ZANZIBAR


I had had a long-brewing interest in the Island of Zanzibar but strangely enough, this trip came as an afterthought. I was planning to tour Malaysia and Singapore in December of 2016. In October, however, certain things happened that made that trip unfeasible. But I still had to go somewhere, and that somewhere ended up being Zanzibar. I did what little planning was needed in a day or two. I would go by bus from Nairobi to Mombasa, and then take another bus from Mombasa to Dar es Salaam. In Dar es Salaam, I would stay a night and take the ferry for the short crossing to Zanzibar the following day.

    Dar es Salaam

I arrived in Dar es Salaam at 9:00pm on December 27 after close to twenty-four hours on the road and checked into a hotel on Livingstone Street. I was taken aback by how inexpensive the hotel was, minding that it was high season. The next morning I did a circuit of the city then got on the midday ferry to Zanzibar. The sea was calm and within approximately ninety minutes of departure, the Kilimanjaro IV ferry docked in Zanzibar. After getting through immigration, I took a taxi to Kwerekwe market, where I got on the daladala that would carry me to Paje. Paje is a touristy village about an hour’s journey South-East of Zanzibar town. It is Zanzibar’s backpackers’ Mecca.

    Aboard the Kilimanjaro IV, en route to Zanzibar.
Once in Paje, it took me a long time to locate my hostel. As a matter of fact, I was almost giving up when I ran into Billy—a South African diving instructor who was staying at the same hostel—at one of the beachside restaurants. He was kind enough to leave his drink unfinished and take me to Drifters Backpackers, where I was to stay for the next seven days. I had a bath after checking in and then joined the other patrons in the common area. There was a game of beer pong going on and I joined in. 
 Drifters Backpackers

Apart from being the birthplace of Freddie Mercury, Zanzibar is also famous for its spice and food markets, historical landmarks, luxury resorts, and pristine beaches. But I discovered that its nightlife—Paje’s nightlife at least—is every bit as stellar. It spans the gamut: bonfires, barbecues, beach parties, live music, even open-air movie shows. I got my inaugural feel of the beach party circuit that first evening at the Old Teddy’s “popo party”. Old Teddy’s is a popular backpackers hostel in Paje. We reveled until the early hours of morning--locals, tourists, as well as the latter's canines. I couldn’t have had a more impressive start to my vacation.

   Paje beach

The reputation that Zanzibar’s beaches enjoy is richly deserved. I spent much of the next day exploring them and swimming in the ocean. It was a welcome repose after two days of grueling travel. The beach does get a little crowded in late afternoon as kitesurfers come out to surf the high tide but even so, the powdery white sand and gentle breeze make it the best place to be at sundown.
   Taking it easy on the beach


As deserving of good reputation is Zanzibar’s historical city, Stone Town, which I toured on New Year’s Eve. Stone Town domiciles many historical and architectural sites: the palace museum, the old fort, St. Joseph’s cathedral and the house of wonders, to name but a few. I visited the house of wonders and the old fort, which I liked well enough. But what I loved best about Stone town were the medieval vibrations of its narrow streets. Between Vasco Da Gama’s arrival in 1498 and the bloody revolution of 1964 that secured independence, Zanzibar’s reins changed hands several times with the Portuguese, British, and Omani Arabs all having their turn at the helm. Stone town’s streets offer an eye-catching collage of these diverse influences.
   Forodhani Gardens. The House of Wonders is in the background.

    Inside the House of Wonders 


I wrapped up my circuit of Stone Town at Forodhani. Forodhani is a small park on the Indian ocean seafront that is popular for its food markets, greenery, and spectacular views of the vessel-dotted harbor. It is a nice place to watch the sunset, but I was not going to wait for sunset. There was a Barbecue going on at Drifters, as well as a string of parties lined up on Paje beach for New Year’s eve.
 Forodhani


For the remainder of my stay in Zanzibar, I had a cyclic routine: get up at noon, freshen up and have lunch, laze on the beach till sunset, have dinner, go to a party, go to bed at daybreak, and repeat. There wasn’t a night when we didn’t have a big party somewhere on Paje beach or in the abutting villages. Among the many I went to, the one that stood out was a live reggae show at the Red Monkey beach lounge in Jambiani, just a few kilometers south of Paje. It had the benefit of very capable musicians, as well as the irreproducible spectacle of white people trying to dance to reggae. Of all the places I have visited, none has a nightlife scene as electrifying as Paje. Not even Bangkok.

I decided to break my routine the day before I was due to leave Zanzibar. That morning I went to a restaurant called Jambo to lease a bicycle for the day. When I asked the leaser what documentation he required from me, he said he only needed fedha (money). That is how you know you’re in Tanzania. Such a thing would be inconceivable in Nairobi.

I pedaled to an area on the Southern tip of Zanzibar called Makunduchi, about twenty kilometers from Paje. Although there wasn’t anything of interest here, exploring Zanzibar from a bicycle saddle was a singular experience. When I got back to Paje that evening, I decided to extend my stay in Zanzibar by a day. That would mean missing the bus from Dar Es Salaam to Mombasa, but it was a price worth paying.
    Makunduchi
It’s hard to finger what makes Zanzibar so likeable. Is it the temperance and cordiality of its people? Is it its beauty? Its rich history? Its legendary nightlife? Well, none of those things are peculiar to Zanzibar. What makes the place so agreeable, I think, is the fact that it possesses a startling abundance of each.

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