Zanzibar never even hit my radar in all my travel planning. I'm not sure why because it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. A month into our 54-day African overlanding trip, we took a break for four days of relaxation in Zanzibar. Zanzibar is an archipelago off the coast of Tanzania, a part of the country but separate. You even go through passport control once you get off the ferry or the plane.
Be warned, the ferry crossing is rocky indeed. While it didn't really phase me after the hell that was the Drake Passage on the way to Antarctica, most everybody else was queasy or being sick over the rails. If you decide to take the ferry (it's a much cheaper option), bring some seasickness tablets and some ginger and you should be fine. We arrived in the main city, Stone Town, to find it rainy and miserable. Traveling tends to be a rain or shine kind of business, so even though the streets were flooding, off we went on a spice tour.
Spice Tours in Zanzibar
Zanzibar is famous for its spices, in particular saffron and turmeric, and is in fact know around the world as Spice Island. The whole city of Stone Town is littered with spice plantations you can visit and sample. It's a pretty interesting experience as they pair your small group with a guide and off you go tasting your way through what often looks like a jungle.
By the end, we each had about a dozen fresh spices in a cup made from leaves to carry about and try. Imagine cutting a strip of bark off a tree and having a bite to find your tongue tickled with the taste of cinnamon, or biting into peppercorns so fresh they burn your mouth. We even had a go at using different berries and spices to make natural lipsticks and soaps.
Tortoises in Zanzibar
After our tour, we decided to go off to a little island known as Prison Island that formerly housed inhabitants dying of diseases and leprosy but now houses endangered giant tortoises. Unlike the Galápagos Islands, here you are actually allowed to touch the giant beasts so long as you are respectful and don't harass or harm them. We went early in the morning in a rickety boat guaranteed to make you queasy but we were lucky to beat out the crowds and spent an hour alone with the giant dinosaurs.
Zanzibar is an Island Paradise
After seeing all that Stone Town really has to offer, we headed up north to a resort to lay around soaking up sun and practicing our diving. Zanzibar is one of the best places to dive or be PADI trained (one of our group in fact went back after our Africa trip to become a divemaster and hasn't left since, it's that beautiful).
While there's probably a lot more to do that I managed to miss, I was still recovering from a knee injury that made me slow and awkward (more so than I typically am, anyway) and three solid days of sun, sand, and drinks with adorable little umbrellas was just what the doctor ordered.
Luckily the weather held out and was sunny and gorgeous for the whole time. I worked on my tan, fell in love with the scenery, and was just generally a big lazy blob on the beach. It was the perfect mini holiday in the midst of a bigger trip. It always seem insane to say I am taking a vacation or holiday from my big trip, but anybody who's done any kind of major trip knows what I mean when I say you need to recharge your batteries or travel burnout sets in and brings you down.
Zanzibar was the perfect backdrop to recharge.
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