Zanzibar

We're still alive!
We've just been on holiday and unable to update the blog. The past two weeks we have been in Zanzibar, an island off the coast of Tanzania. It was a wonderful holiday for the both of us, as well as Bert Senning who got to spend the second half of his trip there with us. We spent our first week in a guest house outside of the island's famous, Stone Town. During this first week went on the island Spice Tour which took us through the farmlands learning, smelling, and tasting the different fruits and spices that Zanzibar grows and trades. The food in Zanzibar is amazing - perfectly seasoned with tons of flavor and variety, a nice change from Rwanda. We also rented a boat for the day and went snorkeling on a reef out by islands off of Zanzibar and got to visit the giant tortoises that inhabit one of the islands. We saw the oldest tortoise who is 175 years old, but can live to be 300 years old! We also spent some time wandering through the narrow windy streets of historic Stone Town shopping, eating and relaxing. After Bert Senning left, we headed to the northern part of the island, Nyungwi, where the really beautiful white beaches are. We stayed at this great little place and spent our nights in a Banda - a very small room made of bark and rugs with a thatched roof. The bandas are perfect for the Zanzibar weather, hot and humid. We spent most of our time lounging on the beach reading, swimming and chatting with the locals and other guests - we met a lot of interesting people from all over the world. Anna ended up getting sick for a few days, we aren't sure of what or why and we also encountered some rain, but overall it was such a relaxing and beautiful place. Although Zanzibar is a mainly muslim island, the beaches are okay places to be in a bathing suit and show your skin. However, when going into Stone Town for example, it is expected that one be respectful and cover their shoulders and wear long shorts or skirts. We had no problem with this and were fascinated with the new culture. We both found the woman and their head dresses and burkas to be stunning as well as very colorful and fun. They were all very kind and friendly as well.
Overall we had an extremely relaxing holiday and Zanzibar and both hope to go back someday to vacation - its like the caribbean with culture and much cheaper accommodations. We are glad to be back in Rwanda, but are still grudgingly adjusting to the colder climate.

Below you will see some scattered photos of Zanzibar and Stone Town. Enjoy.


Kendwa Rocks - our hotel in Nyungwi

The sailboats in Zanzibar are called "dows". Very elegant.



Sophia on the porch of our banda (top floor).

Where there's fish, there's cats. Stone Town especially was full of cats. Cats in Rwanda are used to abuse and afraid of humans, it was nice to be able to play and pet the cats in Zanzibar. :)




The harbor in Stone Town


The streets and sights of whitewashed Stone Town.


On the flight home, we flew right by Mt. Kilimanjaro! What a beautiful mountain. But that's the next trip....