Zanzibar

To get to Zanzibar (off the coast of Tanzania), you can either take a boat or fly. Due to our lack of funds, Justin and I of course chose the former. When presented with the option of the slow or fast boat we inquired as to the specs of each of them. The fast boat, we were told took 2 or 2.5 hours and was $40 whereas the slow boat was 3 to 3.5 hours and $25. I don't mind taking another hour for $15 savings so we opted for the slower boat. At noon we loaded up, got a nice spot claimed on the floor along a railing so we had a good view. We took some Sea Legs (dramamine) and were mentally prepared for our 3 hour tour. About 2 hours into the trip i noticed that Dar Es Salaam (or origin) was still in plain view, but Zanzibar (our destination) was nowhere to be found on the horizon. Simple math and observation lead me to believe that we had been misinformed for how long this would take. We asked a nearby local and he said, "No, we'll be there by 17:00." Our 3 hour trip had increased to 5 hours. This wasn't good news because our stomachs were already a bit queasy as it was. To make a long story short, the trip ended up taking 7 hours so we didn't get into town until 19:00. It was certainly a learning situation.

After disembarking from the boat and heading into Stonetown (the 'capitol') our main concerns were beds, food, and finding some guy named Ally Keys. Ally was recommended to Justin and I by another volunteer as a guy that can provide reliable dirt bikes for us. There are some guys who make a living just helping tourists find places, so this guy Ali took us to a guesthouse and when we asked about Ally, he made a call and 5 minutes later Ally's brother showed up. We told him of our desire to rent dirtbikes and he inquired as to our experience with motorcycles. We said we had no experience and his response was "No problem. Give me your licenses, 6000 shillings ($5) and I'll get you international licenses tomorrow morning." Strangely enough we didn't really question it at all, we just forked over the requested items and he was gone like that.

The next morning we were waiting at the agreed upon time and he showed up with two beautiful Honda 250cc Bajas. He gave us our state and international licenses and we rode to an empty soccer field. Ally and his brother separated Justin and I and explained how to drive a motorcycle to us. For awhile they just had us practicing getting into first gear and then starting and stopping. After a firm mastery of that we started changing gears to second and third and driving around the soccer field to practice up and down shifting. After 45 minutes or an hour we got the nod that we were ready to go out on our own. They drove us out of the city, turned the bikes over to us and said "See you in 4 days." As I saddled my Baja for the first time by myself, unsupervised, a certain Steppenwolf song began playing in my head.

Our first destination was to head north to Nungwi Beach at the northern tip of the island. We'd only been on our hogs about 10 or 15 minutes before making a right hand turn and immediately coming to a police checkpoint. No problem, I had my licenses to prove I was more than safe at driving this vehicle. Problem, the officer informed us that we had cut off a median at the T-intersection and as a result were on the wrong side of the road. He explained it was a 50000 shilling ($45) offense and that we would need to go to court on Monday. That really didn't work into our schedule so it was time to take evasive action. I karate chopped him across the neck and we took off. Well, that never happened, but I slyly asked "Well, we don't want to come back into town to go to court, is there anyway we can just pay you?" The trick is to offer a bribe without backing yourself into a corner. He went on to tell us that there were rules in Zanzibar so we apologized and said we'd learned our lessons and thanked him. Again we asked if we could just pay him. He said no, then said that we were done. It was a bizarre turn of events and it ended up we just got a verbal warning and that was that.

Driving around Zanzibar was amazing. The place is truly a paradise on earth. The roads are pretty much empty of other vehicles and lined with tall coconut, palm, and banana trees. Everywhere you look it's green. Occasionally you have to pass an ox-pulled cart, but other than that the hour it took us to get to the trip we were basically all by ourselves on the road.

For 2 days we stayed on the beach in Nungwi and just threw the frisbee and hung out at the bar. It was overcast for most of our time there which was unfortunate. The place we stayed at was $10 a night per person and that included a great breakfast right on the beach there. After two nights there we saddled back up and rode to the southeast side of the island called Paje Beach. Again there, we just hung out on the beach and checked out the brightest blue waters I've ever seen in my life. It was an incredibly relaxing trip.

After a couple nights in Paje we made our way back to Stonetown to spend a night there. Stonetown is a place unlike anyother I've been to. It's a very old port town that used to be a slave trading hub back in the day. There was a sultan or sheik that was incharge of things so most people there are Muslim. Many of the women wear burkas that reveal only their eyes. There are a couple of main streets, but mostly it's a cornucopia of narrow, winding alleyways that with buildings less than 6 feet apart from each other. Zanzibar is known as the 'Spice Island' so everywhere you go there are vendors hawking cloves, cinnamon, and just about any sort of other spice, tea, or coffee you can think of. Everynight in Stonetown there is a fish market where vendors come and set up tables with fresh lobster, snapper, tuna, shark, barracuda, crab, squid, octopus, and other sea food. Most these you can get a kabob of for about 80 cents. You can stuff yourself with the freshest seafood you've ever had for $7 or $8.

We stayed the night there and headed back to Dar Es Salaam the next afternoon on the fast boat. I highly recommend everyone who has the opportunity to head to Zanzibar. It's beautiful and very cheap. I also recommend you to rent dirt bikes from Ally Keys. It's surprisingly easy to pick up in a short amount of time. And it provides a good story to tell as well.