Zanzibar



Sunset in Zanzibar



Despite the ELEVEN hour bus ride and two hour ferry ride to get there, Sally and I had a wonderful time in Zanzibar!  The white sand beaches were gorgeous, and the water in the Indian Ocean is clear and sparkling!  We stayed in an adorable little bungalow steps from the beach, and had a great time swimming, relaxing, and taking in the scenery.  On Thursday, we were lucky enough to get to see the sunrise over the ocean from our bungalow on the east side of the island AND the sunset over the ocean from an adorable restaurant on the west side of the island!  A person isn't able to do that very often!!!

Sally and I enjoying the beach

In the evenings after enjoying our days at the beach, we checked out local restaurants and bars along the beach.  Zanzibar has been almost completely spared from the tourism industry so far, and almost every hotel, restaurant, and bar is locally owned.  We were served fresh food at every meal, and sometimes it even took nearly an hour to get our food because we suspect that the chef actually went to the market after we ordered to get the food to cook!  One evening, we met a couple of local boys who made a campfire on the beach and played their drums and sang for us.  Another evening, we saw a show with traditional African music and dancing, and we, of course, got pulled up on stage to dance!

Learning to play the drum at our beach campfire

Traditional African dancing???????

By far, our favorite activity in Zanzibar was swimming with the dolphins!!  Now, I am not talking about swimming with a couple of trained dolphins in a swimming pool.  We were swimming with about 20 wild dolphins in the middle of the ocean!!  It was so amazing.  The pictures don't really do it justice.  We were able to get within inches of the dolphins, they were playing and swimming with us, but the minute you would try to reach out and touch one, it would playfully swim away just out of your reach!! 

Swimming with dolphins!

After our travels to Zanzibar, we were prepared for the nightmare travel day back.  We knew that it would be even worse, actually, because on the way to Zanzibar, our bus ride and ferry ride were broken up with an overnight stay and some sightseeing in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.  However, on the way home, we would be taking the ferry back to Dar es Salaam at 7am, and then head straight to the bus terminal to get the bus back to Arusha.  Unfortunately, the ocean water was pretty rough at 7am, and our boat ride was miserable!!  Sally and I did manage to keep down our breakfast, but many people around us were not quite so lucky!  Fortunately, a member of the crew passed out vomit bags during the voyage, so no one was throwing up over the side of the boat!!  Our bus ride back to Arusha was fairly smooth and uneventful for Africa standards, and it was even a bit shorter...only 10 hours.  However, I should mention that during the ten and eleven hour bus rides, we were only allowed to get off the bus twice (even though it seemed like the bus stopped at least a hundred times to pick people up, drop people off, drop packages, etc).  Once we stopped at a rest-stop-like area with food and bathrooms, and the other stop was just along the side of the road to pee behind some bushes!