Grand Africa Cruise - Zanzibar Day 1

Cruise Day 34

Saturay, November 12, 2022

“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore”  -- Andre Gide

Today we are in Zanzibar for a two day stay.  As I mentioned in my first Tanzania post, Zanzibar has been part of Tanzania since 1964.  It lies only twenty-two miles off the east coast of Tanzania in the Indian Ocean. 

Zanzibar lies off the east coast of Tanzania in the Indian Ocean.  The red star marker near the top of the map is Zanzibar City where we are docked today and tomorrow.

A more detailed map of Zanzibar.  We are docked in Zanzibar City, the starred marker on the left side.  Today's tour takes is to the Jozani Forest, the starred marker in the lower middle of the island.

We made the short cruise through the channel between the Tanzanian mainland and Zanzibar and arrived in Zanzibar City around 7:00 AM.  We must have sailed very slowly or around in circles as it isn’t very far.

We arrive in Zanzibar City on the island of Zanzibar.

This boat is called a dhow and is traditionally used in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.  In the "Into Africa" book, dhows were often mentioned as the vessels that carried supplies to the mainland from Zanzibar.

This morning we have a Cruise Critic tour organized by Julie and are meeting with the group at 7:45 in the MIX Lounge so we were up early again.  Zanzibar is our first tender port of the trip, so getting off the ship is a little more complicated.  When there is no docking facility available, the ship anchors in the harbor and some of the lifeboats (tenders) are lowered to provide a means of getting passengers ashore.

Our tour group is large with over 60 people going, so Julie had arranged with the ship to be escorted down to the tender platform for a tender just for our group.  There is a big rush to get off the ship so tendering needs to be prioritized with the ship’s tours getting first priority and then everyone else has to report to a spot where they assign priority numbers.  To complicate matters even more, four and five star mariners (Holland America's loyalty program) and suite guests get priority tendering also, and they have a different location to meet and be escorted to the tenders.  With all this, Julie had managed to get us a priority tendering spot - good job Julie!

Before anyone left the ship, it had to be cleared by local customs which took a while as they had to send the first tender ashore to pick up the officials and then ferry them back to the ship.  Our cruise director, Jeremey, kept everyone on the ship informed as to what was going on, but before he gave the announcement that tendering was starting, a ship’s officer came and got us and we were led down to the tender station and were soon on our way.  We were one of the first tenders off the ship.

The tenders docked and unloaded at the ferry terminal, and it was a bit of a mad house when we got there as they were loading a ferry and people were pouring in.  The ferry loading was cordoned off from the cruise ship portion, but outside the terminal, there were people and buses everywhere.  We found our tour and had to walk quite a ways to our four minibuses, but we finally made it, got loaded and were on the road.

This area is just past the ferry terminal, you can see part of our ship on the horizon.

Leaving the port, we drove through the historic Stone Town area and then on into the interior of the island where we visited the Jozani Forest.  The drive took a little over an hour and it was a much calmer drive than we experienced yesterday on the mainland.  The drive was very interesting as we drove through villages and rural areas and again got a feel for the area.

These are pictures taken from the bus through the windows.  The quality isn't the greatest, but it does show some examples of life in Zanzibar.

This is called a dala dala and is one of the main means of public transportation in Zanzibar.  The are usually mini-buses or converted trucks (as the one in the picture is) with the back open and bench seats facing each other.  When it is really busy you see the inside fully packed and people hanging onto anything they can hold onto outside.

Our first stop in the Jozani Forest was a bathroom break and, as we have found everywhere we've visited in Tanzania, the restrooms were very primitive.  This is especially true for women as there are no toilets, basically just a hole in the ground to squat over.  Oh, and toilet paper is very rare.  After the bathroom break, it was off to search for the Red Colobus monkeys that are unique to this area and the only place in the world you can find them.

We drove down some very rough dirt roads then stopped and got out and hiked through the forest.  It wasn’t quite a jungle, but more of a dense forest.  We didn’t find any of the monkeys at this spot, so we proceeded on to another spot where we were luckier.  As we hiked in, we began to see quite a few of the monkeys.  They didn’t seem to be afraid of us and didn’t run away, but they also didn’t seem to be particularly interested in us either and just ignored us.  We took a lot of pictures, but it was difficult because they were feeding in the trees and bushes which obscured them somewhat.  We did get some good pictures though and it was a worthwhile stop.

We're off into the jungle in search of monkeys.

After photographing the monkeys, it was back to the buses and off to another sport where we hiked into a mangrove forest.  It was interesting, but we have seen other, more impressive mangrove areas in our travels.  As we walked, our guide gave us information explaining about the area and the forest.  We had a very nice young woman as a guide, but like yesterday, she had a very heavy accent which was very hard to understand.  She had a trainee with her who was easier to understand, but he didn’t do any of the talking.

We're off into the mangroves.

Our guide.

We left the Jozani Forest and headed to a spice plantation.  Tourism and spices are Zanzibar's main industries. Zanzibar is often still referred to as the Spice Islands due to the production of cloves, nutmeg, pepper and cinnamon. 

As we arrived it became apparent, and somewhat of a surprise, that this is where we were having lunch as we were led to an open area lined with benches where we were seated.  There were no real facilities there except for a very primitive toilet with no running water, so the servers walked around with a pitcher of water and a bowl and poured water over our hands to wash them.

After that we were given a bowl and spoon and they began serving food.  First off, we were served rice, a vegetable stew, fried bananas, tuna, some grilled chicken along with some flatbread.  It was all put into the bowl, and I have to say it was very good.  Later when we were talking to the driver of our bus, he told us this was a very traditional Zanzibar meal.  For desert various types of fresh fruit were handed out.

Our lunch was a traditional Zanaibar meal.  It may not look like it, but it was very good.

These are the some of the ladies who prepared and served us our lunch.

Val’s back had started out feeling very good this morning and she had no trouble doing the walking, but sitting on the bench with no back support for a lengthy time had really made it flare up.  Most of the rest of the group went to see some presentations on the local spices that required some hiking, but there is no way Val could do this so we found our driver and asked him if we could sit on the bus.

He was very nice and while Val sat on the bus, he opened one of the windows to get a breeze blowing in and we spent quite a bit of time talking with him.  He had lived all his life in Zanzibar and told us about life here and a lot about his own life.  It was very interesting but also a little sad as like everyone, he has many aspirations, but the reality was, it would be very difficult for him to ever have the money to accomplish them.  He seemed happy with a wife and three young children, but there was also a bit of sadness in him as he talked.  It must be difficult chauffeuring around people who are able to retire and travel.  As I said, it was a very interesting conversation that went on for quite a while and we really learned a lot.

After a while people started straggling in as there were a few others that didn’t take the walk and finally the main group showed up and we were on our way back to the port and a walking tour of Stone Town.  The guide asked if there was anyone who wanted to be dropped off at the port first and with Val’s back aching, we and several others decided to skip the Stone Town walk.

Despite a throng of buses and people, the driver was able to drop us off right at the terminal entrance.  We were quickly through customs and onto the tender for the fifteen minute trip back to the ship.

Although the day wasn’t as warm as yesterday and intermittent cloud cover made it more comfortable, the unrelenting humidity still made for some discomfort, and it felt very good to get back in the air conditioning.  We were back before four and spent most of the rest of the day relaxing and cooling off.  Val laid down for a bit and her back felt better.

We saw more dhows from our balcony.

It was dinner as usual in the dining room and instead of the casino that was closed because we were in port, we went out on deck for a while and looked at the lights of Zanzibar and the activity in the harbor.  We have nothing planned for tomorrow for our second day in Zanzibar so we can sleep in a bit tomorrow.