With our Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater adventure behind us, we’re ready to move on to another highlight of Tanzania — the tropical island of Zanzibar. The trip from Arusha to Dar Es Salaam will take us two full days to complete, all while admiring spectacular scenery en route.
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Allow me to introduce you to our new overland truck, Tommy. (Nomad Tours names all of its vehicles after dead rock stars.)
And here’s the inside, a fairly typical overland vehicle with rows of seats and lockers in the back for our bags.
Each of these lockers is quite deep and easily holds a large backpack and smaller bag. There is often congestion in the back when people grab their belongings, but everyone is pretty respectful and conscientious of not holding up the line.
Not long after departing Arusha, we stop for views of Kilimanjaro. The peak is hidden behind cloud cover but that’s okay because I already know what it looks like.
We stop every hour or two so that our tour guide, Norman, can tell us more information about the area and culture.
This baobab tree produces little pods that are the size of your palm — Norman opens one to show us and passes it around the truck.
I didn’t get a decent photo, so here’s one I found on-line:
[image via]
The baobab fruit is apparently considered a super fruit and its chalky seeds are used in smoothies. We each try a seed, and I don’t recall it having any particular flavor. It’s powdery and dissolves in my mouth.
More views from the overland truck window as we pass through Tanzanian countryside:
Each day we stop for lunch on the side of the road and set up a sandwich-making station with fruit for dessert. I cut up that fresh pineapple below! Everyone pitches in and it all gets done quickly. Same goes for drying and packing up the dishes.
A day and a half later we arrive in Dar Es Salaam, the gateway city to the island of Zanzibar. We will catch an afternoon ferry and get to the island just before sunset.
The boat below is called a dhow and it’s relatively iconic to this area. It’s a much cheaper and more dangerous way to get from Dar Es Salaam to Zanzibar instead of taking the ferry.
View from the ferry approaching Zanzibar…
I’ll write more about Zanzibar in future posts, but here’s some background on this island. It’s semi-autonomous — it would like to be its own nation, separate from mainland Tanzania, and that may happen someday — and local authorities will examine your passport upon arrival and departure. The island is 99% Muslim, which is clear from the ferry ride as Muslim females cover their heads, even very young girls. Violence is all too prominent on the island, politically and religiously motivated, and it’s something to keep in mind and research if you plan to visit Zanzibar. (For example, elections are happening in 2015 and things could heat up even more this year.) Tourists are essentially cordoned off to a few specific areas — Stone Town (right near the ferry), plantations where Spice Tours happen (inland), and Nungwi Beach (in the north). There are certainly other places to visit around the island but those are the primary tourist spots.
Our group stays at a hotel right on the beach not far from Stone Town (called Zanzibar Ocean View Hotel). It’s a little too far to walk to Stone Town from here, but for $15 each we can take a guided walking tour the next morning. This is our room:
We have an ocean front room! Our guide cautions the group not to complain, because some rooms might have better views that others. We luck out.
The beach is literally steps outside our door. But since it’s not safe after dark, a handful of armed men guard the stairs just outside our room. They’ll stay there all night long.
Locals play soccer on the beach around sunset:
Our group elects to dine at the hotel restaurant where the food is both good and reasonably priced. I order a fresh fish sandwich and two drinks, so you know I was having a good night:
And then our evening ended with a truly horrifying incident that I will talk about in the next post — I think my sister is still traumatized. Let’s just say that the guards with guns outside our door became very helpful in the middle of the night. More on Monday.
But we woke up to these views the next morning:
The tide was out, exposing the shoreline in front of the hotel.
We spot many women in the distance digging for shellfish in the shallow water:
We have a lot to look forward to — three full days on Zanzibar to explore Stone Town, go on a spice tour, and relax at Nungwi Beach.
Thanks to Nomad Tours for discounting this tour in exchange for blogging and photography. Opinions are my own.
