Henna Party in Bagamoyo

A few people here and there have been asking me lately what is there to see and do in Bagamoyo that I like going there so much? I naturally answer that I have a very good friend there, which is certainly the main reason why I went to the town in the first place, but how lucky I was that Hannah and family moved there. I obviously don’t need to make the case for Bagamoyo here, not for nothing the town will be named a world heritage site. Yet, if it wasn’t for Hannah living there I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to experience Tanzania so closely, part of it’s culture and traditions, and the beautiful people of Bagamoyo. I am truly grateful for all that. 



So, I am posting some pictures of one of the cool things I got to do in Bagamoyo this past week -- and I certainly did a lot fun and great things that week there--. Attending a henna party! As I understand it, henna parties are typically hold during wedding festivities but the occasion this time was a send-off party that Hannah and family organized for her parents. The "bride"was Hannah's mom and the rest of us the "harem". It was so much fun!

 Feeding the bride! 

Harem's turn 

On the way to meet the groom...

The newly wed :)

 Feeling beautiful and inspired

Henna painting is called an art. Well, I certainly felt inspired by the creativity and dedication of the henna artists that day. I need to add that henna painting is now one of my favorite types of arts, mostly because it enhances one's beauty, needless to say right?

The end.

Double celebration in Zanzibar

While the idea of having a joint birthday celebration in Zanzibar had been conceived a few days before Nandita’s arrival to Tanzania, trip logistics were on the other hand a matter of last minute planning. Work didn’t allow for making arrangements for transport and accommodation until a few hours before our departure, yet everything worked out really great! Thanks to friends as an invaluable source of information (Thank you Hannah!), we booked for a US$150, airline tickets and hotel with breakfast included to spend a weekend in the Spice Island, 

what a steal!  

We decided to stay the first night outside town at the Mtoni Marine hotel thinking that we would attend a popular performance at the ruins of the Mtoni Palace. An Arabian night-style recreation of princess Salme childhood with the Sultan’s harem enlivened by traditional dances, candles and Zanzibari gastronomic delights. Well, it turned out to get cancelled, but we did have an enchanting walk around the Msoni Palace ruins that evening. The dim lighting and princess Nandita Thatte created quite charming scenes...

The other thing we didn’t miss out that night was a taste of Zanzibari cuisine! 

Sailing on the way to Prison Island 

On Saturday morning we went to Prison Island, another small gem of Tanzania that owns its name to a slave jail built by the British, but that was instead used as a quarantine station in the early twentieth century

Apparently, these Aldabra tortoises are the main attraction here, though we did not stop for a long time to see the giant creatures. Honestly, they seemed to me like chickens raised in the backyard – rather sad and definitely uninspiring. 

From 2 to 10 pm, famous Zanzibari wooden doors 

7 hours in Stone Town

There we were, at the place where Swahili culture, Omani royalty, spice and slave traders, Arabs, Persians, Indians, and Europeans, they all converged in time and history. 

A curiosity, public health messages at the art market!

Our gastronomic excursion at the Forodhani gardens: 

Monkey watching on Sunday morning 

On the way to “the Rock”, we made a short stop at Jozani National Park to see the endemic Zanzibar red colobus, Monkeys are always fun to watch!

Birthday celebration on the Rock!

Here we are! As you see the Rock is a restaurant on a “rock” that is not very far from the seashore. Now how many times one overlaps with a great friend in Tanzania, gets to have a joint birthday celebration and contemplates such a beautiful beach scene, all at the same time? Not to mention how nicely we coordinated our outfits the entire weekend, lol. Plenty of reasons to splurge in Zanzibar! 

The End.