Tanzania

Collecting spices in Zanzibar



Dar es Salaam

After the big move, I spent a week relaxing in Tanzania with a group of volunteers (and an honorary volunteer!). Our first stop was in Dar es Salaam, the economic capital of Tanzania. I was surprised to find very little in the city and felt it was comparatively less developed than Kigali – It’s funny how you become possessive over a place….I found myself saying “Well, it’s not like this in Rwanda” quite often! 

After Dar, we got a ferry over to Zanzibar, to the main port, Stonetown.

Ferry to Zanzibar - VIP Lounge

 

Looking back at Dar from the ferry

 This was a far more appealing place to me; tiny little windy alleyways full of small trinket shops and jewellery stores, lovely boutique hotels with rooftop views for watching the sunset and a plethora of restaurants including a Swahili place where we ate sitting on cushions on the floor at a low table.

Penthouse apartment in Stonetown

 

Swahili dining

Night market

Typical Zanzibari buildings

The local beers - Safari and Kili

Ferry from mainland to Zanzibar

Sun setting from beautiful rooftop bar

 

Happy Hour!

Rather cool bar called 'The Post'

From Stonetown, we also took a trip out to a rural area where we were able to explore a spice plantation and sample some of the plants growing there.

grapefruit skin



Vanilla

Climbing the tree for coconuts

DSTV gets everywhere - and I had never heard of it before going to Africa!

The final location on our whistle-stop adventure was the beach where I spent two days swimming happily in the sea (many of you know I am a water baby), sunbathing (Or rainbathing to be more accurate) and enjoying massages from the beach-side massage parlour. It was the perfect break to help me relax and prepare for the new challenges post-VSO.

Our gorgeous room on the beach

Kendwa Rocks resort