Zanzibar

This weekend we took a very short trip to Zanzibar. Zanzibar is an island off of the coast of Tanzania and is known for their beautiful beaches. The sands are white and the ocean is a beautiful turquoise blue. We took a 2 1/2 hour ferry ride and when we were approaching the island you could actually see the changes in the color of the water. We stayed at a place called White Sands Beach Hotel. It was a little north of Stone Town on Kendwa beach, and was more secluded with less tourists. It was so relaxing and beautiful.

Paradise!

Later at night we walked down the beach to another hotel called Kendwa Rocks. They were having a "full moon" party and there was live music and dancers and a lot of tourists partying into the night. They even had a Michael Jackson impersonator.

Sunday we went to Changuu island, also known as Prison Island. The island was initially supposed to be used to house rebellious slaves in 1893. No prisoners were ever housed on the island and instead it became a quarantine station for yellow fever and the bubonic plague. More recently the island has become a popular tourist spot and houses a collection of endangered Aldabra giant tortoises, which were originally a gift from the British governor of the Seychelles.

This is the tiny boat we road over to Changuu island in.

I was a little nervous about this boat at first, but we made it back safe and sound.

Aldabra Giant Tortoises! Very noisy creatures.

Just petting the giant tortoise. This one was over 150 years old.

We then had a chance to wonder around Stone Town for a bit.  The heart of Stone Town mostly consists of a maze of narrow alleys lined by houses, shops, bazaars and mosques. Since the streets are too narrow for cars, the town is crowded with bicycles and motorbikes.The most well-known feature of Zanzibari houses are the finely decorated wooden doors, with rich carvings, sometimes with big brass studs of Indian tradition.

We visited the Darajani Market which is the main market in Stone Town. It is chaotic, especially because of the maze of buildings and different shops selling just about anything you can imagine (including kangas with Obama on them).  

There are two main types of doors: the picture above is an Indian style which have rounded tops, while those in the Omani Arab style are rectangular.

Even though the weekend was quite short it was awesome to experience the different area of Tanzania and the beautiful scenery and a different culture. It's nice to be able to escape to an island with beautiful beaches on the weekends. Hopefully we'll make it back before our time in Tanzania comes to an end! 

- K