We found a cheap guesthouse in the poorest end of Stone Town on the main island of Zanzibar. Although we were a little worried when we arrived as we went through a very grotty fish market to the door of the guesthouse, it turned out to be a bit of an oasis. Albeit a bit tatty, the enclosed stone courtyard, complete with tiled fish pond was great and the room large, clean, with A/C and a modern bathroom with powerful shower turned out to be better accommodation than the large smart hotels we have stayed at. Breakfast was served on the roof overlooking the ocean on two sides with the fishing boats coming in just below us. Another, 'wow!' moment and there were a few of those in Zanzibar.
Stone Town was fascinating for us and we loved it despite its run down appearance. Every other house has a beautiful carved door with large brass spiked studs, even the most dilapidated. There were old palaces and buildings to look around, an enormous open market, masses of street stalls and a maze of little narrow streets gave the place a great atmosphere.
Also, the best food we have eaten in Africa so far with the famous Zanzibar spices featuring everywhere. Quite a few meals on terraces overlooking the beach, eating sitting on the floor, and listening to Freddie Mercury and Queen (he was born in Zanzibar) all added to the specialness of it. The only tour we undertook was the Spice Tour where we visited the spice plantations and were shown how spices are grown and processed.
After three days we took a daladala to Bwejuu, a small quiet spot on the shores of the ocean. Daladalas are great. They are small minibus size wagons with highly decorated open fretwork sides and a small bench around the inside of the rear. The bench is about six inches off the floor and slightly padded. They are designed to take twelve people but frequently we had over twenty squeezed in. Everything goes on the roof, bicycles, bales, firewood and a one stage they loaded over twenty crates of soft drinks on top of ours. Daladalas are frequent, efficient and very cheap, costing around a £1 for a journey which took, including stops, over an hour and a half. The daladala dropped us off in the middle of nowhere. However we found a little basic resort with a small banda within our budget right on the beach. Three days of endless white sands and hardly a soul around was bliss, except when Ken fell over in a rockpool and Jane spent quite a while with a needle and tweezers removing nasty black sea urchin spines from his fingers and toes.
After three days we took a daladala to Bwejuu, a small quiet spot on the shores of the ocean. Daladalas are great. They are small minibus size wagons with highly decorated open fretwork sides and a small bench around the inside of the rear. The bench is about six inches off the floor and slightly padded. They are designed to take twelve people but frequently we had over twenty squeezed in. Everything goes on the roof, bicycles, bales, firewood and a one stage they loaded over twenty crates of soft drinks on top of ours. Daladalas are frequent, efficient and very cheap, costing around a £1 for a journey which took, including stops, over an hour and a half. The daladala dropped us off in the middle of nowhere. However we found a little basic resort with a small banda within our budget right on the beach. Three days of endless white sands and hardly a soul around was bliss, except when Ken fell over in a rockpool and Jane spent quite a while with a needle and tweezers removing nasty black sea urchin spines from his fingers and toes.
Then back on the daladala to Stone Town and the ferry to Dar es Salaam where things went down hill a little.
Firstly we found out on leaving Zanzibar that our visas expired in two days (apparently the 90 day period starts when you obtain the visa and not from when you arrive), then Jane was very sick on the ferry. The visa problem meant that we needed to change plans and fly out of Tanzania within the two days instead of taking our time overland. We were badly advised that the only way to do this was buying a ticket via Nairobi, only to discover there was a flight direct to Lilongwe (Malawi's capital) the next day. This left us out of pocket and fed up. On top of this we faced difficulties on the hotel front. It was not only difficult to find but was without water or electricity much of the time. Eating in the bar in the dark was a challenge and we were served chicken when we ordered fish which, of course, Jane couldn't eat. Dar has daily power cuts. We tried to explore the city but found it to be dirty and dusty with little to recommend it and very hot and humid. It also had what must be the worst National Museum in the world with very limited and boring exhibits. We tried eating out the next evening, but the streets were dark and threatening and we were glad to reach the hotel safely later. Dar was not a particularly good experience!
However Malawi promises well. The flight on a small 50 seat aircraft was very friendly, the few passengers seemed to chat to each other and to us and when we arrived the airport was shut down with no immigration or customs staff at all. However, everyone was so nice about it and the immigration official came back from his home in about half an hour and just stamped every passport without discussion, apologising profusely. One of the passengers found a good taxi for us.
Firstly we found out on leaving Zanzibar that our visas expired in two days (apparently the 90 day period starts when you obtain the visa and not from when you arrive), then Jane was very sick on the ferry. The visa problem meant that we needed to change plans and fly out of Tanzania within the two days instead of taking our time overland. We were badly advised that the only way to do this was buying a ticket via Nairobi, only to discover there was a flight direct to Lilongwe (Malawi's capital) the next day. This left us out of pocket and fed up. On top of this we faced difficulties on the hotel front. It was not only difficult to find but was without water or electricity much of the time. Eating in the bar in the dark was a challenge and we were served chicken when we ordered fish which, of course, Jane couldn't eat. Dar has daily power cuts. We tried to explore the city but found it to be dirty and dusty with little to recommend it and very hot and humid. It also had what must be the worst National Museum in the world with very limited and boring exhibits. We tried eating out the next evening, but the streets were dark and threatening and we were glad to reach the hotel safely later. Dar was not a particularly good experience!
However Malawi promises well. The flight on a small 50 seat aircraft was very friendly, the few passengers seemed to chat to each other and to us and when we arrived the airport was shut down with no immigration or customs staff at all. However, everyone was so nice about it and the immigration official came back from his home in about half an hour and just stamped every passport without discussion, apologising profusely. One of the passengers found a good taxi for us.
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