The journey from Entebbe to Zanzibar definitely comes under the category of an “experience”. 2 overnight flights via Kigali to Dar Es Salaam. A short taxi hop to the ferry port, a 2 hour ferry ride and another taxi to our hotel in Zanzibar. Sounds easy when you say it like that but I think we lifted our luggage on and off x-ray scanners at least 8 times. Airports and ferry ports in Africa must be the safest in the world. We spent a few hours in queues for almost everything. At least we had our Tanzania Visas in advance, those who didn’t had to queue at immigration, then queue again for a visa then go back to the immigration queue. That’s a lot of queuing!
The ferry port was shut when we arrived at 5am and pretty quiet for about an hour. Then it all got a bit hectic. We were manhandled by a local porter who pushed us to the front of the ticket queue, organised our luggage and made sure we had comfy seats to wait on. Best money we have spent all holiday! The ferry was packed with locals, bewildered tourists and a few Masai in traditional gear. There was also some kind of live animal in a sack in our seating area. It’s owners had managed to keep it quiet for most of the journey ( I’m not going to give that too much thought) but near the end it let out such loud angry squawks that it woke everyone up. A crew member marched up and down a few times trying to locate the source of the noise before evicting its owner to the outer deck.
We docked at Zanzibar, more porters, more x ray scanners and joy of joy another immigration queue as Zanzibar is a semi autonomous region with its own customs and excise rules. However now we are here, settled in a pretty courtyard hotel with comfy beds and a sunloungers to doze on all is good.
Had an explore around Stonetown which is very medieaval and Arabic in flavour. It’s made up of narrow alleyways with tall white houses either side. Motorbikes and push bikes speed up and down so you need to have your wits about you. The hire car was delivered to a street down towards the sea front as that was about as close as a motor vehicle could get.
Next day Geoff did a miraculous jigsaw puzzles to fit all the luggage into the teeny boot and we are off to our beach destination on this East African adventure. Boma Vichupi, a beach front villa in the village of Kiwengwa about 40km northeast of Stonetown.
Usual roadworks and potholes mean that we bump along, sometimes on the wrong side of the road and sometimes on a road that is barely there at all. We pass children on their way to school, girls all dressed up in long black dresses and white hijabs. We turn off the “main” road towards Kiwengwa and after a brief mapsme malfunction we arrive at Boma Vichupi. And yes it definitely was worth it.
The pretty white villa sits right on the beach, the sand is white and the sea is turquoise. The villa belongs to an Italian family and it’s as pretty on the inside as it is outside. The kitchen is stocked with all sorts of pans and equipment, including a stove top coffee maker and there is even coffee in the cupboard.
Geoff unpacks his fishing gear, grabs his swim shorts and heads off in search of bait. Girls head off along the beach to explore and I sit on the porch enjoying the view. Bliss.
Pirate Travels 