We enjoyed the beaches and laid back atmosphere of the northern beaches of Zanzibar. However, the town that we started and ended in reminded us of the difficulties of our time in Morocco. The people can be great and I am sure if you were on a tour that you would have no idea of how persistent these people are to be of assistance to you. It makes it difficult to think and converse with each other as they keep nattering at you. However, we did get a ticket and the boat back to the mainland today! We had planned on coming tomorrow but it may be 'eid', the end of Ramadan for the Muslims and then the boats sail late or not at all. Information in the distant future like last week seems definite but then today noone knows if the boats will run tomorrow - and we need to catch our tain to Zambia. And the 'fast' boat of 100 minutes was 2.5 hours so it is a good thing that we caught it today. No squeezing things in, in the uncertainty here.
This is the third year that we have hit Ramadan! but on the beaches of Zanzibar we got great pizza in wood fire oven and lager beer called Kilimanjaro to washit down. In the evening our favorite was the Italian resort with top food (Italian and local) served to the discerning Italians by the Egyptian run hotel.
We snorkelled one day - pretty good - but just enjoyed the whole experience of a dhow - one of those canvas sails up on a wooden pole - great to see how they build and maintain these boats. - hand-drilled nail holes, hand-made nails, canvas sails and rope tying it together. Everything from boats to houses are made of wood, cement, thatch roofs and that's about it - some string and amazing ingenuity.
Enjoyed a little traditional music and dinner last night. Really enjoyed my black pepper tea. Choices included cinnamon, cardamon, ginger, masala in either teas or coffees. Lots of fresh fish as well.
So we are on time for our train tomorrow afternoon to go to Zambia.
Take care,
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