A spicy destination: Zanzibar

What can I say about Zanzibar in a nutshell?  For one thing, it is every bit the paradise island that it claims to be with its white sand beaches, bath-temperature azure seas, exquisite seafood and a laid-back island culture.

Arrival in Stone Town

Upon arriving in Stone Town, I met up with the rest of our contingent that had travelled a few days earlier.  Together we hired a van to take us across the island to Bwejuu, where we were planning to stay for a few days.  About halfway through our journey, one of the tires blew out, so we waited for a while until a replacement was found.  Naturally, there was no spare tire in the van – too easy.

Transportation difficulties.

Bwejuu was a great spot to spend a few days relaxing on the beach and getting to know everyone a little better.  I enjoyed some delicious dishes, including grilled kingfish, octopus & spinach washa washa (spicy), and savoury pilau rice.  One day, a few of us took part in a Swahili cooking demonstration in a village home, where we learned to make fish in coconut sauce and chapatis.  The chapatis take a great deal more effort than one would think – to make a proper chapati, the dough needs to be rolled out, rubbed with butter, stretched, coiled like a cobra, rolled out again, and then individually fried in oil while folding the dough in various configurations.  Despite the effort, the results were exceptionally tasty.

Learning to make chapatis.

Shredding coconut in the special coconut shredder seat!

The fruits of our labours. Divine.

The beach at Bwejuu was an enormous delight by night too.  With the Indian Ocean stretching out into inky blackness and very few lights on shore to spoil the view, the clear skies revealed their starry splendour.  However, since this is the Southern Hemisphere, I was a bit at a loss to identify constellations other than unmistakable Orion.  Others pointed out the Seven Sisters, and I took an educated guess at the Southern Cross.  From my experience, looking up at a field of stars can (and often does) provoke deep conversation; at one point, I found myself answering genuine questions about the birth and death of stars, the nature and number of galaxies, and details on what constitutes a shooting star.  The contents of the “professor's lecture” were of course fully credited to the late Carl Sagan and his brilliant book, Cosmos.

My guess is that the cows came for the natural salt-lick!

Great place to read and relax!

My shirt was almost camouflage in this tropical paradise.

A little bit of nightlife!