Zanzibar; a slice of paradise.

We arrived into the Mikadi camp around 4pm as traffic and city life slowed our tracks. We set up our tents and splashed straight into the pool. The beach front camp was thumping already with beats and drinks, which didn’t stop until about 2 am. Not that we attempted to see that hour through, most of us headed to bed after a delicious feast of grilled seafood and rice. 

A light sleep later I awoke at 7, all of us jumped into tuk tuks at 8, most packing a day bag for the next few days at Zanzibar Island. We caught a local ferry overspilling with people and cars to the other side and then waited for our big passenger ferry. The journey was about 2 hours and dropped us to Zanzibar island at 11.30. After passing through a small immigration and customs area we followed a local through pebbled streets until we came to our hotel in ‘Stone Town’. The name was fitting as most of the older buildings were made out of a coral like stone. The streets themselves reminded me of small passageways in Morocco or Italy, It had a certain charm about it which I loved. 
After settling into our lovely but smoke-smelling rooms at the ‘Safari Lodge,’ we met in the foyer to find a familiar face; Nick, who was to be reunited with us for our time on Zanzibar. Our plan was to head out for a local lunch, & then go on a Spice Garden tour. After a short bus ride we pulled into a regular looking local cottage, where we all filed inside into the living room to be met by a floor laid out with a spread of chapatis, rice & curry & watermelon. We realised it wasn’t a local restaurant, just a friend of our local guide’s, it was truly a local lunch, however the food was delicious! Satisfied, we jumped back into the van & before long we arrived at ‘Big Body Spice Garden & Tours,’ a laughably strange name which only sort of made sense when we met the tour guide, a large local man who we nicknamed Big Spice, along with his trusty assistant, Little Spice! 

The tour was informative, & we even received a free drinking coconut & hand woven souvenirs! The girls were given baskets, necklaces, rings, handbags & a flax crown. The boys were given ties & hats that made them look like King Julian from Madagascar. We finished the tour with a tasting of several different island fruits which was great & filled a slight hunger void. We bid Big Spice & co. farewell as we hopped back into our van & headed back to the hotel.

Thirsty for the evening to begin we headed to a fancy beach side, roof top bar to enjoy happy hour cocktails and watch the sun set over the calm ocean. In the dark, we then made our way to the night food markets to feast over kebabs of fresh sea food, fresh sugar cane and sweet pizza pancakes. Nik, Hollie, Katie, Robbo, Sean & I then made tracks back to a beach side bar for a night cap before orienteering our way back through the now eerie silent streets of stone town. 

The next morning after brekky on the roof top of our Lodge, we were more than ready to get on the road at 8:30 for an hour’s drive to Kendwa Beach. We arrived at our accomodation, ‘Sunset Bungalows’ just before check-in. Dropping off our bags & walking through the resort to the beach, our hearts thumped with excitement at the thought of residing in the gorgeous bungalows either side of us, nestled right on the sand. We hired towels & dumped them on sun chairs, eager to dive into the pristine ocean. We weren’t disappointed, in fact we were overjoyed! The water was as clear as any I’ve seen, & for the first time thus far on our journey, the coolness of the water took my breath away. 

After splashing around for a fair bit, we dried ourselves down, laid out on our chairs for a little while, then decided to get organised & check in. We walked back up to reception, & after being told that our initial room wasn’t ready, we were handed the key for the room next door. 
Turning the key in the lock of the large wooden door, we pushed it open & were immediately wowed. The room was wonderfully spacious, with a private wooden balcony, four posted large bed draped with a mosquito net, desks, chairs, tables & a fridge. The bathroom was large with two sinks & a hot, pressurised shower! After taking a wee while to get set up, our bellies decided that they were hungry, so we ventured a conveniently short distance over to the hotel’s ‘Bikini Restaurant & Bar.’ Running into the manager earlier, he had kindly promised 10% discount off food for all hotel guests. We ordered onion rings & a fungi pizza, both of which were largely basic, but did the job. 
We spent the rest of the day in & out of the ocean that lapped the shore a couple of hundred metres away from our front door, stopping to do some much needed laundry in between. Before we knew it, the clock struck 4pm & it was time for a happy hour cocktail in preparation for the pre planned sunset cruise, featuring all you can drink!!! We sat down on some comfy chairs & I ordered the old faithful Piña Colada, & Sean ordered a Hurricane. My cocktail was below average, & disappointingly naked, However, that didn’t compare to the monstrosity that was put down in front of Sean. His Hurricane cocktail was luminous green and tasted of mouthwash; He took a sip & immediately regretted that decision, ending up returning it to the creator & settling on a cold beer instead.

Before long, Vee collected us all & we were led down the beach & onto a rickety old looking boat that was to be the vessel that housed us for a cruise around the beaches as the sun descended closer to the water. We headed up the ladder & onto the top deck ready for some partying, swimming & boozing. There were six local boys up the front playing the drums & dancing enthusiastically, (one particularly overly sexually thrusting guy we nicknamed ‘African Spencer,’ as he looked uncannily like my mate Spencer back in Sydney!) & there was one other boy serving us as many drinks as we could stomach. As the sun slowly sunk, we were invited to dive into the Indian Ocean. Sean wasted no time, ran up to the top & leapt off. I quickly joined him, & the breathtaking orange-red sunset provided a back drop that was second to none. 

More than a few beers, & much too many rum & cokes later, we were all of a sudden back on dry land, Sean fell off the boat while trying to disembark.. After one more beer, a few bad song choices & dancing, we stumbled home, made friends with the loo, & passed out in our lovely bed.

We drearily woke up the next morning with a hangover looming. Our heads were thumping, however we managed to crawl out of bed & head over to the restaurant for breakfast. The hotel’s breakfast was stock standard continental. Eggs, toast, fruit, beans & jam. Not too much else happened for the rest of the day apart from more swimming, the cool, fresh ocean washing over our bodies helped the hangover a little. A spot of shopping at the market stalls that lined the beach killed time before we ran home to hide from the afternoon rain. The afternoon crept by & the sun crept closer towards the water, & before we knew it, it was dinner time. 

The whole gang grouped together & we made tracks to a quaint little restaurant we had walked past earlier in the day. The place was fittingly; named ‘Happy,’ as the young Italian owner greeted us with a massive grin & ‘welcome guys!’ We took our shoes off & took a seat on the cushioned floor around a massive table. We learned that the owner was only 23 & he also worked as the chef cooking the Italian side of the menu, leaving the local chefs to cook the local fare. We ordered an Anchovy pizza & Kingfish & chips. The pizza was incredible, & so it should’ve been, being cooked by an Italian. Thin, crispy, oh so simple but oh so delicious, two thumbs up. The kingfish we learnt wasn’t like the kingfish we get back home, it looked more like a tuna, however it was still tasty. A few glasses of red later we ventured home for a reasonably early night. 

The group rose together at 8, to venture off snorkelling in a small motored boat after breakfast. We slowly followed the coast all the way up for about 2 hours before we came to a stop. The rain was drizzling but didn’t stop us, we dove in to the blissfully blue ocean to find not much more than some pretty plain coral and a collection of average fish speckled with the occasional pretty one. After about an hour of splashing about we boarded the boat for lunch.. A very underwhelming plate of dry pasta and coloured with a sparse coating of tomato sauce. Back in the water for another hour we found an eel, some starfish and a few crayfish, but nothing to keep us there any longer. Back on land about 4pm the afternoon was spent soaking up the sun and taking in the beautiful serenity of this paradise island. 

As it was low season in Zanzibar due to chance of rain fall it was hard to quite grasp how beautiful it would be in its prime. I much prefer not dealing with chaotic crowds and exuberant prices when opting for low seasons! For our last supper that eve we opted back to happy for more delicious Italian and some inconsistent cocktails! Later, curling up in our big bed of white linen after a warm salt water shower… I wasn’t quite ready to leave the island the next day and slide back into a dark tent fighting away the Mosquitos.. But I was excited to see more of this incredible continent.. Thoughts of Africa soon sent me to sleep and our Alarm sounded what felt like moments later.. Time to leave paradise.