First Wonder Goes Deepest: Zanzibar - So, this is Paradise!!!

Last week I had the opportunity to travel to Zanzibar, a small Indian Ocean island, off the Tanzanian coast.

The island is beautiful in most every since of the word. The obvious tropical island attractions – those adorning the pages of countless calendars hanging in cubicles across America – white sand beach and turquoise blue water, were most definitely present. Yet, Zanzibar’s beauty stretched so much further then the coastline.

I found the island’s Swahili culture, a seemingly cohesive blend of Arab, African and island lifestyles, to be the basis onto which all other island attractions were built.

With very few exceptions, I found the people on Zanzibar to be happy, breath-takingly beautiful, contagiously friendly and seemingly unaffected by what must be a constant slew of outside faces. It took me the better part of two hours to make that critical decision that yes, in fact I could very happily live on that Indian island oasis. How easy it was to feel comfortable on an island whose residents cheerfully yelled, “Jambo!” (Hello!), rather than “Mzungo” (foreigner/white person) or even better, “Di cerehum.” (Give me your shirt!) that much detested Didinga phrase which littered my ears last year in Napep.

If Rick Steves had chosen to make his dollar on Africa’s, “Backdoor” rather than Europe’s, I doubt that he, even with the help of Mr. Island himself, Jimmy Buffet, would have been able to compile a Zanzibar itinerary fit to compete with the likes of our week of island fun.

Straight from an episode of Man vs. Wild, we started the week swimming in a mangrove. To be honest, it is only now, post-mangrove swim that I can explain exactly what one is. I was under the impression that a mangrove was a certain type of tree, when in reality; it is a sort of water-hungry forest, growing from within the ocean. Strangely, but most fortunately, there wasn’t a snake, crocodile or creepy crawler to be seen. Our oceanic forest was home to little more than a few crabs.

swimming in the mangrove
Joe and I

We swam with dolphins! This was what, well…simply AMAZING! Each time our guide spotted a dolphin, he would yell at us, with the force and excitement of a man who either loved his job or had never seen a dolphin before to, “Jump in the water! GO, GO, GO!” And when he said, “Jump!” one jumps, so with snorkel and flippers in place and with little to no gracefulness, we flopped time and time again into the warm water. And each time we flopped, there swimming up from the depths, were dolphins!

One really had to swim hard to keep up, but oh how truly amazing it was to follow the dolphin leader, to see a baby tucked tightly and moving in unison with its mother, to be close enough to touch a dolphin in the wild (it should be noted, that for some reason I chose Dolphin Day to be a rule follower. The guidebook warned tourists against touching the dolphins. So, each time I put out my hand to touch one of my watery friends, some brown nosed school girl drew it back. I did NOT touch a dolphin, though I could have.) As I swam, I could hear the dolphins whistling one to the other, I wonder if they could hear me laughing in my snorkel.

yes, this is a terrible picture, but if you look really carefully you can see three dolphin fins
and a big splash (which is me!)

Okay, so I know that I may be risking my travel credibility here, but I have to say it. Even Zanzibar's favorite form of public transportation, the dala-dala, was fun. A dala-dala is nothing more than a truck that has been converted into a taxi, with parallel benches in the back, a covered top and open sides. I couldn't figure out if it was the parallel benches or the very nature of these Zanzibarian people that created the social atmosphere on the dala-dala. Mothers stepping into the truck, would nonchalantly hand their babies off to perfect strangers who were already situated inside the transport. Rather than fussing or crying out for their mothers, as one might expect, these beautiful little island children sat quite contentedly upon the lap, of well, anyone. In fact, on our first few days on the island, we were actually fooled into believing that all those who were openly visiting and playing Pass the Baby knew each other, when in reality, they didn't. Unlike many other African cultures and Western cultures, for that matter, it was refreshingly common to see men on Zanzibar hugging, cuddling and innocently playing with children who may or may not have been their own.

I've found that it is usually these common everyday activities, like taking public transportation or going to the market for a cucumber, an unexpected shared smile or walk in the rain, that are my favorite parts of a vacation.

You can live like a king on a pauper’s penny in Zanzibar.

A two hour dala-dala ride across the island - $1.00

Swimming with dolphins - $20.00

Beach front bungalow and breakfast - $9.00 per night

Lobster cabob - $1.00

Joe’s souvenir Zanzibar football jersey - $6.00

The BEST prawn dinner I have ever eaten and may ever eat again - $9.00

Snorkeling trip minus the snorkel and minus the fish - $10.00 (ok, so this one was not such a great deal. I mean hey, you win some, you lose some.)

The food.... oh, the amazing food!