Tanzania (February 2010) Travel Log

Zanzibar - Shooting Star Hotel

We eventually arrived in Zanzibar around noon and transferred to our first hotel The Shooting Star and were pleasantly pleased by what we had found. The humidity was greater than the Selous and the reason was a combination of coast, tropical storm and high temperatures, it took the rest of that day and all the next before we acclimatised. The Shooting Star was a good beach hotel, privately owned with a very relaxed atmosphere, it gave us a chance to chill out and unwind just what was needed after a weeks full on safari. The Shooting Star was a 16 room hotel surrounded in pleasant gardens, the food was excellent with a bias to the local produce from the sea and real special touch was the fresh morning coffee delivered to your patio each morning. Even some wildlife was present including the noisy bush baby that called all through the night but it was a place to give even my camera a well earned rest ! On the second night in Shooting Star I was presented with another surprise birthday cake far too big for me so it was shared with the rest of the evening dinner guests. After three days at this hotel it was time to move on to the next venue which was only a few miles further along the same beach.

Zanzibar - Ocean Paradise

Ocean Paradise was a different type of hotel to that of Shooting Star it was far larger and a different style so it would be wrong to make direct comparisons. The rooms here were spacious and the food was in keeping with a larger hotel operation but both hotels were good in their different ways. Outside Ocean Paradise on Kiwanga beach life went on as normal with the local traders selling the tourists anything from safaris and snorkelling trips to wooden trinkets and sea shells anyone was a potential target. There would be fishermen casting their nets or searching the reef for food whilst the ladies would be harvesting seaweed to dry outside their homes for sale somewhere abroad. The beach was a highway for the local people by foot, bicycle and motor bike with the children ever present after school. The Masai who are traditionally the front line security for the many safari lodges and also some beach hotels were present, each Masai had their little tourist offering to earn some additional income running alongside their security duties. We spent 3 enjoyable nights at Ocean Paradise but it was time to move on again. It was nearing the end of the trip but there was one more place to visit – Stone Town, a place steeped in history.

Zanzibar - Stone Town

The location this time was Dhow Palace Hotel which I could only describe as adequate. The heat and humidity in Stone town was greater than the beach as it’s located on the leeward side of the island and therefore lacked a decent breeze. This was somewhat exaggerated by the fact that the electricity supply to Zanzibar from the mainland had failed and not been working for the past three months. Most of the hotels were using standby generators but only for certian periods throughout the day and night, therefore air conditioning was very limited. All day and throughout the night the sound of generators could be heard pumping away, it was very difficult to find a peaceful restaurant where the sound of generator was not close by. Stone Town had not changed since the last time I was there, the back street vendors were abound and the main market place selling fish and meat was an experience, you needed a strong stomach to venture through this place as the smell was not to be forgotten. The tourist touts were everywhere offering anything from a taxis to music CD’s and guiding services around the town. Each vendor invites you in to look at their wares some more forcibly than others with the greeting of “Jambo”, “Good Price” and “Karibu” as standard. The ‘Dukas’ are full of tourist memorabilia selling wooden carvings, basketry and brightly coloured painting plus a whole range of trinkets to browse and barter for. As the day draws to an end one of the most favoured spots for a traditional African ‘Sun Downer’ is the panoramic view from the veranda of ‘Africa House Hotel’. It has an impressive vista across the blue Indian Ocean, sunset was a good time to enjoy a drink and watch the Dhows set sail, each leaving harbour on their nightly fishing trip out at sea.