The second day in Zanzibar began with the tours going off early. Yesterday was so busy, we forgot to mention what was available to do and see here. There was a Stone Town walking tour for $100 for 4 hours or a trip to the Jozani Forest Reserve to see the red colobus monkeys for $140 for 3 ½ hours. For the same amount and time, you could see the Palace remains and a spice plantation. A Stone Town evening walk tour with drinks was $200 for 3 hours, while A boat ride to Prison Island was $210 for 4 ½ hours. A sunset dhow cruise for $220 was 2 ½ hours and another evening panoramic drive with dinner was $300 for 4 hours. Last but not least, was a sultan's dhow adventure for $400 and 5 ½ hours which included lunch. Today another excursion was added to Diwengwa Beach for $380 and 2 ½ hours.
We may have mentioned this before, but there were some guidelines suggested to all of us regarding dress and behavior in Zanzibar. This all came from Kimberly's talk where we were reminded that we were in a very Islamic country where short shorts or sleeveless tops for the ladies were not acceptable in public. Leave the thong swimsuits on the ship please. Use bug spray and do not wear yellow or black as these colors tend to attract the insects. Leave your valuables on the ship and ask before taking photos of the locals. Taking pictures of the police or military folks was prohibited. Pickpockets were rampant in the Darajani Souk and Marketplace as well in the narrow alleyways. Do not bring large bags and put the backpacks around the front of you. And there was to be no hand-holding or any sign of affection displayed in public. Lastly, be careful with the taxi drivers and negotiate a definite price before getting into the vehicle. And be sure to bring TP with you just in case you need it. What a fun place to visit…maybe not? And these warning doubled at night time. Unless you went in a group, do not go over alone in the evening….especially if you are female.
OK, with all that in mind, we left the ship by 10am. The skies were heavily overcast and it sure looked like rain. When we boarded the tender boat, it did start to rain lightly. It did not let up much until noontime. And guess what we saw on the tenderboat? Most folks, including crew members, dressed in shorts like us. Not short-shorts but conservative, and no one locally seemed to care. We also spotted some guests going to a beach somewhere dressed with just cover-ups….sleeveless. Again, it was not a problem that we could see. The ferry terminal was just as crowded as yesterday…. like a beehive. We made our way quickly to the waiting shuttle and got the last two seats. We could have walked to the Serena Hotel, but we did not wish to run the gamut of taxi drivers and guides.
From the bus stop, we went back again to get some more photos of what we missed yesterday….namely the Forohani Park, the Palace Museum, the Old Fort, and the floating restaurant. At the park, we saw a load of cats again, but today someone was about to feed them. A local fellow opened a packet of dry kibble and spread it among the 30 cats that live there. We do hope these semi-feral cats are neutered or else there will be 90 cats soon. Surely they keep this area rat-free and that's the reason they are kept fed and healthy.
We continued back walking past the Freddie Mercury House and Museum, which could be visited for $10 we think. We had already seen enough of the place on Kimberly's video, so did not feel the need to go inside. The next big building was the post office and a nice bank. This street had the most Stone Town shops, tanzanite jewelry stores, clothing and workshops. The largest store was called Memories and had about everything you could want to purchase. A souvenir emporium, it was filled with tour people from the walking excursion. Some were shopping, but most were sitting while waiting for their bus to return.
We had hoped to find our way to see St. Joesph's Cathedral, one of the two Catholic churches in the old city. However, we could not locate the steeples since they were hidden behind the many buildings. Also there was a renovation ongoing with a nearby structure and the side streets were closed off. The same thing happened with the Anglican Church and Old Slave Market. It turned out to be too far to walk. Following their map was good, but none of the streets were marked.
It was time to head back since it was lunchtime. On the way, we crossed paths with Greg and his entourage of three. They had just been dropped off by their guide of the morning to navigate their way through the shopping area. They had just made a sweep through the Darajani Souk and Marketplace, and had mixed opinions of what they saw. Greg, who is always on the positive side, found it to be very interesting. After the melee we witnessed yesterday, we had no desire to mix in with the frantic scene.
We had a repeat lunch at 12:30pm at the Beach House where we were welcomed back with a big smile from our waitress. We ordered the Safari pint beers again and a Margherita pizza with diced onions. When it arrived, the onions were missing, but we said nothing. Once again, the pizza was excellent. Each of us ordered a dessert. One was an espresso semifreddo with peanuts on the top and the other was a Sunday Sundae, ice cream with mashed berries, nuts, and whipped cream. Our meal came to 84,000 Tanzanian shillings, a scary amount for sure, which computed to $32.60. It was inclusive of taxes and tip as well. How about that? In most all of our previous ports, we would have paid at least that much for a few small beers only. It seems that inflation has not hit this part of the world yet. By the way, on our way into the restaurant, a vendor came by with some nice sarongs. They were hard to resist at 2 for $10….unheard of elsewhere. He made an easy sale.
We got the last seats on the shuttle back. The route they took was the same as yesterday as they drove around the perimeter of the Stone Town. Once again we got in the middle of horrible traffic and hordes of shoppers. We agreed we had made the best decision not to visit this place, and the bus was so slow, we still got good photos along the way. This ride took up to 45 minutes due to the traffic jams, which we could have walked in 20 minutes tops. The boat ride back was much smoother than yesterday. The rain had let up and the sun was actually out. We were back home in our cool room by 3:30pm working on pictures and documenting our day's activities.
Everyone must have gotten onboard by 4:30pm, the departing time. Captain Friso came on the speakers saying he hoped we had all enjoyed our 2 day stay here. He added that the Zuiderdam was the largest cruise ship to come here today and also last fall while on the Grand Africa trip. Now we will head south to Maputo, Mozambique with three days at sea to go 1440 nautical miles. He expected the weather to be better than he had predicted. Sometimes that area of the Mozambique Channel can be very rough and many people (like him) get seasick. We can expect to miss that, thank goodness.
We slowly made our way past the island while enjoying another sunset , even though it was on the starboard side, we got the opposite cloud color. Even saw a partial rainbow up high. We are so glad we decided to go to Zanzibar and explore on our own. Many of our buddies had stayed onboard and did not have to pay the visa fee of $100. For us, it was worth it since we have never made it here before.
Dinner time had some favorites such as appetizers of spring rolls and a beet tataki with cauliflower. Different, but tasty. A squash soup substituted for a salad, while one of us had the stand-by of a Caesar salad. Mains were one chicken parmigiana with spaghetti and the other had the Club Orange short ribs with mashed potatoes. A half of a sliced banana was one dessert and coffee was sufficient for the other one of us.
By the way, there was a pop-up Italian Cellar Master Dinner in the Pinnacle Grill this evening. Unusual for a port day, but many folks we know have not missed one pop-up since day one.
There is no shame to admit we were tired after two long warm and humid days in Zanzibar, so we missed the show of Brendon Peel, a mentalist with magic and humor….guaranteed to be an award winning performance.
Now we have three sea days to kick back and relax. We all appreciate that.
Bill & Mary Ann
