Off to the spice island of Zanzibar

Trip Start Jul 03, 2010

Trip End Jul 23, 2010

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Where I stayed

Unjuga Lodge

Flag of Tanzania Zanzibar, Zanzibar Archipelago, Tanzania
Sunday, July 18, 2010

We had a lovely breakfast at the lodge and Mike picked us up to take us the short distance to the airport. On the way I noticed all the small stone shacks with many different shops and little industries inside. Apparently the main road here used to be the most dangerous in the world and was in the Guinness Book of Records. I wasn't sure I wanted to hear this information but Mike explained that now they had put in a lot of sleeping policeman as traffic calming measures. All it seemed to me was encourage traffic to go up on the inside so as not to go over them. The taxis or 'dala dala's' were the worst as they were patrolling the kerbside for passengers. Each one seemed be named after either a famous rapper, football team or a footballer. Usually the back window was emblazoned with a large portrait of said rapper or footballer and some even had the whole vehicle decorated. They would be pulled in then without warning pull out again. You certainly needed to have your wits about you when driving.

At the airport we waited in the small outside departure lounge - such as it was and found that our plane was a little 12 seater Coastal Airways flight

Sunset over the Indian Ocean

. Once in it was strange to see the pilot sitting up front and turning around to introduce himself. We went up remarkably high it seemed for such a small aircraft and it was a little disconcerting to see other planes out of the window presumably a safe distance away. The flight took an hour and a half.

Unfortunately there was a mix up and there was no one to meet us at the airport but very luckily someone was holding up a placard to Unjuga Lodge but for a different party. We managed to get them to send another taxi to pick us up and take us the 58km to the lodge..

Unjuga Lodge was lovely with a beautiful setting right on the Indian Ocean close to Kizimkazi village on the Western side of Zanzibar's southern most tip. It is owned by Ralph and Elies, a Dutch couple who in July 2005 designed the lodge with the help of Ivan Sutua an architect in Zanzibar. All the walls are made from coral stones and lime just like the traditional buildings of the island and the roofs are made of 'makuti' or woven palm trees leaves. Inside each of the villas it is open plan except for the toilet and bedroom. There are concrete benches to sit on - 'baraza' style. Our villas were Sea View Villas and ours particularly had a direct sea view and a private terrace to watch the ocean. Even the shower room was open plan with a screen to protect one's modesty from passing boats or people on the beach. There were two beds one in the bedroom and another in the loft.

Kizimkaze is the nearest town and it is famous for the dolphins although fishing is the main activity. There was also a family of Black-tailed monkeys with an adopted Red Colobus monkey that climbed through the rafters of the villas

On the beach at Unjuga

. It was strange to look up and see a monkey, Sam who had the loft bed in the other villa often woke up to see a monkey looking back down at him most mornings.

The boys immediately made their way down to the beach and played with the vortex unfortunately this game was cut short when George was stung by a jellyfish. A liberal dousing of vinegar neutralised the sting and he was left with nothing more serious than a wasp sting.

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