You can't get there in a car

Kate was sick on Thursday night but by then we had already arranged to leave the next day so at 7 am on Friday a dhow (with a motor and, sadly, no sail) picked us up from the beach in front of our hotel. It was a wet and choppy ride to Zanzibar that I somehow imagine would have been more pleasant if we had been sailing (and certainly if Kate had been feeling better). But it was finally a clear and sunny day and I discovered I had a knack for telling time by the sun, though it certainly helped that we were practically on the equator. Four hours later we arrived at Kendwa, which, with five people on the beach, seemed crowded and overrun to us. Still, there were pristine white beaches and warm, clear, calm turquoise water. We stayed at Kendwa Rocks, which Kara had warned me was a bit spring break-y, and I instantly knew what she meant and that I would probably hate it in the high season. But it was low season and had nice and affordable bandas (we ended up with one with a hammock in front) and a nice bar and restaurant and nightly beach bonfires. It was quite lovely really, though the first night the mosquitoes were ravenous. We happened to be there for their monthly full moon party, which we stopped by for a little bit, but found ourselves falling asleep so we left early.

Friday was the only really sunny day we had at Kendwa, though we didn’t really mind the rain. When it rained it rarely poured, and when it’s so hot the rain is never that unpleasant. We had kind of turned into beach bums at Pangani and that trend continued at Kendwa. We didn’t do much of anything though our one must-do activity was to visit the turtle aquarium at the tip of the island. At first I thought we would walk up the beach but by the time we got our act together the tide was high and we would have to cut through an exclusive resort and then through the bush on the coral cliff. I thought with two of us we would be fine on the trail, but Kate was more sensible and cautious so we turned back. Instead we made elephants and turtles in the sand and went swimming. The next day, though the tide was low, it was raining, so we took a taxi to the aquarium to see the green turtles. They have about 20 turtles that they keep until they are about 20 years old so that they have a better chance of survival and the endangered population can recover. We got to feed seaweed to some of the bigger ones (they are called green turtles because the seaweed they eat makes their fat green) and we got to hold little 4-day-old ones!

After three days luxuriating in paradise, we finally returned to the real world beyond the gates of the resort and went to Stone Town (which is still in Vacationland). Our first stop was the Zanzibar Coffee House, which is closed for renovations for the month of May. However, as I will be returning there at the end of the month to help coach the national barista champion for the World Barista Competition, I got in touch with the café manager, with whom we had lunch at another café and talked about coffee. She directed us to a lovely hotel run by a friend of hers, where we had two double beds, air conditioning, en suite toilet and shower with hot water, a private porch, free internet access, a free welcome drink on the roof, and delicious breakfast.

Monday evening we walked along the shore to Forodhani Gardens, a beautiful and clean park along the water where we bought some fresh and delicious seafood street food for dinner, as well as fresh-squeezed sugar cane juice. We watched the sun set as the park filled with hungry families and hungry tourists. We spent Tuesday wandering around town, getting lost and found, telling guides we weren’t interested, exploring the market, avoiding getting run over by bikes and scooters, eating passionfruit gelato and drinking passion juice. Stone Town is definitely my kind of city – small, cute, and old, with plenty of fresh seafood and great ocean views and breezes. After a sundowner at Mercury’s (named for Freddie Mercury, who was born in Zanzibar), we returned to the Gardens for dinner, where we learned how to say “Obama” in sign language.

Wednesday morning we wandered around a bit more before our ferry to Dar. Kate had a final bottle of Bitter Lemon and a final glass of passion juice, while I did some research into signature drinks. Then we had a short but bumpy boat ride to big, hot, muggy Dar. We checked me into the YWCA, got some food and my bus ticket for the next day, and a few hours later Kate flew back to America. The next day I boarded a bus and returned to Moshi.