Zanzibar

After going to bed at 2am, I was woken by a phone call from the taxi driver at 4.37am to tell me that he was waiting for me outside. He wasn’t meant to be there until 5.15am, so I had to jump out of bed, got washed, dressed and head down to meet him. He drove me to the airport and we arrived at 6am. I had told him that I didn’t need to be there until 7.30am but he was being safe I suppose, so I had to wait for an hour and a half before check-in. Everything went smoothly in the airport and I managed to get some sleep on the rather turbulent journey to Zanzibar. When I arrived in Zanzibar I had to get a visa. I was a little confused when the man asked me for US$100 as I was expecting it to be US$50. Apparently Irish citizens have to pay more than British ones which is the opposite from Uganda.

After making my way to the hostel and getting settled in, I decided to go for a walk around the capital of Stonetown. It was a beautiful quaint town with lots of tiny shops and stalls to look around. The only problem was that everyone kept trying to persuade me to buy their things as I was travelling around alone. The girls who had been studying in Zambia were due to arrive the following morning, so I passed some time shopping, grabbed a bit to eat for dinner and then resorted to my hostel room by 7pm to watch a few dvds as I didn’t want to be out in the street on my own after dark.

After eating a yummy breakfast on the roof top terrace of the hostel, I was rather excited about seeing Kirsty and Rachel. When I returned to my room, I received a text from Kirsty saying that their train to Dar Es Saleem had broken down and that they would not arrive in Zanzibar until the following afternoon. So that meant another day of chilling out on my own in paradise. Some people may think of this as idyllic but it did get rather lonely.

By lunchtime on Tuesday, the girls FINALLY arrived. We dropped their bags off to the hostel and then went for a catch-up lunch. It was great to hear all of their stories as I could relate to so many of them. There were so many similarities in our experiences but they were totally unique at the same time. Later that evening we headed to a food market at the marina. It was beautiful and reminded me of the continental market at the City Hall during the Christmas period. We tried a few of the local dishes including chocolate and banana pizza and sugar cane juice. They were both pretty tasty.

By Wednesday, we decided to head up to the northern part of Zanzibar to hit the beach. We chose to stay at Nungwi in a place called Jambo Brothers. The first room they tried to give us had a leaky sink, no toilet seat and the door wouldn’t lock, so we ended up getting moved to another room. The room didn’t matter to us thought when we saw the beach. The sand was white and the water was turquoise. It was how you would imagine paradise.

African culture was paramount in Nungwi. Everything just took so long as they were so laid back about everything and never in a hurry. Kirsty and I ordered a fruit salad at the restaurant and we honestly thought that they were growing the fruit for us; it took that long to come.

The weather on Thursday, our first full day at the beach was awful. It poured down the entire day. It eased off a little at one point but it wasn’t for long as it soon started to empty again. Being from Northern Ireland we are used to the rain, but it’s not meant to rain in the paradise island of Zanzibar. We decided to try and not let it dampen our spirits and went for a swim in the sea anyway. It did reach the point where we had to go inside though but it was still nice to be able to catch up with the girls.


The sun was out in all its glory the following morning so the three of us were on the beach from bright and early. By 9am the heat was powerful. As we lay there, several beach boys approached us to try and sell us their things. Their ‘names’ made me laugh as they included Barack Obama and Stevie Wonder. We had a great time sunbathing, playing with the beach ball and also learning some Swahili.



Saturday was my final day in Zanzibar with the girls before heading back to Kampala to see Rachel again. We began the day on the beach once again and lay there for the majority of the morning. By the early afternoon, it was too hot to lie out so we decided to go and get some milkshakes instead. Later in the afternoon I spent my final time on the white sanded beach before heading for a shower. One of the Israeli boys we met informed us that there was hot water if you flicked a switch around the back of your room. I was so excited to finally have hot water but angry that I hadn’t realised before this.

My final night in Zanzibar included a party on the beach. This is a weekly occurrence in Zanzibar at the Kendwa resort so we headed there with some of the other travellers that we had met. Rachel decided to stay behind as she was feeling unwell but Kirsty and I had a great night just dancing away to all the African tunes that we had learnt over the few months and the old faithful that you know from home too. It was a great way to end my time in Zanzibar.

During my week in Zanzibar (East coast of Tanzania), I had a wonderful time and it was nice to get away from the city like ways of Kampala for a while. I think it has made me realise how little time I have left here thought and that I need to make the most of it and squeeze in every little memory that I can. Kirsty and Rachel have already left Zambia for good and miss it so much, and this has made me realise how much I am going to miss Uganda. I may not have learnt much in Zanzibar, other than a few Swahili terms and tasted new foods, but it was definitely a worthwhile experience and one I would never change.