Stone Town

We were back in Stone Town to spend more time with our friends at the Jambo guesthouse. While the 8th was primarily spent underwater, the following day would include a tour of a local spice farm—apparently a must when you come to Zanzibar. We touched, smelled, and even tasted some of the following in their natural, unprocessed environment: nutmeg, cocoa, tumeric (curry), coriander, cumin, ginger, vanilla, cinnamon, pepper, and more. Afterwards, two local farm boys proposed to us so that we could teach them English and they could visit America. While they were quite persistent, we politely declined. Lunch was at a neighboring spice farm and included a few dishes cooked in almost every spice that we had just seen. We returned back to Stonetown and debated momentarily about taking a boat out to Prison Island since it was late in the afternoon. Meanwhile, the guy at our hotel desk had called a boat captain to pick us up so we said why not. We had jumped on his moped and zipped through the narrow streets and were on the boat across the harbor before we could even realize the decision was made for us. Regardless, it was worth it. Prison Island is famous for its 100+ giant tortoises ranging in age from 1 month to 180 years. These 160-200 kg turtles were a gift in 1919 from the Seychelles where they are endemic. We fed them cabbage, enjoyed their rare company, and headed back in time to catch the sunset before backing for India.

Since we had heard horror stories about the unrealiable ferry ride, we bought cheap plane tickets to Dar es Salaam to ensure we made our international departure for Mumbai. We were supposed to fly out at 12:30, but our crop-duster plane didn't land until 1:45 (almost an hour after we were due to check in). We boarded quickly. Katie had to sit in the last remaining open seat, which happened to be next to the pilot in the cockpit. Twenty minutes later we safely landed in Dar es Salaam and desperately found someone to help us cut corners (since check-in had closed) and run through the immigration and security process in time for final boarding. Whew.

We have nothing but great things to say about our time in Tanzania and Zanzibar was icing on the cake. The experience here exceeded our expectations. We arrived with wire cages on our packs ready to use our money belts, but think that it’s no longer necessary. Now it’s time to face India with the same speculation....