Tuesday, February 26th, 2013
Today I would leave mainland Tanzania and head off on a bit more of an adventure. Lola was heading back to Riyadh later today but I had taken an extra week of leave so I could spent some time diving in the Indian Ocean and relaxing on some white sandy beaches. My destination today was the little island of Zanzibar, part of Tanzania but just a short distance off the coast.
While waiting for my transport I ran into our old friends one more time, Arshad and Hassan. They really were great on this trip so I was very happy to say goodbye to them one more time. I then loaded up in the airport shuttle and I was off. On arrival at the airport I ran into my first real hiccup as I quickly became aware that my flight booking had been cancelled. Apparently a ticket number was not assigned by the system so the booking just gets cancelled.....without notifying anyone. Of course all the other flights out that day were full so there was nothing the airline would do to help me out. Lucky for me, I hadn't booked the flight myself. The very nice people at Zara Adventures had done it so I simply called them, told them the story and they went to work. After a bit of delay I was able to board a flight.......to Dar Es Salaam, which is not on Zanzibar (but is the Capital of Tanzania). After a bit of wait there, I finally took the short 20 minute flight to Zanzibar.
Once I arrived it was pretty smooth sailing. The airport is really little....so little all the baggage is unloaded by hand. My driver was already there to pick me off so it was then quickly off to the hotel (after a stop at the ATM of course).
It was nearly an hour and a half drive from the airport to the hotel and since it was still light for most of the drive I was able to get a good look at the land and it's people. Zanzibar's population is roughly 99% Muslim but not nearly as conservative as you would find in Riyadh. That being said I certainly found some familiar sights and sounds in the occasional abaya clad woman and mosques, but while most women were covered, it certainly was a very colourful scene. There were plenty of school children as well, all covered up in large head scarves.
Eventually I pulled up to my hotel. Unfortunately it was already dark (and I was very tired) so I couldn't get a good view of the place, but first impressions were that this would be a great place for relaxation.
My room for the 6 nights. It has a great big stone shower. Was not going to be a problem to relax here at all. My room is on an upper floor with large patio that overlooks the water. Tomorrow I'll get a great view.
After quickly settling in my room and unpacking a few things, I headed to the beach restaurant for some dinner and a drink. It was a long day that turned into a relatively early night.
Tomorrow I would finally get to set foot in the Indian Ocean.
Julie
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