Leaving Malawi we have a full day of driving across the Southern region of Tanzania. It’s a very long drive, that is why we have to leave at 4 in the morning to be able to avoid the worst traffic entering Dar es Salaam. This is a huge city, packed with cars and three-wheeled vehicles (called tok-toks) driving all over the place. We reach our camp at the end of the day, where we get a nice meal and we can hopefully get rid of all the dust we have accumulated during the ride. The outside showers look pretty good: they are inside a wooden fence, the are stones on the ground, you can see the pretty Ocean from the top and on the side of the shower there is a nice big mirror. As you release the water, though…salty drops are washing your body, and you end up being as dirty as before!

We have got only one night here. Tomorrow morning some of those funny vehicles will taxi us to the pier, where we’ll catch the ferry to Zanzibar. The boat has no stabilizers and usually some passengers get seasick. It looks though that people are just enjoying some sleep and the beautiful sea, but it might be the excitement of finally getting some “well deserved” beach time, some swimming in the Indian Ocean and some properly spiced food!

As we are now in a Muslim country lots of things changed, women are wearing traditional conservative clothes and tourist are not always well seen or accepted while taking pictures or roaming around. We need to take some extra care to show the respect locals deserve.

As we reach Stone Town, the main city of Zanzibar, we are stunned by the beauty of these waters, and the immense contrast you can see among the different people arriving to the island. Locals arriving from the mainland for work, women in colorful clothes, black traders with chickens in their purses, western scuba divers, American tourists and all you can think of!

We spend the first day in Stone Town as there is so much to experience!

Zanzibar was a major port of the medieval spice trade, and the island is still a big producer of saffron for example. We all get to enjoy the guided tour of a spice farm around the capital. While walking along the small roads surrounded by beautiful white buildings we can smell the great food the place has to offer. Even the rice, prepared with cardamom is able to tickle your palate and make a regular dish an exciting one! Here they have plantation of nutmeg, cinnamon, cacao, cloves, pepper, lemongrass and so on. Together with the spice trade from the East, Zanzibar was involved with the slave trade between Asia and Africa, which was abolished only at the end of the 19th century.

Every evening in the main square along the waterfront dozens of sellers set up their tables to prepare local food. We all go there and try to not get too stuffed! We taste a bit of everything even if it’s particularly stressful to have to bargain for every stick of meat! But it’s really a good experience with grilled octopus, shrimps, pork and lamb, together with more traditional Indian food like naan and chapati. We finish with a sweet dessert pizza only to continue with a special spicy soup suggested by Matt! Now we can only what we ate was all good…

Tomorrow we’re heading to the northern beaches for a couple of days and it will be good! We know we’ll wake up early to the chants of the Mosque before sunrise…