After nearly two weeks of driving around in a dusty car, we were looking forward to some tropical time with sunshine and white sand. Luckily, Zanzibar has both and is a short flight from Nairobi.
Zanzibar is famous for being the historic center of trade between the far east and europe, especially for spices. Zanzibar has nice beaches, historical Stone Town (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), fresh seafood, and is only quick trip from mainland Africa.
Old Portuguese Fort
Zanzibar is famous for ornate doors. Houses all looked the same, so homeowners would use their door to mark their ethnicity, profession, and wealth.
"Indian" door
We went on a guided tour of Stone Town that included a trip to the central market. The market is like a time warp back to when it was originally built. Merchants sell their wares and food the same as those 150 years ago. The spice section was everything you could imagine about a place as famous for spices as Zanzibar- a collage of vibrant colors and exotic aromas!
Central Market
Our lodge was on the eastern side of the island, about an hour from Stone Town. The beach was very flat with fine white sand- exactly what I was dreaming about. In low tide, we could walk about a 1/4 mile from shore in ankle deep water. The leftover tide pools were filled with sea grass, clams, urchin, and other sea life. Even more striking was the amazing reflections of the vivid blue sky.
Low tide outside our lodge.
Sunrise at our lodge. (Yes, MH gets up at sunrise on vacation!)
With all that, there are only 100,000 foreign visitors per year?! Sounds like paradise right? Well, paradise needs tradewinds... Being nearly on the equator, Zanzibar was boiling hot and beyond sticky humid. Can you imagine the mosquitos? I finally started to see why MH is less interested in going to tropical locations.
Don't think I am complaining, it was definitely a wonderful experience! Apart from the history, who could forget a beachside fresh local seafood feast like this:
Seafood feast for 1, that we shared and couldn't finish.
2 lobsters (about 3/4 lb each), 1 spiny lobster, 5-6 jumbo prawns, over a dozen crab claws, squid, all BBQ'd to perfection. Plus enormous portions of salad, rice, and french fried potatoes (not french fries per se). This was without a doubt the most memorable meal of our trip.
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