ZANZIBAR - TANZANIA (July 2004)

We had seen an offer for a destination that is not very well ubicábamos on the map. Iberojet just opened the path to that destination and went on the first trip of the season. The price for 2 weeks all inclusive was € 1100 per person. We booked the trip in a neighborhood of Diana agency in Madrid. The trip was conducted in July 2004. We were fortunate to be accompanied by our friends Manolo and Nevis.

On arrival we were taken by bus to hotel Sea Club Kiwengwa, telling us how dangerous it was not recruiting trips with Iberojet. Our room was simple, spacious and clean. The hotel was very nice with wood-roofed buildings and vegetation. The stay was very pleasant, and we did a good group to tours with the Beach Boys and was still in contact with the Masai guarding the hotel.

The beach was very wide, with pronounced tides that left room for an alternative communication channel to the bad roads. People spent on a bike, went to school children, herders with livestock ... The least we used the beach were the guests, as it was not very good for swimming or snorkeling, but the main problem was harassment by beach boys. Most were good kids, but it was very unpleasant to be saying all the time not so many things you wanted to sell. It was also very unpleasant to see how the Masai pursued them with clubs to let us alone. The water was not very clear, was warm and fine white sand was. Actually most of the time spent outside the hotel, but in two weeks we had time for almost everything.

We made ​​several trips, all with the Beach Boys for very little money (between 6 and $ 15 per trip):

Blue Safari: A very full days. It took over an hour on dirt roads up to a pier. Wooden boat we sail to a deserted island to enjoy a day of adventure and beach.

Spice Route and the island of the prison: Half day visit to several plantations of all kinds of spices and visit the giant tortoises on the island that served as a prison.

Snorkeling at Mnemba: The Best, repeat. 2 days went snorkeling, which was very good in the area. Everything was awesome, the environment, the color of water, and sailing wooden boat, the people where we expected to go up the tide, our beloved guide Mohammed (child singer), the group with which we share these days .. .

Stone Town: One afternoon in the haunting and beautiful Stone Town, Zanzibar's capital, a little bleak for tourists, especially at dusk.

As we were 2 weeks, took the opportunity to do a diving course and get us the Open Water. We learned to dive with the best monitor we've never dived (Miquel Badosa). A great professional in the water and a horny guy and sounded out of it. The course dives we did on the island of Mnemba, in a life full of money, with muchísma variety of fish. We are left with the desire to make a 3-day safari, but there were many travel expenses, plus little time left over for us to do more.

It was a long trip, which gave us time to do many things, meet interesting people, have fun, a thrill ... Africa is hard, even in places that historically have been prosperous. This trip helped us to lose the fear out of the hotels with local people to know the destination, the best way out of the tourist route.

zanzibar | stone town | tanzania