BAREFOOT AND MASKLESS IN ZANZIBAR - PART TWO
I want to start with a small disclosure. When I started part two, I didn’t realise quite how much I wanted to put into it. This resulted in a longer blog post than desired but didn’t feel like losing the momentum by breaking it up.
So grab a glass of wine, or a cup of coffee, and settle down for a good long post.
Now that our stay in Matemwe has taught us to relax take it slow and “Pole-Pole”, we were ready for exploring and adventures.
Jambiani
Jambiani was the only part of our trip that stayed unchanged during all of our ups and downs in the planning phase the month or so before our trip.
In all our travels, we usually keep to our “three to five-night rule”. This allows us to explore a destination properly, have off days to relax, and more photo opportunities as conditions and light change.
Our nine nights stay at Jambiani Villas, was an out of the ordinary long stay at the same place. The method behind this madness was simple. Jambiani seemed like a good spot to explore and take day-trips from. “Jambiani Villas Tours” seemed like a convenient way of organising that for us. The “three to five-night rule” would have been too short for what we did, but nine nights were also just a little too much.
Accommodation – Jambiani Villas
The stay in Jambiani Villas was by far the best value for money. The rooms were spacious and clean, the staff super helpful and friendly, and the food and drink were yummy.
The only “semi-negative” issue we had was the shower. I’m all for environmental friendliness, but that eco-shower was a bit of a disaster. By the time I finished rinsing my hair with little to no pressure, the geyser had run empty.
Blue Safari or Safari Blue
During our research and homework, we came across one activity we really wanted to do. Some call it Blue Safari (the name I’ll go with), and others call it Safari Blue.
We decided that this would be our “splurge” of the holiday, and opted for a private trip. The trip would be divided into two, as part of Villa Jambiani’s package. The first morning we would go out early, go and swim with the dolphins, and the next day would be the Blue Safari.
Swimming with the Dolphins.
We have once before ventured out on a quest to swim with these marvellous creatures in Mauritius. Our experience back then was sadly nothing to write home about. However, this was part of the package we booked and thought that worst-case scenario, we would have a nice boat ride and see the island from another perspective.
For most of the journey, it was our worst-case scenario. The only difference was the boat ride wasn’t necessarily “nice”. Since the ocean was a bit choppy, the bench we sat on hard for our soft office tooshies, and the drive long, as it felt as if the dolphins swam halfway around the island from what the locals claim their usual spot is.
At long last, we were the first of a few tourist boats seeking them out. We jumped into the water, and I had the privilege of them swimming right past me. Two out of the eight bottlenose dolphins were still youngsters. One of them kept falling behind, to “check” me out. I soon felt as though I was intruding, and he or she did not feel comfortable with me so close to the calves.
Sadly T did not manage to see them but did see them from the boat. We called it a day, and back we went.
I did love swimming with them, but don’t think we would do it again.
Dum, Dum, Dum… The long awaiting Blue Safari.
The Blue Safari is a whole day experience. We started with a gentle boat cruise through so many different blue and green shades to a sandbank island.
There we got off the boat and had a fruit breakfast. *On this note of fruit, I have to add, that Zanzibar has the best fruit, specifically the Pineapples and Mangos. Honestly, we still talk about their taste and size.
On the sandbank we got to see so many crabs, birds and shells, and had a quick swim to cool off.
This was probably one of most beautiful pieces of beach we have ever seen.
From there, we trotted along towards the reef. We snorkelled for what felt like 15 minutes, although T still argues with me that it was at least two hours. The reef at that specific spot was alive and glowing, and we got to see species we’ve never seen before. Although I would have loved to have an action camera to capture this, I enjoyed the freedom of just swimming with them, and not thinking of anything else.
With a whale of an appetite, we went on to the final part of the trip. This was a seafood BBQ on yet another island. The meal set-up was a bit primitive, with only a groundsheet to sit on, and very basic disposable cutlery. However, the seafood made up for all of that. We had fish, prawns, calamari, octopus, lobster, curry with coconut rice, and chips.
Our tour-guide Chiddy was amazing and apart from the unpreventable sunburn (we tried with loads of sunblock, but failed), the day could not have been better or more of a success. However, the day after, we hid from the sun and recovered from our hard day of having fun.
Spice Tour & Stone Town
The spice tour and Stone Town, we did with Mohammed. Mohammed was a referral of our friend Marc whom we used for transport between accommodation and the covid-19 testing excursion. Since both these activities wouldn’t take up too much time and are relatively close to each other, we did it in one day.
Spice Tour
The spice tour was probably the best value for money activity we did. Apart from transport, it cost us US$10. This included an almost two-hour tour of the spice farm, with a knowledgeable and super friendly guide, assistant and eat/taste as much as you can fruit at the end. The assistant would dig up roots, climb trees so I could taste their lychees, and most of all, create accessories out of banana-leafs and flowers while walking along.
I thought I knew a bit of spice since I do enjoy my time in the kitchen, but I was wrong. I didn’t know what pepper and nutmeg looked like in it’s the rawest form (The fruit with red spiderwebbed like cover), and that iodine comes from a tree’s sap.
Here are just a few more of the facts we learned:
Jackfruit is the largest fruit and can grow up to 10kg. Even with that weight, it will not fall to the ground. We did have an opportunity to taste it, and although very sweet, the texture is a bit snotty and off-putting.
The king and queen of spice. This means that they use every part the plant/tree has to offer.
King of spice – Clove
Queen of spice – Cinnamon
Vanilla has to be pollinated by hand since they have a butterfly shortage.
Before our fruit tasting, we had a performance (there were singing and dancing involved) of a guy climbing and picking a coconut-tree.
The thunderstorm at the end, during our fruit tasting, was so welcome after our hot and humid tour. We did try to wait it out but eventually decided to face the bit of water and head out.
Stone Town
Stone Town has a lot of history, but sadly, that’s not our biggest interests. However, we did love exploring all the little alleys with its nesting wiring. Without a guide, getting lost would have been a sure thing. In the centre of Stone Town is Jaws Corner. Jaws Corner apparently got its name with everyone’s jaws moving by either eating or chatting and socializing.
We went to Stone Town two times, once with the guide, and the next after our covid testing with Mohammed. This resulted in me having to shop with two men looking over my shoulder. I would also have liked to take photos while the streets are still quiet. I would rather stay a few nights to have the leisure to explore on our own time. There were also quite a few shops closed which we suspect is due to Covid-19.
The famous Zanzibar Stone Town doors did not disappoint. The Indian and Arabic influence on their culture also showed on the door designs. I would have loved to bring one of them home with us, but for that, I had to switch my muggle self into a wizard so I can shrink it.
Spare Time in Jambiani
Our more relaxed days consisted of reading, napping, eating, cocktails, and a few nearby walks.
In Jambiani, we managed to pick up a bag full of shells during our walks. The most beautiful ones, and at some stage T made me choose between them as we wouldn’t have been able to bring all of them back home.
The other route we would take for a walk was to the local supermarket. This would be through the village. I loved the village and wished we had spent even more time there and had taken even more pictures.
Taking photos was part of almost every day. Many photographers will tell you that the hour after sunrise and before sunset (golden hours) are the best. This is true, and as such, I do most of my shooting during those hours. However, this is not the only time. One low tide in Jambiani, roundabout 10:00 am (about 4.5 hours after sunrise), we went out into the scorching sun.
Not only did I get some of my most interesting and beautiful shots, but we also found out why the ocean is packed during low tide with locals.
The women have a rope between sticks inside the ocean, where a certain type of seaweed grows, which they then harvest during low tide. They then use the seaweed with some cinnamon to make soap.
Paje
Finally, whenever we felt like going out, but not like venturing too far, we went to Paje. Paje is well known for kite-surfing. This made it quite touristy, but it wasn’t too busy with us being in the middle of a pandemic. Our favourite pass of time was people watching, and sometimes even cow watching, as anything goes on those beaches.
One of our biggest pet peeves was what they call the “beach boys”. They want to sell and offer you anything and can become a bit annoying. Our go-to excuse for getting rid of them was that we’d be leaving later that day.
Food and Drink
The food was better than what we were expected. I know we mostly went to the tourist side of restaurants but managed to have a bit of everything.
Pizza, much more popular than I expected. Our favourite spots.
Bahari Pizza- Close to Jambiani Villas, with yummy cocktails.
Baladin– This was a recommendation of Poulette. The drinks did take a while, but the setting, atmosphere and pizzas made up for it.
Delight – With a funny way of advertising a special. Their version of unlimited pizza is, 15% off all their pizzas?
Burgers
B4 was really something special. They have burgers that’s a bit out of the ordinary, and an awesome vibe.
Seafood
Seafood platters were common in most of our accommodation. A special shout out to La Shira by Jambiani Villas as their’s won hands down.
Coffee
For a country that can produce coffee, we really did struggle with nice coffee shops. Mr Kahawa in Paje was our go-to. It even had this hip feel and vibe to it.
Fruit & other food
And as mentioned earlier, lots and lots of fruit everywhere. We also had the occasional pasta and some curry.
Cocktails
Although the country is mostly Muslim, the resorts do offer alcohol. We soon came custom to the cocktail of the day, and sometimes even more. We would start travelling with our own reusable straws since we’re not fans of the soggy paper straw.
Makunduchi
Our final stay in Zanzibar was Makunduchi. It’s on the south-east side of Zanzibar. It was the quietest among all our stays, with next to nothing happening there except for the cattle roaming about. This was a good spot for our final few days, to get in that last bit of relaxation.
The only thing we had to do from there was going to Stone Town for our covid test four days before our departure. Thanks to Mohammed, this was really an effortless mission, since he did all the necessary admin and banking beforehand.
Clove Island Villas
Clove Island Villas was the only accommodation in that part of the island. This wasn’t that far from Jambiani and thus arrived early due to check-out time in Jambiani Villas. Meryem (the manager) was super helpful. Not only did she upgrade us, but she also made our villa available for early check-in.
The Villa itself was super nice, spacious, with so many attention to detail. My favourite detail is the smell we got as soon as we step foot inside. At first, we struggled to place the smell, and then we found the little bowls with cloves and cinnamon in. After our eco-shower in Jambiani, this high-pressure shower, and bath was absolute bliss.
Every evening the housekeeping would come “de-mozzie” our room. They would spray something for the mosquitos and close the mosquito net.
The only bit of critique we had was that of the restaurant. It was situated a bit to the back, and that caused a lack of a breeze. No wind or breeze meant it could get quite hot back there.
The light of our last morning was like a grand finale. I managed to capture some stunning photos of Clove Island Villas.
Final thoughts on Zanzibar.
Zanzibar was the best medication we could have asked for in 2020. It brought us back to earth. We were barefoot most of the time, even in restaurants, and once again came to realise material things does not matter the way we think it does.
The almost three weeks might seem like a lot of time in Zanzibar, but for us it was the perfect amount to really switch off and relax.
Thanks to my hubby for being an excellent travel companion as always. We can’t wait for our next adventure, although unsure when and what it would be at this time.
Wandering off now…
T & Me
