The day after our climb we headed back to Dar es Salaam for a night and then took the ferry to Zanzibar the next day. The travel to Dar was pretty miserable and I had doubts about whether trying to squeeze in Zanzibar was a good idea, but once we finally got to the island all my doubts disappeared. Zanzibar is truly a magical place. We stayed in the heart of Stone Town, a part of Zanzibar city that is equal parts old European village and middle eastern town. The island is 95% muslim so most of the children running around had head scarves and embroidered caps. The island is semi-autonomous so we had to go through customs and get our passports stamped upon entry. We spent our days in Zanzibar eating delicious food, riding bikes, snorkeling, going on a spice tour, and wandering the streets of stone town. It was incredibly hot and humid, but we had A/C in our hotel room so we slept well every night.
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The streets of Stone Town |
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Sugarcane juice with ginger and lime |
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playing dominoes and drinking coffee in the square |
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sunset on the water |
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Zanzibar mix! A delicious soups with falafel, fried potato balls, hard boiled egg, kabob, and veggies in a yogurt broth for less than $1! Yum. |
One day in Zanzibar we did two trips through the tourist office. In the morning we went snorkeling and in the afternoon we went on a spice tour. In total, we each paid $20 for the day. This included everything. Zanzibar is amazingly cheap.
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Snorkel time! |
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approaching Prison Island for snorkeling |
Prison island is so named because it used to be a quarantine location for people and ships on route to Zanzibar Island. There is no one in prison on Prison Island now, but it is home to over 100 giant tortoises. They were originally a gift from Seychelles in exchange for some rare Zanzibarbarian plants. The oldest tortoise in the sanctuary is 191 years old!
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