The dream islands experience
The island of Zanzibar featured in many stories we heard as children. However, at the time, I never thought that I would one day visit Zanzibar.
With the plane approaching the airport of Zanzibar, reality starts to set in. The scenery from above looks like a jungle of iron sheets in a forest of palm trees.
Travelling from Uganda, the aim was to get to a beach with white sands and crystal-clear waters. The beaches were there but one had to travel a bit further from the city to find them. We stayed in Stone Town, the beaches close to our hotel were either inaccessible or dirty, a note of caution for people who are only looking for a beach holiday.
Again, one of the most prominent experiences of Zanzibar would be the spice market. To understand where most of these spices came from, a multitude of tours are available. I grew up in a culture where I tasted and cooked spices in their original form and shape, such as cinnamon, black pepper, cloves, star anis and my favourites being vanilla and cardamom.
Though spices were quite familiar, to see the trees or plants they came from was interesting. And while we knew them as spices that made our food tastier, the guides gave us information on their medicinal values, which was impressive. Walking in Stone Town was a bit familiar, it reminded me of some very narrow alleys that I used to play in growing up in Kuwait.
After several tours, the best one was yet to come, a trip to Prison Island followed by lunch on a small island with white sands. After visiting the island, which I did not find very interesting, it was time to go snorkelling. By then, I was quite dizzy, I suffer from road/sea sickness, and one of my worst enemies is sailing boats. So, I was the first to jump in the water given a chance. Getting away from the dirty beach of Stone Town was worthwhile. Water was quite clean and I swam with fish for a while.
We then sailed to a long piece of land emerging in the middle of the sea, there were two tents; one with four chairs and a table for the four of us, and one where the chefs prepared for us the most delicious seafood. What a great, lunch we had!
