Jambiani - what more can you ask for Christmas!

27.12.2008 I spent the Christmas in Zanzibar, Tanzanian island which wants to have its own independency apart from the mainland. I thought it would be a perfect place to spend my last days in Africa before returning home. It was a right choice.

I took one of my friends along. She has never visited the island and probably wouldn’t ever if I hadn’t given her that opportunity. Again a right choice. We had a blast.

We took a ferry from Dar to Zanzibar. There are five different choices so it is just the matter of your own choice when do you want to travel.

Having a working permit in Tanzania gives you minor advantages. One of them is to get to travel with a local fare which is half the price of the tourist price. We searched for the cheapest tickets and got on board at noon. The price of a return ticket was 25 euros. Later we found out that there were even cheaper tickets but they don’t want to sell them for whites. We are supposed to have more money so we should pay more for the tickets. I hate that but I guess it is fare.

The ride across was pleasant. The Ocean was calm and we arrived almost in time. We contacted one Swedish lady who had asked us to let her know when we come so that she could meet us. She works for some project which is sponsored by Swedish government. They have a flat in the middle of the Stone town and it was free during the holidays so she offered it for us for free of charged. We couldn’t turn this offer down.

The flat was right in the middle of the Stone town, the “capital” of Zanzibar, or the only town in Zanzibar. It was on the fourth floor. It had its own balcony looking across the whole town. We couldn’t have asked for a better place to stay. Thanks again Swedes!

We stayed in the Stone town for one day. We wandered along the narrow roads of the old town which used to be the center for slave trade. You can almost relive the history while walking along the roads. Only disturbance is the dangerously fast driving bicycles and motorbikes which seem to own the narrow streets of the old town. There must be lot of accidents each day. Fortunately we didn’t see any.

Zanzibar is 100 % Muslim. People who have visited the place earlier say that it is nowadays even more Muslim that it was before. People were gowns and hide themselves more than before. But wonder enough, they have the latest fashion underneath. If you get to see a glimpse of the clothing underneath, you would be amazed too and wonder why they hide it. Not that there is anything wrong with the black gowns they were, especially since they are very beautiful with amazing decorations all over them. Ant they aren’t cheap. One decorative gown costs almost 100 euros. To me they all look the same anyway.

The second morning we enjoyed a breakfast with the Swedish lady. Then headed for the Dala station to catch a Dala to the other side of the island, Jambiani beach. I had been offered to stay in one of British volunteers home while she was home over the holidays. I had been there before with my mother two months ago.

So I knew how to get there. Two ours on one-of-a-kind Dala which is suppose to hold 22 people at the most. We were 48 while people were hanging outside with barely one foot inside. Not to mention all the weirdest things on top of the Dala such as bicycles, fruit and vegetable baskets, beds, pieces of iron and wood, and chickens and turkeys since it was Christmas time.

We arrived in Jambiani around three. We found our house and got settled. Then it was time to get the taste of Indian Ocean, and by saying get the taste I really mean the taste. My friend is still learning to swim so she likes to swallow quite a lot of water while she swims. It was a great place to learn to close the mouth. She learned it fast after vomiting few times.

We stayed in Jambiani for three days. On Christmas Eve we joined the locals for a beach barbeque, ate some hamburgers and got upsets stomachs. It didn’t slow us down. It was memorable night at the beach. On Christmas Day we snorkelled and sailed along the coast with a local fisherman, Captain James. And on Boxing Day we just relaxed and enjoyed the time with no worries over other parts of the world. We knew all good things come to an end eventually anyway.

We started our trip home at eight which turned out to be a right decision. The Dala we took was already full but had two seats by the driver. We took them. The Dala kept picking more and more people along even though it had already exceeded all possible limits. Before we knew it we were stopped by the street police. It was not the last stop by the Police.

The Police seem to be in power. There need not to be any reason for stopping buses. The cars can be in perfect shape or they can be barely holding along, but if there is a need for a pocket money, you will be pulled over. So we were pulled over five times.

The Police is well-trained to keep a straight face. You really don’t want to mess up with them. So if I was ever alone and pulled over, I don’t think I could manage.

The first time we were pulled over was only five minutes after leaving Jambiani. The Police had a good reason to stop us. We had almost 60 people on (in, on and half out) the Dala. He was also complaining that we had two conductors and we were only supposed to have one. The policeman took a plain notebook out and started to write something, looking very serious, walking around the car. Meanwhile the conductor and the driver talked. They had gather a sum and asked the policeman to step to the side with them. When handing him the money, policeman started to shout that he would go to jail for taking the bribe. After five minutes he came to wish us a good journey. The sum had been raised high enough for him to let us proceed.

Next stop was a road block. The Dala slowed down fifty metres before the police. Twenty men stepped outside and walked through the block while we stopped and were interviewed by the police. The policeman knew exactly that those 20 people were travelling with us but now just walking pass the block only to jump on after we had started moving. Policeman wanted his share again but couldn’t say anything about the passengers since they were not in the car at the road block. So he started complaining about the fire extinguisher. It wasn’t at the right place. The driver gave him 1000 TSH equal to 70 cents, and we were free to go. Ten meters after we took those 20 passengers back on board.

We reached the Stone town after three more stops two hours before our ferry departure. We decided to walk along the narrow roads, got lost and ate delicious pasta before going on the boat. We reached Dar just before dark safely after feeling bad in the boat for two hours. This time the Ocean was rougher than ever.

It was a great trip. We both enjoyed a lot. I was glad that I took my friend along. Here it always means that you are responsible for all costs. To me it only meant that I needed to choose less expensive places to stay and eat but I would have someone to share all nice experiences. Also it gave me an opportunity to offer one Tanzanian an experience in her own country which she would probably not experience without me. It is not that I want to feel good by helping. It is more like I hate that the beauty of this country is only offered to those who have the money and usually they are not even Tanzanians. Tanzanians should have an opportunity to enjoy their country. After all it is their country!

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