I called this post Zanzibar because I love the word Zanzibar. It seems so exotic. Tropical beaches, ornate Arabic mansions, slave traders, spices, seafood cooked in coconut, outrigger canoes…. and lots and lots of touts. “Jambo my friend, they call me Mr Cheap, come and see my little shop”, “I am fisherman George, try some of my lobster skewers”, “Hello sir, I am Mr Spice, we have saffron, very nice spice”.
We spent a few days getting lost in Stone Town and a week on the beaches in the north of the Island, repelling touts using the Swahili I learnt from The Lion King. The sand on Kendwa beach was the finest we’d ever seen, like milk powder, with warm, turquoise water for swimming. We stayed right on it in a corner of Kendwa that seemed to be devoid of many tourists.I think we single handedly propped up the economy of our little corner of Kendwa by ordering from the ‘aspirational’ menu of the local restaurant (Dad discovered that the reason the meals took so long was that they went to the market to get the ingredients AFTER you order), having twice daily massages from the local ladies, and renting boats for snorkeling trips. We celebrated Julie’s birthday at a beach party, where the staff of the beach bar all swarmed out and danced up to us singing a loud Swahili rendition of happy birthday when they presented the cake, and an African Michael Jackson put on a dancing performance that was amazingly and hilariously good.
We spent a few days getting lost in Stone Town and a week on the beaches in the north of the Island, repelling touts using the Swahili I learnt from The Lion King. The sand on Kendwa beach was the finest we’d ever seen, like milk powder, with warm, turquoise water for swimming. We stayed right on it in a corner of Kendwa that seemed to be devoid of many tourists.I think we single handedly propped up the economy of our little corner of Kendwa by ordering from the ‘aspirational’ menu of the local restaurant (Dad discovered that the reason the meals took so long was that they went to the market to get the ingredients AFTER you order), having twice daily massages from the local ladies, and renting boats for snorkeling trips. We celebrated Julie’s birthday at a beach party, where the staff of the beach bar all swarmed out and danced up to us singing a loud Swahili rendition of happy birthday when they presented the cake, and an African Michael Jackson put on a dancing performance that was amazingly and hilariously good.
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