Monday, 9th August 2004
A sad day... in one week from now we’ll be back in the UK...
Anyway....
Did the touristy bit today, with a Spice Tour around this beautiful island. As is rather common with this place, the reality was not quite the same as the sales pitch... but it was still a worthwhile trip.
First thing in the morning, we traipsed across town to meet a large group of other tourists outside a small office. We were then loaded onto a very small dala-dala - a mini-van-pick-up-truck hybrid, with benches in the back, the transport used by most locals. OK, so it’s common to see more than 10 locals in the back, but they presumably are not paying as much for the privelege, and they are mostly somewhat smaller than the average fat tourist (speaking for myself, anyway). So to fit 13 (thirteen) tourists in the back for our bumpy journey into the island’s interior was pushing it...
But, we survived, and we soon reached our first stop, a small village where we stopped for Zanzibar coffee and “doughnuts”, while watching kids playing football, and two old men playing a rather complex stone-passing game that seemed to involve filling up dishes hollowed out of a piece of wood in a totally random way! (The journey itself was quite interesting, as we passed by Zanzibar life as we bumped along the main roads. It was especially good to be able to see between the palms lining the roads into the forests beyond, to the clearings of red-clay surrounded by earth-and-palm-frond huts, and to see (or imagine) the communities living there.)
We then moved on into the hills, finally reaching a spice plantation in the midst of the tropical forests. Here, we took a tour of the industry that made Zanzibar its less shameful fortune, which was very good - with a guide taking us round all the different parts of the plantation, and showing us all the different plants. It was a real hands-on experience, with plenty of squishing and picking and tasting. Seeing cardamom (seed-pods that grow on runners on the ground) and nutmeg (a large fleshy green fruit like a peach) and cinnamon (the bark of small trees) in their original state was pretty cool! Not to mention the coffee, casava, ginger, cocoa, tamarind, ylang-ylang, and a huge variety of fruit! Very cool!
After a chance to buy the spices from a stall (we got a bit carried away) we moved on to another village, where we had lunch in a long-house of some sort. The final part of the trip was to one of the west coast’s beaches (Mangapwani), which was a spectacular swathe of coral-white sand and bright turquoise sea. Many of the group headed for the shade, but Kate and I jumped into our cozzies and plunged into the sea. Very refreshing after a long day on bumpy roads. Swam a bit, lounged a bit, dozed a bit, and then it was time to head back to Stone Town.
We watched the stall-holders setting up at Forodhani gardens over a smoothie at an Indian restaurant/cafe overlooking the sea, and then made our way down to the stalls for one last feast. Started with “Zanzibari Pizza” - a savoury pancake filled with meat, vegetables, spices and egg, then fried over a large hotplate. Absolutely delicious! Followed that with another plate of seafood and beef kebabs, with chilli sauce, with a couple of Tangawizi ginger beers. Splendid!
Back to the hotel, to pack - another early start tomorrow...
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