Jambo!! We got to Stone town on Friday afternoon after maximizing our last morning in the sun, and decided to see what the town had to offer. We had heard Stone town was the place for all our shopping needs, so we perused some of the small stores before heading to dinner. We decided to check out the famous Forodhani Gardens, a square on the water that fills nightly with food vendors.
As soon as we reached the gardens, we realized this was the place to eat as it was teeming with locals and tourists alike. There were numerous food stands set up in the middle of the park, selling a vast array of local fare. The main attractions were the fish stands, offering everything from shark to baracuda along with flatbreads (coconut, garlic, naan and local favourite chapati), salad and fries. Then there were the sugarcane juice stations, where it was being freshly squeezed to order, that unfortunately we didn't try until our last night. The fruit stations offered whole mangoes, watermelons and pineapple - delish! Finally, the Zanzibar pizza station which served both meal and dessert versions of a stuffed chapati crepe. Our favourite was obviously one filled with nutella and GIANT banana slices, fried and drizzled with chocolate sauce. DROOL. This market was our dinner home for two of the three nights we spent in Stone town (until we all craved a burger and fries - a little taste of home on our last night).
Now that we've covered the culinary/most important chapter of our time in Stone town, we'll move on to our daytime adventures! On Saturday we signed up for a snorkeling trip to Prison Island, which had been recommended to us earlier in the trip. The day started with a (choppy) sail in a traditional wooden dhow to the island. We were expecting a day of beach, boats and snorkeling until we unloaded at the island and were lead to a sanctuary of giant tortoises. Have no fear, pictures to follow. They were HUGE, and lucky us! We got there at feeding time! After frolicking and taking way too many pictures, we hit the beach for a bit of pre-snorkel sun. We headed back out on the dhow and were taken to a 'reef', where we hopped in and saw a lot of sand and plants, a handful of starfish, and a few rather small and colourless fish. We soon ditched the flippers and leaky masks in favour of jumping off the boat into the beautiful Indian ocean. When our group felt they had seen all the ocean had to offer, we headed back to town. Pleasant surprise - freshly cut mango awaited us, 90% of which was consumed by the three of us. Yum! We spent the rest of the day shopping around town, and dinner was spent in the market (see above). We once again searched for nightlife - we got closer this time, finding a soothing jazz bar on the beach. However we decided to forego this option in favour of more desserts and proximity to working toilets. We definitely have our priorities straight!
On Sunday, we signed up for another day trip - a local spice and fruit tour (one of the most popular excursions in Stone town). We hopped on a bus and were taken to a nearby spice farm, where a guide took us around and showed us where a number of spices and fruits are grown. His trusty assistant was always nearby to knock fruit out of the trees for us to try, and gather spices for us to smell/taste/crush/rub on ourselves. Some highlights of the tour include munching on grapefruit, starfruit and cinnamon bark, as well as seeing nutmeg, cloves, cocoa, coffee, vanilla beans, peppercorns, ginger and turmeric in their natural forms. After the tour we were treated to a traditional lunch of pilau rice, curry potatoes, veggies and chapati, all prepared with spices we had just seen. Finally, no day in Zanzibar is complete without some time on the beach, so we soaked up some rays before making our way back to town.
After doing a little more shopping, we headed to Africa House - a hotel with a rooftop bar that Achmed (reference: post 1) had highly recommended for sunset drinks and viewing. Once again, Achmed was right. The patio was beautiful, our drinks came served in coconut shells, and the sunset over the ocean did not disappoint (unlike the pitiful serving size of guacamole). We then headed to a cafe downtown and grabbed burgers and fries, after which the dessert menu caught our eye (shocker). We decided to try a sticky date cake with caramel sauce that was EASILY the best dessert we've had since the infamous chocolate pot (reference: post 1). Not yet stuffed completely to the brim, we hit the market for sugarcane juice, fresh mango and Zanzibar pizza. We rolled back to our hostel to pack (which is getting increasingly difficult due to our accumulation of numerous, heavy and oddly shaped souvenirs) and digest (also getting increasingly difficult). No search for nightlife. Too full.
This morning we did our LAST bit of shopping (though sunglasses are still calling Nicole's name...), and are headed to meet up with some Ottawa classmates for lunch before heading to the airport for flights to Dar es Salem (20 minutes, no big deal), and Lusaka (Zambia!!). Tomorrow we'll board a 7 hour bus to take us from Lusaka to Livingstone, where we'll spend the last leg of our African adventure (tear). We'll update you from there!! Stay cool rafikis!!
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