Not a lot to say about Zanzibar really. We bussed from Arusha 10
hours to Dar on a nice bus with good roads. The next morning we took
the ferry on calm seas from Dar to Stonetown on Zanzibar island and
went straight from there to the Northern beaches. I saw a shark
feeding on something in the water and got pretty excited about it, but
one of the locals brushed my off with "It's very rare to see shark,
you probably saw a dolphin". I felt like telling him that my degree in
biology, masters in fish anatomy and avidity of watching Attenborough
documentaries made me pretty damn sure it was a shark, but I thought
better being a jerk. Instead I thought I'd rely my smart ass comments
to you so that you can think I'm a jerk. Ha.
The hotel in Kendwa was great, with beautiful white powder
beaches and turquoise waters. It felt strange being in such luxury
after so many weeks of living a more simple life in Dar and Ifakara.
There were people there who obviously go to Zanzibar like North
Americans go to Cuba and that was harder to justify. However, I can't
deny that it was nice to relax on the beach and there were some nice
little coral reefs withing 30 meters of the sand, with all sorts of
fish that loved to eat the bread and banana I brought them. The
weirdest thing by far that we saw there were Masaai guys full on
making out with European girls. These masaai were decked out in
traditional clothing, with ceremonial wrist and ankle decorations,
complete with designer watches and white-rimmed sunglasses. It was so
strange. I can't in good conscious really call them masaai. I wonder
what herds of livestock they are tending on those beaches?
After two nights in Kendwa, we spent one night in Stonetown, which is
a beautiful city, chock full of mzungus with lots of money and many
stores with fun souvenirs to spend it in. Unfortunately this means
that everyone on the streets and in the shops is out for your money.
Touts can be quite aggressive in bringing you to their shops or their
taxis and we had a couple guys blatantly lie to use about ferries so
we would use a company they get commission from instead of the one we
wanted. It was a tough thing for me to do, but I had to just ignore
these people, who I felt were trying to take advantage rather than
help. It made me angry that many people would be taken advantage of
like this. Anger is not a great feeling to leave the island of
Zanzibar with, so it was a bitter sweet ending to our trip there. I
managed to pick up a few nice gifts for people at home though, at what
I considered fair prices.
The trip home was good, if long (40 hours if you count the time
travelling from the ferry the morning of our flight). I managed to
squeeze a couple hour visit to downtown Zurich into my lay-over there,
which was nice, if hard to rationalize the drastic swing in cultures.
Erin, Meredith and I spent some time grabbing croissants and coffee
and walking along the river and the incredibly clean cobblestoned
streets. It was an odd feeling not to have everyone staring at us and
even coming up to say hi. I think I'm missing that about the Tanzanian
culture already. Literally though, I'm not sure you could find a much
further extreme from the crowded hot and filthy streets of Dar. Erin
and Meredith were staying overnight in Zurich, so we parted ways
there: I had a plane to catch to bring me home to my wife!
(Interesting tidbit: Absence does, in fact, make the heart grow
fonder).
I suppose this is the end of my African blog and if you've stayed with
me all the way, I want to thank you for your perseverance and for any
encouraging words you've sent to me along the way. I've enjoyed
sharing my experiences with the blogosphere (that is actually in the
Word dictionary… sad, sad, sad) and expect a major motion film to be
made of my exploits in the near future, so stay tuned (all proceeds
will go to the Tanzanian health care system, scout's honour). Asante
sana na tutaonana baadaye Tanzania! (Thank you very much Tanzania and
we'll see each other again)
No comments:
Post a Comment