Zanzibar!
Hi all, bit of an update before India. Got the boat over to Zanzibar on the Tuesday morning following a disastrous banking situation in which Emma’s card was chewed up. But, we eventually got it back after waiting for three hours! Great African efficiency if you ask me!!
We had already organized somewhere to stay in Zanzi - jambo guest house which, turned out to be an oven, so hot with no fan and air con from about 1950 Iraq that really didn’t work! When I say really, it actually didn’t at all and sounded like a helicopter taking off and the plug got so hot it probably added to the Sahara like conditions of the room. But cheap cheap for Zanzibar anyways at a bargain of $15 each (roll on India – cheap cheap!). The island is mostly Muslim so had to dress appropriately etc… but found the vibe on the island much better than the mainland, much more relaxed and people seemed friendlier though still did get quite a bit of hassle from touts and wouldn’t recommend it for lone woman as I saw quite a few being followed in streets and getting hassled a lot but nothing dangerous just annoying. It had changed a bit since my last visit, the gardens in stone town were closed for renovations, which was a really relaxed area just to chill out and, more importantly this was where the touts hung out. Now, instead they are on the street hassling people. Aw well!
The main town - stone town - is like a maze of tiny winding streets and buildings a little Mediterranean/Morocco like with their white wash and very pretty carved doors everywhere. They have sirens going on every few hours calling people to the mosques for prayer and you can hear the prayers all over the town. We went on a spice tour one morning and were shown around the plantation and told what all the native spices were, how they were grown and harvested and their culinary and medicinal uses. Very interesting to see where it all comes from including tumeric, ginger, cardamom to name but a few. We also went out to Prison Island which is a little island just off Zanzibar, took 45min in a little boat (very sea sick!!) it was used as a quarantine island when a lot of trade was going through the island and immigrants, I guess like Ellis Island in NY. The best part of the island was an endangered giant turtle sanctuary. They’re so huge and were so relaxed just walking about, you could feed them (red cabbage) and pet them. They live up until they’re between 65-95 yr but a guy there said the oldest on the island is 117 years old and one had just died recently at ~ 150 yr! Emma was saying while there that she would so love a giant turtle in her garden at home but not sure what buddy would say!
All in all, Zanzi was a great excursion, got to meet some cool med students from the UK and Germany (I’m re-inspired to do medicine again) and went to a few nice restaurants. For our final weekend in Dar, we didn’t plan much. We went to Addis in Dar, an Ethiopian restaurant here in Dar. What an amazing place, it was even better than I last remembered it. For yee that have not experienced Ethiopian food, you basically sit around a small circular (~20inch – very large pizza) table that has a layer of pancake like, slightly sour bread. On this, a variety of dishes is placed all over the bread. On the side, you have little rolls of this bread and that’s it – you tuk in with your hands! Maybe it’s the novelty factor that amuses me so much but, the food is damn good! A mixture of meat and veggie dishes (Indian curry like really) is essential. I wonder how such a restaurant would fair in Dublin, I could see it as a very yuppy, trendy spot, but the atmosphere that Addis in Dar (an outdoor venue – palm trees all round, under the stars of Africa) could not be replicated in a 10ft by 10ft loft on Wicklow St! A challenge is out there for any blossoming entrepreneur (Audrey – Emma thinks you should try find an Ethiopian near you, that Dave would love it!!)
Bags are packed and we’re ready to go! Until India…Adios.
Ps - I'll post a few pics from Zanzibar in a few days.
We had already organized somewhere to stay in Zanzi - jambo guest house which, turned out to be an oven, so hot with no fan and air con from about 1950 Iraq that really didn’t work! When I say really, it actually didn’t at all and sounded like a helicopter taking off and the plug got so hot it probably added to the Sahara like conditions of the room. But cheap cheap for Zanzibar anyways at a bargain of $15 each (roll on India – cheap cheap!). The island is mostly Muslim so had to dress appropriately etc… but found the vibe on the island much better than the mainland, much more relaxed and people seemed friendlier though still did get quite a bit of hassle from touts and wouldn’t recommend it for lone woman as I saw quite a few being followed in streets and getting hassled a lot but nothing dangerous just annoying. It had changed a bit since my last visit, the gardens in stone town were closed for renovations, which was a really relaxed area just to chill out and, more importantly this was where the touts hung out. Now, instead they are on the street hassling people. Aw well!
The main town - stone town - is like a maze of tiny winding streets and buildings a little Mediterranean/Morocco like with their white wash and very pretty carved doors everywhere. They have sirens going on every few hours calling people to the mosques for prayer and you can hear the prayers all over the town. We went on a spice tour one morning and were shown around the plantation and told what all the native spices were, how they were grown and harvested and their culinary and medicinal uses. Very interesting to see where it all comes from including tumeric, ginger, cardamom to name but a few. We also went out to Prison Island which is a little island just off Zanzibar, took 45min in a little boat (very sea sick!!) it was used as a quarantine island when a lot of trade was going through the island and immigrants, I guess like Ellis Island in NY. The best part of the island was an endangered giant turtle sanctuary. They’re so huge and were so relaxed just walking about, you could feed them (red cabbage) and pet them. They live up until they’re between 65-95 yr but a guy there said the oldest on the island is 117 years old and one had just died recently at ~ 150 yr! Emma was saying while there that she would so love a giant turtle in her garden at home but not sure what buddy would say!
All in all, Zanzi was a great excursion, got to meet some cool med students from the UK and Germany (I’m re-inspired to do medicine again) and went to a few nice restaurants. For our final weekend in Dar, we didn’t plan much. We went to Addis in Dar, an Ethiopian restaurant here in Dar. What an amazing place, it was even better than I last remembered it. For yee that have not experienced Ethiopian food, you basically sit around a small circular (~20inch – very large pizza) table that has a layer of pancake like, slightly sour bread. On this, a variety of dishes is placed all over the bread. On the side, you have little rolls of this bread and that’s it – you tuk in with your hands! Maybe it’s the novelty factor that amuses me so much but, the food is damn good! A mixture of meat and veggie dishes (Indian curry like really) is essential. I wonder how such a restaurant would fair in Dublin, I could see it as a very yuppy, trendy spot, but the atmosphere that Addis in Dar (an outdoor venue – palm trees all round, under the stars of Africa) could not be replicated in a 10ft by 10ft loft on Wicklow St! A challenge is out there for any blossoming entrepreneur (Audrey – Emma thinks you should try find an Ethiopian near you, that Dave would love it!!)
Bags are packed and we’re ready to go! Until India…Adios.
Ps - I'll post a few pics from Zanzibar in a few days.
posted by Mark Sherlock at
8:13 p.m.
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