Karibu Zanzibar

 23/07/2011

I awoke this morning refreshed, excited by the prospect of meeting my team!

Breakfast was included at Princess Salme so I enjoyed a meal overlooking the city before packing up my belongings ready for the taxi ride to the new hostel.

The taxi driver who took me to the new hostel was great showing me a number of sights along the way and helping me to gain an understanding for the city.

Karibu Inn was a friendly hostel right by the beach and I was able to leave my luggage whilst I waited for my friends to arrive.


I had a wander along the seafront having memories of Ghana with all the touts trying to sell their various goods and deals as I tried to relax!

It was useful to get an idea of the various tours available and what was worth doing, costs etc.

When I walked back to the hostel everyone had arrived and we spent the remainder of the afternoon chilling and walking around parts of Stonetown.

24/07/2011

Having overslept today and totally missed breakfast we decided to look elsewhere for somewhere to eat.
Bandan Cafe proved to serve up the most delicious meals and breakfasts ever!

I had nutella and banana pancakes with mango, papaya and pineapple juice and a cup of tea (yaaay!), delicious :)

Having wasted a lot of the previous day we had a number of tasks for today, the first being to book the ferry tickets back to the mainland and the second to actively explore Stonetown.

Both of these proved exceptionally challenging as on arrival at the ferry port we were shown into a tiny office with a guy whose English was very good. He continued to serve a number of late arrivals of the current day (including a couple who had missed a flight already and were about to miss another if they didn't make their ferry).
We definitely waited about two hours in that office while this man faffed.
However we did sort our tickets successfully and left for the markets.

As Zanzibar is famous for its spices we kept coming across spices and different teas and coffees for sale.
So much choice!
I would have bought loads if I was just in Tanzania.

I decided to be economical and buy a tea and coffee (which will be fun and games getting through Australian customs) as a present for Ken and Shirley.

As we meandered through Stonetown's laborynth we came across one of the two cathedrals - Stonetown is mostely Islamic so Mosques dominate the island - and also came across the Old Fort.
This ruin is really quite pictoresque and you can see the colonial influences on it - it wouldn't look out of place in Britain, except of course the blue sky!

Inside the fort was a wonderful mini tourist market and I bought a gorgeous bag :)