Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Tanzania and Zanzibar

With all the holidays, I've been traveling a lot lately, but I'd planned this 10-day trip to Tanzania and Zanzibar since last summer. Drew, my good friend from high school, has been working as a general manager at GOSESO (an environmental NGO) in Kigoma, Tanzania for the past year, and so I used my tax refund money from last year to plan a trip out to visit him before he leaves in April.

Since my ticket flew me out of Accra, Ghana, I planned the trip in such a way that I could get my GREs out of the way at the same time (Accra has a legitimate testing center for the GRE test). So the day after New Years, after months of studying by lantern light and roosters' crowing serenades, I took a bush taxi to Accra, took my test the morning of the 3rd, and then got on a plane that evening!

Drew met me at the airport in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. We spent the first day and a half in Dar just wandering around the city, but most of the rest of the trip was spent in Zanzibar. We took a 2 hour ferry to get to Stonetown, Zanzibar which is a fantastic city. Zanzibar gets its electricity from Dar, and apparently the electricity had just recently gone out and was going to take months to repair. Luckily, being habituated to our living situations back in our villages, I think Drew and I suffered less than the average tourist. My favorite part about Zanzibar was that, in spite of the large tourist industry there, I didn't feel harrassed as a foreigner as I do in Togo, for example. Instead of hearing the yells of "Yovo!" (white person) that I hear all the time in Togo, people and kids would just say "Jambo!" (how are you?) which I preferred greatly. It was also nice not to be stared at, and everyone in general just seemed so much more chill and welcoming.

Stonetown's streets fascinated me because the multiple-storied buildings and houses are largely crowded together, and to get around you often have to navigate through twisting alleys. It was fun because while we would often just guess which alley to take, we never really got lost because all the alleys eventually end up on a main road. The architecture has this beautiful rustic feel to it, and the city seems to be especially renowned for the ornate doors on its buildings. It made me wish I'd read up more on the history of the city before I'd arrived.

We ate a lot of seafood and curries. Zanzibar is known as the "Spice Island" for all the spices it produces. One day Drew and I went on a "spice tour" where we went to a farm and saw all kinds of plants and trees including those that produce spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, turmeric, vanilla, cloves, pepper, and lemongrass, and fruits including pineapple, jackfruit, starfruit, and dorian. During our stay we also took cheap trips (by way of the dalla-dallas - Zanzibar's equivalent to bush taxis) to the beaches on the northern and eastern sides of the island. The beaches all have pretty turquoise water and white sand. My one biggest complaint about Zanzibar was the overabundance of cats that roam the island; I've never seen so many wild, begging cats in my life! In spite of staying at hotels and eating out frequently, the trip was pleasantly affordable, and the trip overall was a welcomed, relaxing time spent away from village.


Stonetown market


Zanzibar is 90-something percent Muslim


Finding our way



Tunnel



Our first dinner on the island - fresh seafood and curry!




Every night in this garden in Stonetown, chefs sell fresh seafood and you can go and eat buffet style



Our tour guide from the Spice Tour talking about the vanilla bean



Did you know pineapple grew like this?



Cinnamon tree; the bark actually smells and tastes like cinnamon!


Drew with kids



Spices



Nutmeg



Jackfruit



Cloves - Zanzibar's primary cash crop



Starfruit



The tour provided lunch



The beach we went to at the end of the tour; it had warm water but it was really rocky.







Dalla-Dalla; this is what Drew and I used to get around the island.



Men selling fresh tuna by the side of the road



Kids playing soccer on the beach. The ferry in the background is the one we took to get to the island.












Stonetown beach (that's me on the wall)



One of the coolest restaurants we ate at in Stonetown



Pretty scenes from a beach on the eastern side of the island




Relaxing and reading



I got a cheap massage although it wasn't especially relaxing; I think having a legitimate license makes a significant difference....








A cool, cheap restaurant we went to that had great food
Check out that beach in the background!



More alleys



Eating at a cafe we found in one alley




Snack-and-rest time



A view of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania from the ferry



A view of Zanzibar from the plane



My layover was in Dubai. I got a shot of the new tallest building in the world!

1 comment:

janbraith said...

Thank you so much for posting those pictures -- it was reassuring to actually see photos of Drew. Loved the culinary tour --Looks like you two had a great (and much deserved) vacation!