The next morning I caught my prearranged early bus ride across the island to the east side beach of Bweju, where Jen and John were staying. After considerable delay, due to another passenger wanting to stop at every hotel and guest house for a detailed inspection before picking one, I finally arrived at my destination: The Twisted Palm guest house, a small group of 6 huts located about 50 feet from the water, where for $15us a night I got a double bed with mosquito net, my own bathroom, and breakfast!
I hoofed it up the beach to the Breezes hotel and caught up with Jen and John just in time to join them for an afternoon of snorkeling, while they completed their PADI dive certification. When we got back we caught up over a spot of lunch before John retreived a kit-surfing training kite and we played with that for a while (loads of fun)...with me almost succeeding in getting it stuck in a palm tree! After dinner and saying good-bye I headed back to the Twisted Palm and fell asleep listening to gentle waves.
The Lonely Planet guide was pretty spot on when they said of Bweju, "nothing much more to do other than wander along the sand and listen to the breezes rustling the palm trees," and for the next 3 days I did little else than read a few books in a beach side hammock, a bit of swimming and beach wandering, away from the hassling touts and other tourists. It was a fantastic break, and turned Zanzibar into one of my favorite stops so far.
Because Zanzibar was originally a big exporter of spices, there are still several farms that give informational tours about the different spices followed by a lunch of food made with many of the spices you've just seen. It was a nice bit of touristing, but not quite worth the price.
I wrapped up my week on Zanzibar, where I could have easily stayed longer, and caught the ferry back to Dar.
Photos: Zanzibar
I hoofed it up the beach to the Breezes hotel and caught up with Jen and John just in time to join them for an afternoon of snorkeling, while they completed their PADI dive certification. When we got back we caught up over a spot of lunch before John retreived a kit-surfing training kite and we played with that for a while (loads of fun)...with me almost succeeding in getting it stuck in a palm tree! After dinner and saying good-bye I headed back to the Twisted Palm and fell asleep listening to gentle waves.
The Lonely Planet guide was pretty spot on when they said of Bweju, "nothing much more to do other than wander along the sand and listen to the breezes rustling the palm trees," and for the next 3 days I did little else than read a few books in a beach side hammock, a bit of swimming and beach wandering, away from the hassling touts and other tourists. It was a fantastic break, and turned Zanzibar into one of my favorite stops so far.
Because Zanzibar was originally a big exporter of spices, there are still several farms that give informational tours about the different spices followed by a lunch of food made with many of the spices you've just seen. It was a nice bit of touristing, but not quite worth the price.
I wrapped up my week on Zanzibar, where I could have easily stayed longer, and caught the ferry back to Dar.
Photos: Zanzibar
1 comment:
Must agree. I'm an owner of a Travel Agency in South Africa and I visited Zanzibar in April 2006. What a place...What people..The Zanzibari people are so friendly. Zanzibar even beat my visit to the Maldives. I will be going to Zanzibar again in February 2007.
I wonder if you visited the original house where Freddy Mercury from Queen was born. Not the "Mercury House" / Meseum but the real house
My photos at http://www.visitzanzibar.co.za/photos/index.htm
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