-Etty Hillesum
After the jaw-dropping wildlife, wonderful people, bumpy roads and rolling hills in the interior of East Africa we made a push for the coastline and the intoxicating island of Zanzibar for our final week of our adventure.
Arriving on a fast ferry we docked in the port at Zanzibar town (the largest town on the island). Coming into shore the electric blue water, white beaches and stone forts come into view and it is exactly as you picture a place called "Zanzibar".
Zanzibar has had a turbulent past and has been touched by African, Portugese, British, Persian, Indian and Arab traders. It is this mix of cultures that makes the island such a facinating place to laze around. Part of the draw of Zanzibar for us is it's intertwinned history with Oman.
For much of the previous centuries Oman was the most powerful sea-faring nation in the region. Muscat gained tremendous wealth through the goods traded through Zanzibar, including the infamous slave trade. The nations are so connected that for a brief period Zanzibar was the capital of Oman and home of the Sultan. Seeing the clothes and customs of Oman in such a far off island was comforting in some strange way.
We started in Stonetown and spent a day wandering the streets and admiring the Arabic influenced arcitecture. This is by far the most tourists we saw during the entire trip. There are all ranges of people, families, and nationalities wandering the winding streets. It is little wonder why people flock in such numbers. After a day here we headed to the East coast and an area called Bweju.
Bweju is a quiet, less busy area of the island and we stayed at a place called "Mustafa's Nest". Our days were filled with lying in the white sand, swimming in the crystal blue waters, reading in hammocks and getting Henna tatoos (Tina). Life was hard. We met several interesting people ending thier summers on the same beaches as us and enjoyed sharing our final few days of holiday together.
After a summer spent on the slopes of Kilimanjaro, in the lushness of the Ugandan country side and in the mist of the Rwandan hills, the warm waters of Zanzibar was a perfect conclusion to an unbelievable summer.
Since Oman is filled with beautiful beaches of its own we were not regretful to be leaving that aspect of our summer behind. Instead it is the colours, smells, singing, drumming, laughter, and smiles of East Africa that we are the most sad to leave behind. A co-worker, who has lived in East Africa for three decades, told us that the earth in that land is "alive".
Since Oman is filled with beautiful beaches of its own we were not regretful to be leaving that aspect of our summer behind. Instead it is the colours, smells, singing, drumming, laughter, and smiles of East Africa that we are the most sad to leave behind. A co-worker, who has lived in East Africa for three decades, told us that the earth in that land is "alive".
She couldn't have desribed it more perfectly.
We have already been back in Muscat now for 6 weeks and in our next post we will highlight some of the things we have done since returning.
