Well, as many of you will know, I've just got back from a short week's holiday in Zanzibar - just the name sounds exotic, and the reality is indeed truly delicious. Coming from dusty hot Oman, Zanzibar was a riot of colours, all to be enjoyed at a slow, gentle pace and at a comfortable temperature ...
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| Lush trees cover the island |
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| Seaside shades of blue |
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| The daily riot of colour at sundown |
It was never going to be a hectic holiday - for my longest break since the beginning of the year, relaxation was always top of the agenda. Happily for me, Nungwi, on the northern tip of Zanzibar's main island, is still beautiful and relaxing despite apparently having been the site of massive development over the past few years. It may have changed beyond all recognition for the locals, and some parts are relatively built-up - and I dread to think what water and rubbish problems there might be lurking behind the scenes. Still, the people were almost universally friendly and pretty easy-going, and the buildings seem to use local materials and employ lots of local staff - still a holiday resort, but Benidorm it ain't ...
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One of the more hectic bays -
and this was by far its busiest moment
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| Enjoying one of the newer bars after a hard days diving |
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The beach in front of our hotel -
no jostling to get your beach towel down here |
Our hotel was a pretty typical example of the developments. The vast majority of the occupants were Italians on all-inclusive deals. However, after my Sharm Al Shaykh experience this year, this was pretty much the opposite - laid-back, comfortable, with individual touches and lots of smiles. We were only on a bed-and-breakfast deal and had plenty of decent food in other hotels and restaurants in nearby bays - although the seafood and salads on offer at the hotel were actually pretty delicious, and the barbecued tuna was truly memorable. Even the one day we came across one of those 'organised activities' - aqua aerobics in the bar pool - it was amusing rather than annoying, and certainly didn't stop us from enjoying our leisurely coffee (or was it already mojitos by then?)
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| The bed on arrival - we hardly dared sleep on it! |
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| Our little cottage |
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| View from the cottage down to the sea ... |
There is lots to do and visit on Zanzibar - Stonetown is a World Heritage site, spice plantations, rural village tours, and remote islands to visit. I am both proud and disappointed to say that we did NONE of these things. In fact, I think our laziest day involved slowly getting up, eventually walking 100m down the beach to a cafe, and at some point later walking the 100m back ... however, we did manage to go diving for the first three days, which I guess some people would call being active, and at least involved seeing some of the rest of the island from our happy little boat.
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| Chicateen, Idi and Usman provide music and smiles galore |
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| Coping with the pace |
The diving itself was awesome - although the visibility wasn't always great, and the currents were sometimes against us, I went deeper than I've ever been and we saw some truly amazing stuff. No photos of my own I'm afraid, but here are a couple of the amazing animals we got to play with.
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| Leaf scorpionfish |
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| Several sites had forests of coral plates |
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A Helmet Gurnard - they spread their 'wings' when startled
and 'run' off across the sand |
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| Linda's flatworm - one of many weird and wonderful nudibranches |
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A Seagrass Pipefish - amazing camouflage,
and really hard to spot! |
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Thornyback Cowfish - a cute little thing
who seemed to want to play! |
So, all in all, Zanzibar is a place I will definitely be going back to - to do more relaxing, more of the diving, and I might even stir myself into some tourism. For this trip though it was the good company, the culinary experiences, and the beauty above and below the water that made this, for me, a true paradise island ...
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| punting Zanzibar style - slow but sure ... |
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| The end of another perfect day ... |
