SATURDAY
Saturday was going to be our resort day. A while back
Zanzibar Beach Resort was suggested to us to go for a day and relax at the
pool; Chels and I had also come here once with for drinks with Preston, Mary
and her boyfriend. The resort is just a few kilometers outside of town so we
decide to treat ourselves and take a cab. When we get there we see a sign that
says that pool is closed for treatment but from the outside we can see the
beach and figured we could go there if the pool wasn’t any good. That was an understatement…the
pool was GREEN, lime green. And there wasn’t even access to the beach, after
having spent 9000TSH of our very tight budget, we were not very happy. We asked
the reception if there was another place close by we could go for a pool, they suggested
Mtoni Marine and it would be reachable by dala dala so we walk back to the main
road. Unsure of which direction to take the dala dala, we asked the police
officers a road block, only to be told that we’re on the wrong street and would
have to take the dala dala back to the market and take another dala dala in order to get to Mtoni Marine. We took the
dala dala back to town and stayed there; it was too hot and we were too annoyed
at that point to continue with the rest of the day. Instead we went shopping
for some last minute souvenirs and took a drink on the beach.
SUNDAY
Mylene called Mtoni Marine in the morning to make sure their
pool was functioning and to ask the cost of using it for the day. We were both
a little shocked when they said it was $20…that was wayy out of our budget. But
since yesterday was such a fail, we decided to go anyways. We took the 10 min
dala dala ride to the resort; having asked the bus assistant to tell us when we
were supposed to get off, but of course he doesn’t and we miss the place and
have to walk backwards. When we get there they tell us $10 out of the $20 goes
towards food at the resort and $10 was for actually spending the day, but we
couldn’t just pay the $10 to use the pool. Having been prepared to fork over $20
(I know it doesn’t sound like a lot at home, but in Zanzibar it really is a
good amount of money…our meals have never reached this price) we agreed with
it. And we were so happy we came! The resort is gorgeous; the pool was fairly
big with lounge chairs on the side and the view of the ocean just a little
beyond the pool. The staff were extremely friendly and the food was delicious.
We spent a really relaxing day there; worth the $20!
Gorgeous view.
Walkway out into the ocean.
It would have been so much nicer to sit here if the rocks weren't so painful to sit on...
Looking out into the ocean while hanging by the pool, it's kind of perfect.
MONDAY
Mylene brought with her the Lonely Planet travel guide to Tanzania, which turned out to be very resourceful telling us about all the restaurants, beaches and how to get to places. In the book there was a list of 4 top beaches in Zanzibar to visit and the only one left on the list we hadn’t gone to was Pongwe. The book said we would have to take a dala dala to another bus “station” and transfer dala dalas and it would take another hour once on the second bus. Ann Marie had also told us in advance that Santa Maria would be a good resort and a had a nice beach so it was good to have a destination in mind.
Off we went to the dala dala station at the market, we easily found the first dala dala we would need to take. Once again...we failed to get off at the right stop and had to walk 10 min backwards to get back to the second station to catch the Pongwe dala dala. We saw one as we were walking back so we had just missed it. But what we didn’t realize was how uncommon this route was…we stood at the station for almost an hour and was 5 minutes from giving up and going home when another Pongwe dala dala arrived. Not to our surprise, it was a traditional truck dala dala and not a bus. After an hour of holding on for dear life and hoping we don’t die we arrived at Santa Maria. The resort was completely deserted except for one couple. We ordered lunch and we to lie down on lounge chairs on the beach. The beach was fairly nice and the tide was really low when we first got there. But it did rise by the time we left. Because it was so empty, it was quiet and a good place for relaxing without the loud noises and busy-ness of town. The only part that sucked was that we didn’t get there until around 1:30 because of the long wait for the dala dala and would have to leave around 3:30 since the last bus back to town was at 4; including time for lunch we only really spent an hour on the beach. We were lucky though cause we literally just caught the dala dala as it was passing us on the main road…had we missed it, it would have been an expensive cab ride home. And now we can check off all the beaches and say we’ve seen the most beautiful beaches in Zanzibar!
Mylene brought with her the Lonely Planet travel guide to Tanzania, which turned out to be very resourceful telling us about all the restaurants, beaches and how to get to places. In the book there was a list of 4 top beaches in Zanzibar to visit and the only one left on the list we hadn’t gone to was Pongwe. The book said we would have to take a dala dala to another bus “station” and transfer dala dalas and it would take another hour once on the second bus. Ann Marie had also told us in advance that Santa Maria would be a good resort and a had a nice beach so it was good to have a destination in mind.
Off we went to the dala dala station at the market, we easily found the first dala dala we would need to take. Once again...we failed to get off at the right stop and had to walk 10 min backwards to get back to the second station to catch the Pongwe dala dala. We saw one as we were walking back so we had just missed it. But what we didn’t realize was how uncommon this route was…we stood at the station for almost an hour and was 5 minutes from giving up and going home when another Pongwe dala dala arrived. Not to our surprise, it was a traditional truck dala dala and not a bus. After an hour of holding on for dear life and hoping we don’t die we arrived at Santa Maria. The resort was completely deserted except for one couple. We ordered lunch and we to lie down on lounge chairs on the beach. The beach was fairly nice and the tide was really low when we first got there. But it did rise by the time we left. Because it was so empty, it was quiet and a good place for relaxing without the loud noises and busy-ness of town. The only part that sucked was that we didn’t get there until around 1:30 because of the long wait for the dala dala and would have to leave around 3:30 since the last bus back to town was at 4; including time for lunch we only really spent an hour on the beach. We were lucky though cause we literally just caught the dala dala as it was passing us on the main road…had we missed it, it would have been an expensive cab ride home. And now we can check off all the beaches and say we’ve seen the most beautiful beaches in Zanzibar!
Hammock.
I tried to get really close to the bird, I love exotic birds.
Mylene being followed by a dog who we thought belonged to the resort; later we were told they had no idea whose dog it was.
Tide when we first got there.
Tide an hour later...so amazed by how quickly it rises.
TUESDAY
We were supposed to go diving today…but Mylene woke up with
some stomach issues so we had to cancel the dive. Our dive was scheduled for
730am meaning we were getting up just past 5am to catch the 6am dala dala (the
first one) to Nungwi. I knew the dive center wouldn’t be opened at 5:30am, but
we needed to contact them to let them know we wouldn’t we showing up. I called
the first company number, then emailed them, and finally called the second
number on the website. Someone picked up at the second number and sounded like
he was most definitely sleeping still. I told him that we had a dive scheduled
at 730 and one of us was sick so we wouldn’t be able to make it and I just
wanted to let them know, and his response was “is there any reason you’re
calling me at 5am?”. What the hell…I am only calling out of politeness, I could
have easily just not showed up. At 7:30am though, David, the guy I had been
speaking to previously called and confirmed we weren’t going and was really
nice about it. We rescheduled the dive for Thursday so Mylene would have two
days to recover.
WEDNESDAY
We had scheduled today to go biking in the morning with Abdi
to the Mtoni Palace Ruins and the Maruhubi Palace Ruins. But since Mylene
wasn’t feeling well the day before we thought biking in the heat would be a bad
idea; instead we took the short dala dala ride to the ruins. Abdi had a tour so
he couldn’t come with us. We asked to be dropped off at Maruhubi Ruins, but the
guy thought we were going to the resort and not the ruins so we passed it…so we
asked to be dropped at Mtoni Palace ruins which is further down and we would
walk backwards between the two.
Mtoni Palace Ruins is known to be the birthplace of Princess Salme. There were no guides or entrance fee so we walked around ourselves taking pictures and reading the random signs posted about the place. All the information cards were excerpts from her book that I bought after the Palace Museum tour and I didn’t want to read too much cause I would read it all in the book. Nonetheless, you could tell this place used to be very grand and beautiful. It was a massive area, with rooms connecting to rooms and Persian baths within the palace. A lot of the children of the Sultan grew up at the palace, riding horses and living the life.
Mtoni Palace Ruins is known to be the birthplace of Princess Salme. There were no guides or entrance fee so we walked around ourselves taking pictures and reading the random signs posted about the place. All the information cards were excerpts from her book that I bought after the Palace Museum tour and I didn’t want to read too much cause I would read it all in the book. Nonetheless, you could tell this place used to be very grand and beautiful. It was a massive area, with rooms connecting to rooms and Persian baths within the palace. A lot of the children of the Sultan grew up at the palace, riding horses and living the life.
Donkey.
Outside the ruins.
Some sort of bath.
Some other bath that is much nicer, we couldn't go in there was a locked door.
Pretty arches.
View from one of the windows.
So many giant rooms.
After the short visit, leaving not knowing much more than when we came, we walked 15min to the Maruhubi Palace Ruins. There was a 3000TSH entrance fee and a guide at this one, which was nice cause we got a lot of details about the ruins which we wouldn’t have known otherwise (I tried googling the place after and there’s barely any info about it). So this palace was specifically built by one of the sultans (one of Princess Salme’s brothers) to be his harem; in it he had 99 concubines who lived there and his 1 legal wife, making a total of 100 women all located in one place for this one sultan. This sultan himself didn’t live at the palace though, he lived in Stone Town and only came to this palace on the weekend. But while he was there for the two days, the 9 concubines would have to swim in 3 pools built in the garden; 33 in each pool. The sultan would call up 4-6 of the women each day he was there and have sex with them…our guide told us he was “a very strong man”, haha slightly awkward but slightly funny. All the while, his wife is also there swimming in her own private hot and cold baths and getting massages while her husband does his scandalous things. Apparently it was looked down upon by the rest of the family that he had so many concubines because according to tradition he was only supposed to have 1 legal wife and 3 other wives maximum, but that didn’t stop him. If the concubines were to get pregnant, they would be removed from the palace and replaced by a new concubine. I don’t know if I should think this man was disgusting or to think he was a genius for having thought this out so thoroughly. Also, each concubine had her own washroom aka a hole in the floor), but the washrooms were designed so that when the tide was high the sea water would flood underneath the toilets and when the tide when down it would take away all the waste with it; I’m starting to lean towards this man being a genious. I just couldn’t/still can’t get over the fact that he built a whole palace (which was really nice in its days) so he could basically have sex with 100 different women…that’s absurd. Hey Aman/Victor, I guess when you get the money, you really do get the…
Original columns.
1 of 3 pools for the concubines.
Bench made out of stone.
Where the legal wife hangs out.
Concubine washroom.
Hall of bathrooms.
Aqueduct line to bring in fresh water.
I leave the Maruhubi Ruins slightly overwhelmed with information and Mylene wants to go see the Livingstone House, which is where David Livingstone (basically the guy that stopped slavery in Zanzibar) lived before his last trip away. According to Mylene, the book said the house was less of a distance from Maruhubi than Mtoni and Maruhubi, which was only a 15 min walk, so I agree to walk there so she could take a picture and tick it off her book. Let’s just say it was NOT a 15 min walk…it was also insanely hot out; I was already sweating profusely from being at the ruins and having little wind. I don’t even know how long we walked before we actually found the house…but at one point I had straight up told Mylene that I wasn’t walking anymore. Every time we decide to try to catch the dala dala there was none and when we stop to do something else 2-3 pass us, so what is left to do but keep walking and try to catch one as we walk and before we know it were almost back in town. We had walked 4km in the disgusting heat and humidity after leaving Maruhubi, but we had been walking since we got off the dala dala at Mtoni Ruins…totalling a 2 hour walking time period. I was not a happy camper, and Mylene could definitely tell. I felt bad later for being so bitchy and apologized, but I was tired, sweating my balls off, out of water and hungry. I think we ended up sweating just as much as if we had biked.
THURSDAY
DIVING DAY! As was the same plan as before, we left got to
the market just before 6am to catch the first dala dala to Nungwi. It was still
pitch black outside and pretty empty. But we got on the dala dala and was on
our way. The last time we went to Nungwi we had a more bus like dala dala and
it only took us an hour to get there, but this time our only option was the
truck dala dala. The driver was going at a good speed, but then decides to turn
around and go back towards the market so he can pick up his friend, and then
stop for 30 min to wait for other passengers and then stop to pick up every
damn person along the way. We ended up being on the dala dala for almost 2
hours. TWO HOURS. We didn’t get into Nungwi until 7:50 and got a call from the
dive center asking where we were, we couldn’t even call before cause the dala
dala is so noisy. We told them we just got to town and would be there soon, but
the place was a 15 min walk from where we got dropped off and after another 10
min we get another call telling us we would have to reschedule cause we were
very late. NO EFFING WAY…did I just travel 2 hours at 6am on a shitty bus to be
told I wasn’t going to dive. When we got there though they were super nice and
the reason we would have had to reschedule was cause at 9am the boat was going
out for the dive with like 8 other people and we would have made everyone late.
But we made it.
We were given our wetsuits and flippers and given a brief overview of the tank and vest we would have on our backs. Then we had to put the tanks on and go in the water to learn breathing techniques; as we're getting these our guide asks so which one of you called me at 5am the other day? Well that was awkward to have to admit, but he was really nice about it after. Oh my god was that tank heavy! I never really thought about how much the tank would weigh so it came as a huge shock when he put it on me. I was hunched over cause it was so heavy and our guide said to stand up straight, I thought it was pushing the one me to properly buckle it to by back. I couldn’t barely walk with the tank on…it must have weighed at least 40lbs, there were definitely times I thought I would topple over while walking with that thing on, especially on the boat when it’s not still. We went over breathing and clearing water out of our breathing pieces and then we were ready for our first dive!
We took a speed boat with 2 massive motors, it was pretty awesome cause all the other boats we’ve been on were wooden and had one dinky little motor. This was so powerful and were going so fast. At one point we passed by one of the wooden boats and I felt bad cause we made so many waves they were rocking like crazy. After 35min we arrive at Mnemba Island, which is supposed to be the best dive spot in Zanzibar. Our guide gives us instructions and teaches us how to jump into the water; you literally take a step with one foot and drop into the water…I felt like Scuba Steve from Big Daddy when we were all suited up.
We were given our wetsuits and flippers and given a brief overview of the tank and vest we would have on our backs. Then we had to put the tanks on and go in the water to learn breathing techniques; as we're getting these our guide asks so which one of you called me at 5am the other day? Well that was awkward to have to admit, but he was really nice about it after. Oh my god was that tank heavy! I never really thought about how much the tank would weigh so it came as a huge shock when he put it on me. I was hunched over cause it was so heavy and our guide said to stand up straight, I thought it was pushing the one me to properly buckle it to by back. I couldn’t barely walk with the tank on…it must have weighed at least 40lbs, there were definitely times I thought I would topple over while walking with that thing on, especially on the boat when it’s not still. We went over breathing and clearing water out of our breathing pieces and then we were ready for our first dive!
We took a speed boat with 2 massive motors, it was pretty awesome cause all the other boats we’ve been on were wooden and had one dinky little motor. This was so powerful and were going so fast. At one point we passed by one of the wooden boats and I felt bad cause we made so many waves they were rocking like crazy. After 35min we arrive at Mnemba Island, which is supposed to be the best dive spot in Zanzibar. Our guide gives us instructions and teaches us how to jump into the water; you literally take a step with one foot and drop into the water…I felt like Scuba Steve from Big Daddy when we were all suited up.
I didn’t really know what to expect, it was our first time
diving. Our first dive I had a lot of difficulties descending into the water
because of the pressure change; my ears were in so much pain… I thought my head
was going to explode. After maybe 20 min I finally got down to the bottom of
the ocean floor. Mylene was a pro, she got there really easily and had no
issues with pressure change. It was unreal to be diving in the middle of the
marine life. As corny as it sounds, it actually felt like being one with the
ocean. There were so so sooo many fish, we must have seen over 40 different
types and they were all so colourful and pretty. It was amazing because they
don’t swim away from you like when you snorkel, they just accept you and
continue on with what they’re doing. At points we were literally swimming with
the fish alongside us. We were told that we might not be able to take in the
scenery as much cause we would struggle with breathing, but Mylene and I were
both lucky and breathed fine.
Motor boat leaving waves.
Excited.
With our scuba guide.
Getting my flippers on, too happy.
We're ready!
Our second dive was easier on the ears for me. After our first dive, our instructor told me that I wasn’t re-equalizing properly and I had to squeeze my nose more and blow through harder so my ears popped. When we came up from the first dive and I took my mask off, Mylene looked like she was going to have a heart attack cause my nose was bleeding from the pressure. Haha she’s funny, I just washed my face off and was okay. Our guide said it’s because I have smaller inner tubes and when I re-equalize the pressure that might have caused it to bleed, I have no idea though but I am still alive and okay. I got down to the ocean floor fairly easily the second time around and Mylene and I hung out down there just watching the fish swim around us waiting for the third guy on our trip to come down. We were doing really good for the first half of the trip; re-equalize properly and all following the guide individually while taking in the amazingness of what we were doing. But Mylene and I kept sinking to the ocean floor and not being able to swim properly, while in my head all I can think is that I’m killing the coral because I keep hitting them as I sink to the bottom. Our guide took off our weight belts and it helped a lot; but then I couldn’t seem to stay at the bottom! I kept floating higher and higher no matter what I did…in the end I had to hold the guides hand for the rest of the trip haha. A little embarrassing, but at least I got to enjoy the rest of the dive without worrying I would float to the surface and have to go all the way down again.
Signifying I'm okay.
Re-equalizing pressure.
Get out of my way Mylene.
Wheeee!
Mnemba Island.
Definition of white sand and turquoise waters; breathtaking.
We reached 12 meters below the surface with each dive
lasting around 50min. It was definitely worth the money we paid to do it and
I’m so glad we didn’t snorkel instead, I don’t know when I might get another
chance to dive in such a beautiful place. And the experience on its own was
worth, It’s not like anything I have done before. It’s unfortunate because I
don’t know the names of the types of fish was saw so I can’t explain everything
we got to see, but we saw a really cool fish that had like fans, a whole school
of fish (there must have been hundreds of them) swimming in a circle, two eel
like fish, tons of tropical fish, so many nemos (clownfish) and the fish in
Finding Nemo that lived in the aquarium in the dentist’s office. They were all
so beautiful and I would definitely, definitely want to go diving again. The
company we went with, Spanish Dancer Divers, which Vickie and Sandy went with
too, were awesome. They were very professional and friendly and made our dive
even better.
After our dive, we came back to the beach and spend an hour
swimming and tanning. Nungwi was GORGEOUS today. The tide was higher than when
we were last there and the water was crazy blue, we didn’t want to leave. It
was the perfect last day in Zanzibar, I couldn’t have asked for more. Mylene
and I had quite the week!
Nungwi Beach.
Spanish Dancer Divers.
I wanna go back.
Mylene: "It's so dark, I can't see you"...I think I'm just that dark.
Paradise.
Sign before and leaving, except no one actually goes by it.
THE END.
So this marks the end of my two month journey. I can’t really believe how quickly the two months have gone by and that we really lived in Africa for such a long period of time. It’ll probably hit me in a week or two when I look back and realize how much we had actually done in that time because right now it still feels so surreal. It’s definitely an experience that I won’t forget, we were so lucky to have gotten this opportunity and to have soaked in the culture and beauty of this island and I am very thankful for that. I can honestly say that I have learned a lot on this trip, not only in regards to school and being an OT, but also life lessons and myself. Travelling really does open one’s mind and provides so many learning moments. I feel like I’m coming home with great appreciation for what I have and new perspectives on the person I am.
So this marks the end of my two month journey. I can’t really believe how quickly the two months have gone by and that we really lived in Africa for such a long period of time. It’ll probably hit me in a week or two when I look back and realize how much we had actually done in that time because right now it still feels so surreal. It’s definitely an experience that I won’t forget, we were so lucky to have gotten this opportunity and to have soaked in the culture and beauty of this island and I am very thankful for that. I can honestly say that I have learned a lot on this trip, not only in regards to school and being an OT, but also life lessons and myself. Travelling really does open one’s mind and provides so many learning moments. I feel like I’m coming home with great appreciation for what I have and new perspectives on the person I am.
It seems like so long ago when we were just starting to plan
this trip and now it’s already over. I am very excited to come home and see
everyone and be back in the comfort of
home that really can’t be replaced. I feel like we’ve experience almost
everything in Zanzibar and it’s time to return. We are probably going to freeze
since there’s a 50 degree weather difference between Zanzibar and home. Can’t
say I’m ready to face reality and go back to school, but at least it’s our last
school term and we’re that much closer to being finished our Master’s!
It’s been an unbelievable trip, with time where I wasn’t sure I was going to make it through, and I’m glad I could have shared everything with those of you that read this blog. Thanks for caring, you’re awesome! I would recommend Zanzibar as a travel spot if you ever get the chance.
It’s been an unbelievable trip, with time where I wasn’t sure I was going to make it through, and I’m glad I could have shared everything with those of you that read this blog. Thanks for caring, you’re awesome! I would recommend Zanzibar as a travel spot if you ever get the chance.
I guess it’s back to real life then.
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