Dale’s birthday was in September; mine was in November.  Even though the hotel staff in Lilongwe, Malawi, where I had left Dale whilst I briefly travelled to Australia, made a huge fuss with a cake and staff gathering for his birthday, we missed celebrating together.

We had spent time on Zanzibar back in 2010, and knew it would be the best place to celebrate both our birthdays lazing on white sandy beaches with pina coladas in hand.

Departing Denis’ place, the wind was howling.  We therefore were expecting the two hour ferry trip from Dar to Stonetown to be rough.  We were disheartened when told that all ferries had been cancelled that day and possibly the next.  Nooooo…Paradise was expecting us!  

If you don’t have a plan at the ferry depot in Dar, you get swallowed in a sea of fix-it men.  In a nano second we were drowning in promises to get us on the next plane to the island for the best price.  I’m not good at such assault on my ears, so hubby had already taken charge and was leading one fix-it man to our taxi driver who had been waiting on the sidelines to see what we were going to do.  Our taxi driver said the fellow was “OK”, so the four of us headed to the airport.  We shouldn’t be so distrustful, however at the same time we both HATE being ripped off, and in these situations you just don’t feel in control.

Long story cut short, the planes were flying to Zanzibar and we did in fact get on a legitimate and safe airline for what we found out later, was indeed a good price!  The landing was a little shaky, but we had arrived!  A driver from our Airbnb collected us on landing and took us into Stonetown.  The Airbnb location was absolutely perfect!  We dropped off our bags and made a bee-line for Mercurys Restaurant on the foreshore.  Freddie Mercury of Queen fame, was born on Zanzibar and Mercurys is a modern day tribute to the man and his music.  We were just in time for a sublime sunset!

I just re-read our blog from our previous visit.  Our trip had been in the wake of another couple, also from Oman at the time, who had gathered 38 donated computers that they delivered to two schools in Bwejuu.  Dale and I spent time with both schools ensuring the computers still worked and to enquire how things were progressing.  Our blog read “I’ll sum up by saying we had a fabulous holiday/adventure/experience in a picturesque part of the world.  We snorkelled in pristine waters; met many locals and their families (first and second wives and their tribes of kids); we were invited to the first breakfast meal after the conclusion of Ramadan (this period is called Eid and lasts some six days); were privy to all the little kids getting their annual gifts of new clothes, and wow did the little girls look beautiful in their brightly coloured fairy dresses.  We ate meals of fresh prawns, octopus, fish; and had many long walks along the beach in the mornings.”

We were looking forward to re-visiting and spent four days wandering the labyrinth of alleyways getting lost in Stonetown.  This time around, we didn’t have a time limit nor a plan – such is life in retirement.  The colours, spicy smells, and activity are intoxicating.  We were continually being…mmm… encouraged to buy.  At one point, I did stop and look, without hubby noticing.  I called Dale back to no avail, so one of the fellows in the street called out “papa, papa, mama she calls you”.  They were just being helpful…  

Emerson Skeen was a fellow we met on our first visit and he had invited us to stay in one of the only two renovated rooms at his Emerson Spice hotel.  He was in the process of restoring this traditional Zanzibari building to a higher level of glory.  Traditional building methods were being used, Zanzibari antique furniture was placed in the rooms, and if you stayed, staff served fresh fruits for breakfast on a balcony overlooking the winding streets of Stonetown.  Amongst other projects he had at the time, Emerson had big plans to complete the multi levelled development, with Tea Room/Restaurant on the top floor.  Eight years on, we were interested to see how his project had progressed and were delighted that it was complete and looked fabulous.  We asked for a tour.  The concierge was happy to show us around and the first room we went into was “our old room” exactly as we had remembered!  Sadly we discovered that Emerson had passed away in 2014, but only after leaving quite a legacy for himself on Zanzibar.

We had thoughts of travelling to the east coast by dulla dulla (caged half bus half truck hybrids most of the locals use).  We had done it before and the cost is ridiculously cheap, however looking at them again with slightly older eyes, we thought nup, we’ll get a taxi.  We stayed at Simai Ali’s place in Bwejuu overnight.  We had met Simai eight years ago and had enjoyed a lovely home cooked seafood meal at his beach front accommodation.  Before dinner, we took a wonderful, long stroll along the beach between Bwejuu and Paje.  It was late in the afternoon, the colours of life on this beach were stunning, Maasai tribespeople were busy selling to tourists, and the casual sandy floored bars were a wonderful place from where to watch the world go by.

After Bwejuu, we caught a taxi to the northern tip of Zanzibar and stayed at Kendwa Rocks, a beachy, happening place that was to be our birthday gift to ourselves for the week.  Sun, sand, a dhow trip and snorkelling, a constellation of sea stars, lovely accommodation, great food at the restaurant and pretty good pina coladas, all added up to something quite special.

From Kendwa we went directly to the ferry terminal for the two hour ride back to Dar es Salaam. The next morning we said our goodbyes and rode to Tanga to connect with Edward who had previously contacted with us via Overlanding Africa.  Much to our complete surprise and delight, Edward, his wife and two little girls collected us from our hotel for an evening at the Tanga Yacht Club.  The weather was balmy, the sunset was amazing, the company was lively and it just happened that a handful of new and some regular yachters all came to the club house that night to socialise.  Edward was only expecting to meet up with another couple, but our table of eight very soon became fourteen.  

Not ever having lived in the world of yachters, conversation was interesting.  One lady was saying that she and her hubby needed lessons in how to manage an anchor.  They had asked everywhere and no one offered such lessons.  Every time they needed to anchor, it filled them with dread as they could easily drop an anchor, but could rarely retrieve it with any level of ease or decorum.  In the end, they resorted to having lessons in diving, so that at least they knew how to dive and unattach their anchor!