"Zanzibar" a Zanzibar Island Travel Page by JulesH

We arrived in Zanzibar via ferry following a two hour sea crossing from Dar Es Salaam and an eight hour bus ride from Moshi. We found Stone Town to be a bustling place where everything moves a little faster than it really should and we managed to negotiate a cab ride to the beach resort of Nungwi for $10 per head with a jolly looking man in muslim robes who met us at the port. It was sunset during Ramadan when we arrived, and the mosques glowed with light, filled with worshippers before they could embark on the daily feast which would break their fast. Candles lit the inside of the bomas and crudely built mud huts along the roadside. Not until we arrived right in the very heart of Nungwi did we find any permanent buildings. Zanzibar is not a perfect paradise island...it is almost as if Pandora's Box has been opened on Zanzibar. Rubbish was piled up along the back of the beaches, seaweed marred the white sand, dead fish were discarded on the shore...and I found it strange that I could find a sense of romance in such imperfect surroundings.