morning doing a few more chores like posting letters and catching up with e-mails. Seeing how much more money people had donated to Unicef and reading some lovely congratulatory messages very much cheered us up and we were ready to give Stone Town a fair go.
The town is very ye olde worlde with narrow streets and old stone buildings – in fact it was just what we’d expected. We enjoyed wandering down the lanes taking in the sights without any particular destination in mind. Unfortunately the main waterfront park area was under renovation but we still tracked down a good spot for sunset beer – of course! The most popular place on the front is Mercury’s and yes you guessed it, it’s named after he of Queen fame who was born in Stone Town. The house in which he was born is now one of many gift shops but of course we refused to go in that too! We had a look in plenty of other shops but weren’t tempted to part with our cash.
Stone Town has many old buildings that are worth a look at and it does have a reasonable amount of things to keep you entertained. Just off shore is Prison Island where they have some giant tortoises that were introduced over 100 years ago and, not surprisingly, an old prison. We were almost tempted but it seemed very expensive for the distances involved and we were fed up of paying over the odds. So instead we enjoyed exploring a bit more of the old town before taking in a bit of culture. The National Museum ‘The House of Wonders’ constantly gets good write-ups so we thought we’d have a peek to see what all the fuss was about. Let’s just say we’re still wondering! That evening we got ourselves comfy on Seaview Indian Restaurant’s balcony for sunset beer and tasty veggie Indian food all at a good price.
Paje Beach
Stocked up on supplies of bread, cheese and wine before jumping into a taxi to take us to ‘Paje by Night’ and our honeymoon treat. Even though this was meant to be the romantic treat part of the holiday you can’t take the pikey out of us and we knew wine would be beyond our tight means! Just as well we did go prepared and in fact we ended up buying all our water in the local shop too. How expensive?! Mind you we weren’t the only ones and the local shop was constantly full of tourists trying to stretch their money.
Paje by Night is one of a handful of posher resorts along Paje Beach and it appears Europeans run them for the most part. Ours turned out to be Italian run and we soon realised that by being English our face didn’t fit and we certainly didn’t get the warm reception and friendly banter everyone else got. Still we don’t mind fending for ourselves and are more than happy to be anti-social! The room itself was spacious and clean but very sparse. We didn’t have a private balcony but that wasn’t really communal since the rooms are so big. However we do enjoy sitting outside and in order to do so had to drag out the furniture from inside our room. Once we’d rearrange things to our liking we relaxed in their lovely garden reading up on the room rules and the activities and trips they had on offer. I’m sure you know what’s coming next – all way, way over-priced. So while Steve had a little snooze I took great delight in breaking as many room rules as I could. First of all we needed some clean clothes so hand-washing was the order of the day and I tied my washing line up outside in the sun. At least I wasn’t trying to hide the fact that I’d blatantly done washing in the room and at $3 just to wash one pair of knickers I didn’t care! It would have been more expensive to get the clothes washed than to buy them all again and for once I’m not exaggerating.
Once Steve had woken up and was feeling refreshed it was time for lunch. Time to break a couple more rules by having food from outside, keeping it in our room and eating on our balcony. We sound terrible don’t we but there was something about the atmosphere / attitude of the place that woke my rebellious streak. The place was nice enough but nothing like we’d hoped and to be honest if we hadn’t already paid 4 nights up front we’d have moved on.
That afternoon we went to explore the beach and to find out if Zanzibar really was the tropical, paradise spice island it’s billed as. Paje Beach is a wide, long stretch of pristine white sand with the sea way, way off in the distance. I’m pleased to say that later in the day the Indian Ocean did put in an appearance but it was far too chilly for swimming in. I know, as I popped my big toe in to find out! Steve wasn’t to be diddled out of a dip and took the plunge – he lasted seconds!! The worst part was not being able to them warm up in the sun as it was blowing a gale and even fully clothed it wasn’t what you’d call warm. Certainly not what we’d consider warm but plenty of other twits up and down the beach were pretending to be sunbathing. There was no other option than to retreat into a beach bar – shame!
We’d decided that we would have a treat that night and eat in Paje by Night’s restaurant as we had high hopes of good Italian food considering who the owners were. The restaurant was not well designed with the tables far too crammed in so it didn’t turn out to be a romantic candle lit dinner. We should know by now that we’re not the romantic dinner types but we thought we’d give it a go for once! The food wasn’t even as good as ordinary and we vowed that by the end of our 4-night stay we would not have added anything else to our bill. Just as well we’d brought a wine box with us! Just to complete my moan - the set breakfasts were served Fawlty Towers’ style every morning and by the 4th one we were fed up of exactly the same routine, same food and having to share the tables with scantily clad Italians. They won’t have noticed how much it was to do laundry, as they obviously didn’t bring any clothes!
The next day it was still blowing a gale so that was lying on the beach and dipping in the ocean off the agenda. Instead we decided to explore the area, as we had to find alternative food sources since it wouldn’t have been much of a honeymoon if we’d only eaten butties on the balcony!! We walked along the road to the next bay to find it was almost the same set up as Paje but at least we knew the grass wasn’t greener. With the beach being so wide we walked back that way stopping every now and then for a drink and a study of the menu.
At one point we were pestered by a group of children and I have to confess that I am incredibly intolerant of small people when I’m on holiday! Not only were they being annoying but also they wouldn’t go away even when we made it very clear they wouldn’t be getting anything from us. Now we know many families have very little in that part of the world but we refuse to encourage their begging by giving. If it weren’t for people like the 2 stupid English ladies we’d seen earlier in the day the children wouldn’t feel it was worth their while. Not only did these 2 ladies give pens to the children but they went back to their room to find something else too. By the end of it the children walked away with a watch, shawl, pounds and dollars. I was furious and it took all my restraint not to go and approach them. I still feel that I should have spoken out but I really didn’t want to cause a scene and I was feeling too angry to have put my point across rationally.
We carried on down the beach but nowhere grabbed us for that evening and in fact that night we ended up at the locals bar where the only thing for me to eat was chapattis and tomato sauce. However we had a very enjoyable evening talking to some of the locals and watching the daft young westerners chatting up the fake Maasai warriors. Having exhausted beach fun much sooner than anticipated it was time to try to hire some bikes and head off inland to Jozani Forest and then continue on a huge loop along the coast.
Sounded like a straightforward plan didn’t it? Hiring bikes turned out to be a huge hassle. Initially we tried to break our vow of not giving Paje by Night any more money by asking about the sad contraptions they had. They weren’t great but would have done, however, on being asked where we were going they said we needed to lock the bikes. Fair enough we’ll take a lock, we haven’t got one, yes we have, oh actually no we haven’t. We left with our cash still firmly in our pockets and our vow standing! We’d seen a bike hire sign further down the beach so went to investigate, as the only other option was to do battle with the touts. Found the place (Jambo Restaurant) but we wouldn’t be able to get bikes until the next morning and to be honest this suited us just fine as we’d run out of enthusiasm for cycling.
We went back to Jambo’s for dinner that night just to double check that they’d got the message that we wanted 2 bikes and a lock for the following morning. No problem – allegedly. We were up and at the restaurant at the arranged time ready to go but of course ‘bike man’ was no where to be seen and there was only one very decrepit bike hanging around. Our man eventually emerged from a tent on the beach looking very much like he was still stoned from the night before. Not looking good is it?! Lo and behold the 2 wheels attached to a frame we’d spied turned out to be one of those for rent and another was coming. So we waited even longer for a not quite so shabby but not what you’d call fully functional bike to appear. We decided to give it a go against out better judgement.
It took ages to push the bikes to the road to be able to try them out – disaster. The only thing that worked on Steve’s bike was that the wheels turned – the seat was the first thing to fall off, the gears weren’t going to be shifted for anything and the brakes were none existent. So we pushed the bikes back and asked for our money back. The cheeky bugger wanted to keep a fraction of the money for the half hour we’d been unfortunate enough to be in the possession of his so called bicycles. We stood our ground until a full refund was submitted. By this point time was getting on and we’d lost all enthusiasm again. Obviously this whole episode hadn’t gone unnoticed and another tout reckoned he could get us 2 good bikes within 15mins and at a much-reduced price. We decided to go for third time lucky. The bikes were no great shakes but most of the bits worked and we finally set off to explore more of Zanzibar with our main focus being Jozani Forest. We soon realised that the bikes were not going to let us fulfil our more ambitious sightseeing tour along the coast so we settled for going to the forest and back. A real shame as the roads are very good and the traffic light but an hour in the saddle and we were already moaning of sore arses!
Jozani Forest
This is home to one of the world’s rarest monkeys – the red colobus monkey and of course I could not go all the way to Zanzibar without trying to find them. The forest reserve is very small and hence there are only a few pockets of these monkeys left and they are only to be found on Zanzibar. On paying the entrance fee we were told there were no rangers free to take us to look for these little fellas but we could walk the trails ourselves while we waited. We got to the park in between groups of tourists on island tours and so had the trails to ourselves and managed to see squirrels, an elephant shrew, a fleeting glimpse of some colobus monkeys and a big group of Sykes monkeys. Who needs a ranger?!
Once a ranger was free he took us to the area of the park over the road and there we were soon in among a big troop of red colobus monkeys. They have become so used to people that we could get much closer than we’d anticipated and were able to view them at length. They are very attractive animals with a calm nature and the young ones were very playful. There was a month old baby and we learnt that they don’t gain their red colour until 6 months old. It was lovely spending so long watching them and at such close quarters. Well worth all the hassle to hire the bikes.
Back to Stone Town
After settling the smallest bill Paje by Night had ever seen and doing battle with the touts once again for a taxi we were on our way back to Stone Town. Of course as soon as we stepped down from the van we had a swarm of touts around us. In fact the locals very aptly refer to them as papasi the Swahili word for ticks! We had at least half a dozen attached within minutes and they really are impossible to shake. We were trudging from one place to the next without joy and in the end allowed ourselves to be taken to a place. To be fair it was clean enough and a marked improvement on the dirty, dank cupboards we’d been shown up until then. Ever the optimist when it comes to TV’s in hotel rooms Steve switched on and was rewarded with cricket – Sri Lanka v India no less. That nicely kept us entertained while we cooled down (emotionally and physically!) and waited for the ticks to find someone else to annoy.
We spent the day wandering the streets of Stone Town once more and decided to see if we would have time to sneak in one last event – dolphin spotting. So we went back to our favourite sunset beer and Indian food balcony restaurant to find out. Sure enough we’d be able to go and they assured us we would be back in time to catch our afternoon ferry. So we were up early the next morning eager to find some aquatic mammals. I didn’t bother hiring any snorkelling gear, as I knew we’d be in deep water to find the dolphins. In fact in the end there were far fewer people choosing to swim with the dolphins than watching them from the boats. They are so incredibly fast and powerful that it seemed a pointless exercise to me although Steve said he did get a couple of good views of them and he quite enjoyed the experience. He would have been able to spend more time close to them if a boat hadn’t barged him out of the way. There were way too many boats out there and I felt they were hassling the dolphins as it wasn’t at all organised or controlled. We did see lots of dolphins but over-all I didn’t enjoy the experience.
Sure enough we got back in time to catch our ferry and say goodbye to Zanzibar. We had to spend the night in Dar Es Salaam before catching our flight to Entebbe, Uganda. Bye-bye Tanzania.
Recommended? – Not really, if you want a tropical spice island go to Sri Lanka!!
The hustling, jostling and immigration nonsense along with the touts make getting to and from Zanzibar by ferry a complete pain. Then the touts spend all the time annoying you while everyone else is ripping you off. It’s no island paradise, the beaches are fine but no where near as good as Malaysia or Thailand and it’s cold and windy! However, we did enjoy Stone Town and Jozani Forest.
