So the last week of our trip was spent at the beach doing not much except eating, walking, swimming and sleeping. In between all of this I acquired a small cat family, a battle scarred old Tom with an injured leg who puts up with my amateur vet attempts to clean his wounds, remove a few ticks and even give him a bit of a wash. A week on he is back on top Tom cat form – no limp, a fat belly and chasing lady cats all night. Sophia Loren is a pretty tabby, clearly she is well fed as she won’t even look at the cat food and only seems interested in the extortionately priced parma ham and parmesan we have treated ourselves to. Number 3 we think is Sophia’s (and also possibly related to Tom) daughter as they are always together. She does like a wee morsel of cat food but will steal cheese and ham from Sophia given half a chance. All 3 love raw fish, when Geoff was fishing they employed every tactic they could think of to steal his bait, very comical to watch an extended paw coming up from underneath the table in an attempt to drag the fish down without being spotted.
Drew and Cara have made friends with lots of local kids and disappear at regular intervals. The bluetooth speaker has been a big hit, we now have a full play list of the latest Swalihi favorites. Another source of much laughter was the discovery of snapchat filters, as you can see from the photos. One of the funniest things is the reaction of tourists when they see a group of girls wearing hijabs gyrating on the beach with my 2 bikini clad blondes. They stop, they look, they look again, then out comes the camera. The only thing which grabs their attention more is the sweet little baby who the girls usually have with them (she is one of their siblings). She is very cute but even so it is surprising that some tourists think it’s OK just to grab her for a photo opportunity. Would you do that on a beach in Europe, not unless you want to be arrested for child abduction. Oh well TIA !!!
As well as tourists the beach is busy with locals selling everything from boat rides to the reef, paintings, beaded jewellery, massage and all manner of things except cold drinks which you can only get in the hotel bars at hotel prices. There are also guys (very beautiful) dressed in traditional Masai clothes, they work in hotels and on the beach selling supposedly traditional crafts. I don’t know whether they are traditional or made in China but I do know that a lot of the jewellery is made by kids here in Zanzibar villages. Drew and Cara have chatted to a couple of the guys who said that they come here for 2 or 3 months to work, they all live together in a Masai “ghetto” and then go back home with the money they have made to resume their herding lifestyle. I have read all kinds of stories about Masai in Zanzibar on the good old internet and am no closer to the facts but they really do stand out walking along the beach or playing football with their mates in their red robes. The only thing which stands out more are the herd of cows sleeping peacefully in the sunshine like it’s the sort of thing cows do everywhere in the word.
Food shopping here is an experience, we shop in the local village which is much appreciated. So much so that when we turn up I have my own personal shopper who helps me pick the best stuff (this is more useful than it sounds as often the most battered looking stuff is the best. I have singularly failed to pick out a decent avocado whereas my friend has 100% success rate). Last night he was extra excited as 2 new vegetables had arrived and he very much wanted us to try some. He gave me cooking instructions and turns out they were pretty good although I still have no idea what they were. The food here is so fresh and tasty but apart from the street stalls and a very small supermarket there isn’t much else. We have failed to find anywhere to buy fresh meat and more surprisingly not many places to buy fresh fish. Geoff and I did find a small fish market on one of our forays and bought some delicious rock lobster and some bits for fishing bait but that was quite a drive from our village.
This area is very popular with Italians and the whole row of villas are owned by Italian families. So even though there isn’t a proper supermarket there is a small Italian deli which sells ridiculously expensive Italian products. Given the lack of meat available we cracked and bought some parma ham and joy of joys some parmesan cheese. It’s amazing what you can make when you put it together with some really good veg. Now you know where Sophia gets her sophisticated tastes, she clearly mugs the Italian owners when they visit.
There are quite a few hotels here on the beach although none seem to be anywhere near full. The hotel are self contained bubbles and so often on our travels it occurs to me how much you miss out on if you travel this way. One of the best parts of our trip has been our observations and interactions with local people which only happen if you at least attempt to be part of the place. Each to their own and there have been a few times on this trip when I would have sold my soul for a night or two in a luxury resort hotel but then I wouldn’t have had much to write, laugh or cry about which would be a dull thing indeed.
Pirate Travels 