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.
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.
The End.
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 rock restaurant, is a great and amazing place; This place is in my list of places that someday I will visit. Guau, is a good way and a beautiful place to celebrate one birthday.
ReplyDeleteyeah, the doors are very beautiful, is a interesting place.
Congratulations again.