Zanzibar!

Written June 29th

What an awesome day. In 24 hours I have discovered how cool it is to travel alone. It forces me to be independent and meet people. It’s almost been too smooth.. it’s weird. Spent the first half of the day having breakfast on a roof terrace and chatting with some cool people I met; one from Canada, one from the states and one from the UK. And then I did a walking tour of stone town. Stone town is such a cool place to walk around I wish I had more time there. I’m glad I had a guide because it would be so easy to get lost there.. it’s small but at times I felt like we had just been walking in circles. We went to the market which had a beef section, a fruit and vegetable section, a spice section and a fish section. The beef and fish were just hanging around and laying on dirty counters and being dragged across the floor. The smell of the fish was overwhelmingly strong. I guess you have to avoid thinking about that process as you’re eating the meat in a restaurant. We went and saw the slave chambers where they actually used to hold the slaves. It was so creepy but I think it was my favourite part of the tour. We also saw the house of wonders, Freddy Mercury’s house, the palace museum and a bunch of the small shops. There were a couple things I didn’t get to see because there just wasn’t time. Maybe I’ll have to come back one day.

 My room at Warere House

Stairwell in what used to be an Arab mansion (now Warere)

Church built after the slave trade was abolished. Used to be the market where slaves were sold.



One of the slave chambers

After the tour I headed to my second destination Paje to lounge on the beach. My dorm is pretty cool.. the floor is sand, as is the rest of the place. When I showed up I met one of the local guys who showed me the beach. The beach. Omg. So beautiful. I think it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. He found a coconut and we cracked it open and drank from it then ate it. It was pretty delicious. Then we wandered down the beach for a while. The sand is literally white and like soft powder. The water is so blue but a gorgeous turquoise near the shore. I have pictures but they don’t do it justice.

My dorm in Paje

The beach. nbd.

Later on I met the other 3 girls staying in my dorm. They came together but have only known each other for the last 3 or 4 days which I think is awesome. One is from Switzerland, one from California and one from England. I ended up hanging out with them last night and it looks like I might be heading to Kendwa with them after breakfast in the morning. I was planning on staying in Paje for 4 nights but plans may change. I had originally wanted to stay in Kendwa so I feel like this could be the perfect opportunity to see it. It’s a different area of the island and a totally different environment. And why not? So off we go after breakfast.