QUALITY TIME ON ZANZIBAR

After a month of a very intense and very busy schedule in Holland, running up and down from one place to another to catch up with family and friends, we knew we needed some quality time before resuming our work at the lodge in Livingstone. And we knew the perfect place for that: Zanzibar.

We lost count of how many times we had been to Zanzibar before. But every time we just loved our stay. If it was Stonetown or if it was one of the beaches, Zanziabr has got a vibe that we just love. Sure, the island has gained enromously in popularity since we visited it first about 15 years ago, but we still enjoy it a lot.

This time we found a deal on the internet: a week Zanzibar incl. flight from Johannesburg. A bit awkward to have to fly all the way from Amsterdam to Johannesburg and up again to Zanzibar but hey, who cares if you know what is coming!

Once on Zanzibar things were pretty much the same. Luggage was put on a bench in a clumsy way and everybody had to find his own luggage in a small place – what a mess and so much like Zanzibar. Or Africa for that matter..

Our pickup was not there. Yep, TIA…This Is Africa. Never mind, they will eventually show up. And so they did. And they brought us to Kilima Kidogo or “Little Hill�, between the villages of Jambiani and Paje on the south-east coast. The south-african owners greeted us but were not so happy with the bottles of wine and fruit we bought on our way. Despite what the agent had told us, one was not supposed to bring their own. Oh well…

Jambiani Beach is not the best, that we knew. Why? Because a lot of rocks and sea urchins are in the sea which doesn’t make it very appealing to go in the sea. The sea in front of Kilima Kidogo was much better though, but about 500m further north it was even great. It reminded us of the beach and sea at Pongwe, the best we had found so far on Zanzibar. At low tide we could walk, even with Kiora, for about a kilometer in the clear blue sea. Great!

Upon our return the guest house owners would always ask us the obligatory question “how was your day� with their funny accent; it would sound like “how was yourrrrrrrrr day�. Of course they were not really interested in the answer, that was obvious. Just like they would ask us in the morning “and how was your night? Oh grrrrrrrrrreat�….

Anyway, we had a great time. Real quality time. We had late breakfasts, long walks in the sea, reading books on the beach, watching kite surfers do their thing and drinking wine on the beach with new friends Liz and Thibeau. And yet another beautiful African sunset…

We also visited our dear friend Aisha, a Palestinian lady who runs Casa Del Mar in Jambiani. It was great to see her again and to see where she lives and which local projects she supports. We had so much fun we almost forgot it was almost high tide because of which it would be impossible to walk back…

And just about when we started to annoy ourselves about the rrrrrrrrrrrolling-r questions it was time to leave. Manager Isa “Mr Nice� brought us back to the airport and told us about the possibilities of buying land on Zanzibar. Hmmmmm, now that’s an idea….