Today we are off to Zanzibar - the Spice Islands. We are up early and pack up the campsite, have breakfast and pay our bar bills. We head off shortly after 8 AM. We head back to the ferry and cross the bay and park near the ferry terminal. We grab our bags and head off to the ferry.
After a short wait, we board the ferry and then have to wait for about an hour as they board passengers and get ready to leave. We head off at 10:30 AM. It is a pleasant ferry ride over to Zanzibar and we arrive shortly after 12 noon. We get off and, after fighting our way through all the people trying to sell us all kinds of services and goods, head to the immigration office. While Zanzibar is part of the Union of Tanzania, they maintain some powers.
We take a minibus to the hotel - Karibu Inn - and spend some time arranging all the rooms. We finally get into our room at 2 PM. We drop off our stuff and then head out to look at other hotels. We plan to splurge a bit while in Zanzibar, so we want to find a decent hotel for a decent price. We have a number of hotels selected and wander through the streets of Stone Town looking at them. There are quite a few nice hotels, many of which are in the traditional decor and style. We have a very good time looking at the hotels and the rooms they have to offer. In the end, we pick the Tembo House Hotel for the best combination of value and price. It is old (over 100 years old), is decorated in the old style, is on the beach, has a pool and is quite centrally located. The only downside is that they do not allow alcohol in the hotel. We make a reservation for tomorrow.
We return to Karibu Inn and take a shower and relax before going out for dinner. We meet a number of the group in the hotel lobby and then head over to the Africa House for a drink and to watch the sunset. Africa House is an old building undergoing renovation and conversion into a hotel, but one of the upstairs terraces has been made into a temporary bar with a great view over the beach and ocean.
We hang out there for a couple of hours and then head off for dinner. We decide to eat at Forodhani Gardens, which is a park during the day and bunch of open-air food stalls at night. While lots of tourists go there, it is also a locals' hangout and the food is good and cheap. We wander from stall to stall, trying a bit here and there. we have seafood and a number of the Zanzibar pizzas (which have nothing to do with pizzas as we know it, but taste great and are excellent value).
After dinner we head over to the Tembo House for a tea in their outdoor coffee shop overlooking the ocean. Then back to the Karibu Inn to head to bed. But we do not have a good nights sleep - it is too hot, the fan does not work well and makes lots of noise and the pillows are lumpy.