Zanzibar, Zanzibar, Zanzibar.  Isle of beauties unimaginable, of pristine waters and white beaches that stretch as far as the eye can see.  Location of umpteen Bollywood movies.

I knew nothing about Zanzibar when we set out from Kenya.  The flight over was uneventful save for a spectacular view of Kili (Kilimanjaro) but then we landed in Zanzibar and a wave of warm air enveloped us.  This island is actually called Unguja, and it’s the central point of an archipelago.  There’s a city, Stone Town, which we largely bypassed but which has lovely architecture. 

The drive to the hotel was long, winding, and isolated.  I saw several banana trees and mud-type huts, and lots of schoolchildren.  There were also plantations of nutmeg and cinnamon, from which the Spice Island moniker arises.

The hotel we stayed at was the Kempinski - and it was charming.  You know that picture of the pier up top?  We walked on it and got into sea kayaks to while away the time.  The water was marvelous and we could have been in heaven for all the visual perfection around us.

A popular activity amongst tourists and locals is riding bikes on the beach.  We got ours from the hotel and cycled on the sand, going past the hotel boundaries and into little villages.

I had not expected to see the villages so close to the beach.  There was a profusion of small encampments, mostly artist-centric colonies, where crowds of small children ran around unsupervised while their mothers did the chores and the men sat about painting and smoking (weed presumably).

We bought several paintings, some of them rather incredible for the asking prices, and mourned the lack of infrastructure and opportunity for the beautiful small kids whose hungry faces would haunt us for a long time.

I had been to the Seychelles archipelago for my honeymoon, and expected Zanzibar to be much the same way, but this trip left me with a distinct impression of the unique nature of Zanzibar.  On our way home we went through Dar es Salaam, the main city of Tanzania, but of that, I shall write another time.

All in all, Zanzibar was an incredible experience.  It’s a great place to go relax after the rigors of a safari or a Kili summit.

Why you should go there: incomparable beaches, waters

Great finds: art

Adventurous excursions: beach bike, sea kayaking and photography