Hot Times on Spice Island

It's Easter so naturally Colin and I find ourselves on Zanzibar - the island known for it's spice, sand and sultans. Fortunately the sultans have gone out with the tides and with them their perchant for doing a bit of the ole slave trade. Yes, Zanzibar is also known as the former trading post for slaves headed from Africa to the Middle East before our guy Stanley Livingstone decided it just wasn't cool and led the charge in snuffing it out. A dark time indeed for this sun drenched island. But let's not dwell on that, shall we? There are spices to try and seas to be swum and Christ to be risen. Yes, this has been one fabulous beach break for two people who were never meant to dwell on a beach (okay, one person - Col actually tans).

We arrived in Dar Es Salaam, a large city on the coast on Tanzania, after a long drive from Arusha. As Skanky both pointed out and continually demonstrated, you just need to step out of the AC for 2 seconds in Dar and you are drenched in sweat. And trust me, a sweaty Skanky is not a happy Skanky (or happy Mar and Col) so we stayed in the AC as much as possible.

We made our way to Zanzibar by ferry the next day - a lovely way to see the city of Stonetown upon your arrival. Stonetown is different from many of the African cities we have visited due to it's rich history (see sultans and slave trade comment above). Like Dar, Stonetown is primarily Muslim and the architecture resembles that found in northern Africa and the Middle East. The narrow alleyways reminded us of India (minus the sheer volume of people, cows and vendors) and the waterfront is lively and attractive. We spent the evening sipping our Kiliminjaro lagers on the rooftop of the Africa House Hotel and watched dhows drift by on the water and the sun sink into the sea. Sigh.

The next morning Col and I woke up early to search for Easter eggs...well, that's what we wanted to do. Alas, being a primarily Muslim island it was somewhat difficult to find a Catholic church let alone a chocolate bunny or Cadbury egg. Faced with the reality that this might be a non-traditional Easter, we asked ourself the always insightful question: What would Jesus do? The answer was quite clear. Jesus would pay $20 and go swimming with the dolphins. I'm certain if we examine the Bible a bit closer you'll see that this is what he did immediately after making his rounds post-rise from the tomb. I'm sure Aunt Mar and the Adrians will back me up on this one. So we headed to the western part of the islands for yet another wildlife encounter.

Again I find myself comparing the experience we had in Africa to one I might have should I do the same activity in America. In America we most likely would have headed out to sea with lifejackets secured, full instructions, lecture on the importance of staying a certain distance from these wild creatures, etc., etc. Yeah. Not so much in Zanzibar. Here we were tossed flippers and a mask, whisked onto a long row boat with a motor and shuffled out into the ocean with two young men who spoke about 5 words of English. These five words? "Go jump now see dolphins." So we did.

After about 15 minutes of driving around looking for our bottlenosed friends we stumbled upon a family of about 8 dolphins. When they would come to the surface our drivers would utter their five words and we'd toss ourselves off the row boat and into the mix. The whole process was somewhat stressful but incredibly rewarding once you entered the water. I recalled my friend Jana telling me about swimming with the dolphins and she was right on - it's amazing. We were lucky enough to swim right in the middle of the family - dolphins on either side- and hear them making their sonic noises to each other. Occassionally they'd slip to the bottom and we'd swim above them. The whole thing was somewhat surreal. Elephants? Check. Lions? Check. Dolphins and assorted sea life? Check and check.

Following the dolphin excursion we took a taxi north to Kendwa - a small town (meaning they have a mini-market and one place for chapatis) with several beach resorts. We spent our Easter evening strolling along the white sands and enjoying the fresh catch of the day. Being a fisherman we agreed that this too was something Jesus would do. It was a lovely Easter. We hope you all enjoyed your ham and cheesy potatos (admittedly something that would have made the day even better). We are spending today just relaxing on the beach and contemplating a beginning scuba class for tomorrow. After that we'll return to Dar and make our way south to Selous game reserve. So I'll sign off for now and head off to get a cocktail (or cold Coke but cocktail sounds more beachy) and just kick back for a while. Hope all is well and we'll blog again soon.