Christmas in Zanzibar!

Travel Tuesday

Jambo, jambo; hello, hello.

Here I was, sitting in the back row of the computer school in Nungwi (northern Zanzibar, Tanzania), in the middle of the Excel and Internet class. I was using the spare computer that they rent out to tourists to raise money to keep the computer school going. Call that entrepreneurial or what!

I am pleased to report that most of the students were female. So watch out world, here they come...

We had arrived in the old Stone Town of Zanzibar, via the ferry from Dar es Saleem, Christmas Day. Not our average kind of Christmas Day by a long shot, but certainly one of the most memorable. We shopped and bargained and purchased (as most on Zanzibar are Muslim and therefore do not close for Christmas, bonus!). That was a good one to explain to the daughter. It took us quite a while to get the concept of different religions, believing different stuff, and doing different things.

But at least Coca-Cola came through, regardless of where we were!
Hard to believe I know, but they are everywhere. Another good one to chat about with daughter.

           

 

Once we'd had enough of that we went to the Africa House Hotel and sat in luxuriously rich surrounds watching the sunset over the Indian Ocean. Whilst not the most spectacular sunset ever, it was still pretty special. We then had to shop our way back to the hotel (of course we did) before finding ourselves rubbing shoulders with the locals at the seafood market along the shores of Stone Town. Not your average market by any means, one where the fish comes straight from the water onto the BBQ, cooked for your culinary pleasure. To finish off was to indulge in their specialty, chocolate and banana pizza...

Boxing Day was spent finishing off the shopping (because of course we did not complete the job the day before!) and then headed north, to where I find myself now.

It was a great chance to rest here as the constant tent erection and dismantling was wearing a little thin by day 8-9, especially given the pace in conjunction with daughter and her energy levels. As we know from many a holiday with children, they need their rest and own time at regular intervals. So to have time out by sleeping in beds, lounging for a day or two really recharged the batteries. To the point where daughter had her hair braided, her ankle henna'd and her tan lines sufficiently added too...

 

Next we headed back into civilisation, to Dar es Salaam and then off to Malawi for more lounging and camping...

ho ho ho
kwaheri (goodbye in Swahili)

Happy Travels!
the entrepreneurial mother