Zanzibar (Tanzania)

Zanzibar: Brace the Paradise

Just take step back and relax!

Why Zanzibar, you ask. Good question, I am not sure even I know. 😀 We were to travel extensively for over a week in Kenya doing safaris and DH knew we would all need a good relaxing break before returning to our usual daily hustle. Just an hour away from Nairobi - the warm sands, the shades of blue, the calm and peace sure was hard to say no to; and so emerged those blissful days in Zanzibar (Tanzania). 

PS - jump to the bottom of the page for some FAQs! 

Day 1: Sleeping Child!

I wonder why my first day is always just about getting there! 😄 Anyway, we departed from Nairobi on a late evening flight and reached Zanzibar a little after 10 at night. DH had booked tickets with Precision Air for the Africa internal flight. There was a slight change to our timing but, no show stopper there. The airlines was fairly smooth offering 1 check in and 1 carry on luggage each; and offered a drink and decent side of cashew nuts even in that quick one hour flight. 

Our abode for our time in Zanzibar was a hotel called Paje by Night, just a 30 seconds walk from the spell-bounding Paje beach. A good hour or more away from the airport, the hotel offers an airport pick up/drop off at $50. We were promptly picked up by our driver, Hamizi from the airport and it was close to midnight by the time we got to our hotel. The porters were very helpful and prompt, bringing our bags quickly in and offering us a huge platter of welcome fruits. Of course, all we did was to hit the bed that night tired from the journey. 

Day 2: Braids and Blues!

Colors from Nature's Own Palette

Of course, we all woke up at our sweet time to a very beautiful blue skied morning in Zanzibar. Abesh, DH and I sat in our balcony chatting and nibbling the welcome fruit platter (water melon, mango, papaya & banana) as Rupkatha slumbered on. Soon we all sitting at the breakfast lounge and ordered the huge complimentary breakfasts at the hotel. Special mention to the fresh juice they offer - fresh, unsweetened and just fruit mushed up. Each day was a different flavor and it was health and taste in a glass. 

True to his words, DH let us all go into hibernating bear modes as we relaxed and practically did nothing all morning. Friends who know us know that this is something so not our style! 😃 The kids and DH hit the pool at the hotel, chilling & playing there for the longest time. 

Later on in the afternoon, we walked the quick 30 seconds to the beach and boy oh boy, the colors yonder are beyond words. There were blues of so many shades, so called masais draped in red and water and skies dotted with colorful kites of the kite surfing folks. It takes a minute or two to soak it all in, remember that you're still on earth and move beyond. We chose Mr. Kahawa to hang out and enjoy the beauty in front of us. We ordered a Kilimanjaro (Tanzanian beer), Barafu (coconut snow cone made with shaved coconut) and their seafood platter (fish fingers, octopus, calamari & tuna tartar with dips, olives, breads and chips). Special mention to the coconut snow cone - it was extremely unique and delicious. 

The African Hair-do!

Men dressed as Masai constantly strike up a conversation in hopes to sell their wares and local Tanzanian women smile flashing their wares too and offer braiding and henna tattoo options. Rupkatha was eager to get her hair braided the African way and before long we struck a fair bargain with one them local ladies (started with 30,000 TSH and settled at 20,000 TSH approx. $8). It did take quite a while to go thru Rupkatha's thick short crop of a hair; however, it was cuteness overload at the end of what seemed forever. 😊

Suggestion - of course you should bargain but, remember those 20,000 TSH would bring a fair few meals for the seller's family. So, bargain but, not mighty hard. 

Am I Surprised?

It was evening by the time we returned to our hotel and the tide was well into the beach as we walked back with the waves lapping at our ankles. Showered and clean, we were whiling time away when we heard some chittering outside. Puzzled we stepped outside to find so many cute little Colobus monkeys chittering and jumping in the big trees around the hotel. Shy creatures with permanently surprised faces, they swung from branch to branch adding a life filled flavor to the calm around. 

Our hotel was Italian owned and had a quaint pool side Italian restaurant. Not wanting to venture too much, we decided to have dinner there ordering spaghetti for the kids and pizza for us - both were really good. We'd ordered Stone Tanhawizi (Tanzanian ginger beer - kid friendly and pretty effervescent & gingery) as Abesh sipped, something that would become a craze with him as the days unfolded. 

Day 3: Doors to the Yester Years! 

A little Pink at Nungwi Beach!

Our plan for the day was to visit the Nungwi beach and the Stone town! We hired a cab from our hotel at their flat rate of $65 for the whole day plus a driver. 

Information - you can also hire a car (without a driver) for just $20 for the day if you wish to drive. Remember all cars have the stick shift (gear) and are right hand drive.

We started post breakfast and drove the 1.5 hours to Nungwi Beach. Where we initially got off seemed like a local place with fishermen, fishing boats all around. The beach was strewn with sea weed as we walked up the beach towards the more touristy side. We decided to hang out at the Istanbul Restaurant and seated ourselves at their sprawling sofas. We ordered some more Stone Tanhawizi, fresh coconut water and their hummus platter as the kids submerged into their Asterix books and we into chit-chatting and enjoying the beauty around.  

After spending about 2 hours at the restaurant, we decided to walk back to our car. The Nungwi beach is filled with beautiful shells. The ocean water is warm creating the perfect temperature and environment for exoskeleton organisms (organisms that have shells). Rupkatha and Abesh walked back the entire way collecting the most beautiful shells. 

Piano Time at the Freddy Mercury Museum

Back in our car, we embarked on the one hour journey to the Stone Town. We decided to hire a guide at the Stone Town as getting around the thin winding alleys would otherwise be rather hard. Our driver called his friend who met us at the entrance of the Stone Town. It started with quick peek into the history where we learnt that Zanzibar was stitched with two words - Zanzi (people of black skin) and Bar (land); so, the land of the black skinned people. Next we visited the souvenir stores but, decided not to shop there. 

Our guide walked us to the Freddy Mercury Museum (dedicated after the famous vocalist from the rock band, Queens). Priced at $10 per adult and $5 per child - it's a small museum with pictures and hand written songs and a piano used by Freddy Mercury himself. Not a must but, if you're a fan of any of the Queens songs, I would strongly recommend adding this to your checklist. 

Door to the History!

After that we checked out the old buildings and old doors of the Stone town. Special mention to the intricate wood carvings, huge bolts & spikes and the simple enormity of the doors. Some buildings are now hotels, some shops and some are still homes to the locals - what an interesting mix! Some doors had the eagle, lion and serpent carved onto them representing that royalty used to live. Built about 200 years ago, the Stone town is a step back into the past. We were lucky enough to a witness wedding procession in one of the alleys where brightly dressed women danced and laughed to loud drum beats. We didn't get to see the bride or groom though! 😃

We walked around some more and made our way to the Darajani Market first walking thru the little shambling stalls selling fruits and vegetables. Next a fishy stench welcomed us as we walked into the fish market section of the same. This market was built by the British back in their colonial era with different sections for different produces. Huge (and I mean it when I say huge - one fish can feed a 100 easily) fish like tuna, etc stared back at us with buyers and sellers haggling over prices and cuts. We quickly walked around the area and stepped into the spice and tea section of the market. We'd let our guide know we'd like to buy some and he led us to a shop. We bought some ground spice and flavored tea. 

Let Stone Town Amaze You!

With that, we decided to get some coffee and rest at one of the roof top coffee bars in Stone town and our guide led us to the beautiful Swahili House with a coffee shop on the 4th floor if I remember correctly (yes, they have an elevator if you're lazy and stairs if you feel energized 😄). The kids ordered home-made Hibiscus Iced tea, DH some sorta fresh fruit smoothie and I Kahawa (or Tanzanian coffee). Phew, that coffee was strong! They also had small pool about a feet deep to sit with your feet dipped in and enjoy. 

Relaxed, we walked over to our final destination, the Forodhani market or the street food market. Honestly, we were very nervous to eat there as it was completely street food and what could possibly follow was unknown to us. We walked around the market looking at all the delicious bbq sticks and what nots contemplating whether to eat or just walk away. But, came that one moment, where we decided to go for it and ordered shawarma wraps for all of us (to be safe - we decided to skip the salad & the sauces especially for the kids, tough DH ate it with it all) at the Ali Baba food stall and OMG...it was so so delicious! Abesh also chose a chicken skewer which they grill fresh and that too was so good...yum! DH braved the sugarcane juice! And be the shawarma or chicken skewer it was all just $1 each - imagine a dinner for a dollar or two each! Phew! And trust me, let your fears be - we were as fine we could be. 

We met our driver at 6ish to drive back to our hotel. Happy tired from our day, we all showered and hit the bed early that night! 

Day 4: Dhow dhow dhow your boat!

Star-studded show!

Yet another day by the beach when post breakfast we changed into swim suits and walked over to the beach side restaurant owned by our hotel, Paje by Night restaurant. Mattresses to lounge on, we grabbed two for the day as I sunk into one and DH & the kids scuttled away for the kids' first ever dip in the Indian Ocean. It was partly cloudy in the morning and it was quite magnificent to see the colors change around as the sun played peek-a-boo. Soon I saw DH and the kids running excitedly towards me and that's when I learnt they had struck a deal with one of the dhow (local boats) owners to take us for an hour's ride into the ocean. With very low tide we had waded thru the water for some time before we reached our dhow. 

Snorkel Surprise!

The dhow is a thin wooden boat with about two planks and the side to sit on. Nothing cushioned but, raw, wild and local! Soon we were sailing with the morning wind breezing around. We sailed over beds of seaweed and multitude of sea-urchins deeper into the ocean. We saw lots of star fish and coral as well. What took us by a pleasant surprise is that the boatmen actually had snorkel gear and flippers for going into the ocean and seeing the corals, starfish & sea-urchins up close. Kids and DH enjoyed that a lot and spend a good part of an hour snorkeling there. The boatman's son helped the kids and swam with them ensuring their safety the entire time they were in the water. 

He Called to the Fish!

The sun had risen well high into the sky and the colors around were unearthly. While waiting for the others to finish snorkeling, I saw a local fisherman with his rickety boat getting his catch for the day. It's always fascinating to see how local life ticks amongst all the glitzy pomp and show that goes with expensive tourism. Soon we were back at Paje by the Beach for some lunch as all that ocean breeze and excitement got our tummies hungry. We ordered their seafood pizza, grilled fish with spinach and fries, mushroom bao and of course the Stone Tangawizi!😊 The fish was grilled great - soft and no fishy smell & the seafood pizza was simply loaded with shrimps and calamari! 

Information: DH had bargained (yes, keep bargaining) and settled for something between $20 - $25 ONLY for the dhow boat ride including the snorkeling. Of course, we tipped well later once we were back at the shore!

Also, apply sunscreen but, expect tanning to a very large extent once the sun is out and you're in those salty waters. 

Shop Till You Drop!

DH and the kids went back into the ocean for some more bathing and I almost had to drag a very teary version of all 3 back to the hotel! 😃 Showered and clean, we decided to explore the little dusty street outside the hotel with souvenir shops and little local food eateries. We entered the first few shops and wow, they were expensive! We continued exploring until we came across the last shop called The Living Room - they turned out to be reasonably priced and even gave us a good bargain as we did almost all our shopping there. 

Following the advice of our hotel owner, we chose Africana restaurant for our dinner. A slightly dark but popular little place where locals and tourists ate alike. We decided to try their Zanzibar Pilav, bbq goat and a local chicken dish (I can't remember the name) - the goat and the pilav, which by the way came with a side of some meat curry were really good. Tummies, bags and hearts full, we walked back to our room and called it a night there! 

Day 5: It's Stoney Time! 

We were to fly back home the next day and after breakfast it was all about packing and packing. We spent some time splashing the hotel pool, before, DH convinced us all back to head back to the beach one more time, one last time. We went back to Mr. Kahawa where we our seat for the day was a sprawling cane couch which thanks to the three water people I have in my family, I pretty much had to myself. 

His Stoney and meat said Him!

Abesh was now sipping his zillion-th Stone Tangawizi and we ordered a lunch of octopus in coconut curry and a platter of fish fingers. Keeping the tradition on DH also ordered in the barafu (coconut snow cone) & tall glass of hibiscus tea. The three spent a lot of time dipping in the ocean, moving in closer and closer to the beach with the tide. I later learnt that at one point DH and the kids were surrounded by a huge school of tiny silver fish, moments beautiful & romantic beyond words. 

Back at our hotel and showered, we were soon beelining back to Africana for our final dinner in Zanzibar, final in Tanzania, final in Africa - at least this time on. We ordered the grilled lobster, Zanzibar pilav and the chicken soup - all equally good. We were done early this evening and came back to our hotel to lounge on the many hammocks and observe the fairy-light studded skies above us and the stars smiled and shined back at us. 

Day 6: Curtain Fall

Once again our taxi awaited us, we grabbed our to go breakfasts and were soon driving towards the airport via the quiet countryside and the bustling city of Zanzibar. The airport is a small one but, complete with a coffee and a gift shop. We bought some last souvenirs at the shop after security and the kind man gave us huge bar of chocolate wafers as a gift. Kindness still exists! 😊

Boarded our flight to fly back to Nairobi where we were to wait a few hours before our flight back home. Some time into the flight, the attendant announced that we could see Mt. Kilimanjaro and there it stood with its white head waving back at us for the second time in the very month (the first being at Amboseli National Park at Kenya). 

Bye bye blues, bye bye bliss, bye bye Zanzibar! Maybe one day again we shall meet. 

FAQs:

• Hotel: 
• Paje By Night (not overly fancy but, laid back, historic and has all amenities; plus a pool, hammocks in the sprawling gardens, in venue restarant): https://pajebynight.net/
• Places to hang out at the Paje beach:
• Mr. Kahawa (Swahili + contemporary): https://www.mrkahawa.com/restaurant-coffee/
• Paje by Night restaurant (Italian inspired, seafood): https://pajebynight.net/
• Local food:
• Africana near the Paje Beach (bbq, local soups, local rice dishes)
• Tanzanian Visa
• $100 per person (adult or child) for US citizens
• Vaccination
• Covid (we were not checked at the airport though)
• Yellow Fever (we flew in from Nairobi, Kenya to Zanzibar and were asked to show our yellow fever vaccination cards)
• Tipping culture
• Yes - TSH, dollar, pound, euro accepted 
• Drinking water
• bottled or as provided by the hotel only
• Recommendations:
• if you have sufficient nights at Zanzibar you can also split your stay between a beach side hotel and the Stone Town 
• if you are to spend a 100$s on the visa you might want to club your visit to Zanzibar with the Serengeti National Park (and possibly some others)
• safari first and then relax at Zanzibar is what I would say!