Moving on to Zanzibar

After 3 full days at the camp it was time to move on to the Breezes Hotel and Spa in Zanzibar.

Check-in formalities at the airstrip were of course non existent and so we relaxed in the air conditioned lounge until our plane flew over the strip ensuring there were no obstructions on the runway ! 

When it landed, we were told that after we had picked up some passengers at another nearby airstrip, we were going to fly direct to Zanzibar rather than having to change planes in Dar Es Salaam. 

This time the 12 seater plane was full, so full that the 13th passenger had to sit in the co-pilot’s seat.

This view shortly after takeoff shows the “airport terminal” (bottom middle) and the track we followed going into the game reserve.

Hippos and Water Buffalo were out in force on the banks of the Rufiji River as we flew away 

and the irrigation provided by the river is evident from this photograph which shows a lot of greenery along its banks. 

Zanzibar

A detailed history of Zanzibar is given here. It became a Protectorate of Britain in 1890 and in 1896, British disapproval of the local Sultan led to what has been called the shortest ever war (38 minutes). More overt direct rule from Britain started in 1913. The Protectorate ended in 1963 with full self government within the Commonwealth and after a local revolution, the People’s Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba merged with mainland Tanganyika to become Tanzania some four months later.

To go through Zanzibar Airport is to go back in time. We parked in front of the terminal and walked over to it. Immigration was straightforward and our bags were waiting on a trolley in customs. There is no conveyer belt system here for baggage, everything is done by hand.

Our taxi which was waiting outside, took us straight to Breezes which is situated on the east coast directly looking out onto the Indian Ocean.

The general arrangement is of a number of two storey villas in large grounds with a swimming pool and adjacent dive centre overlooking the beach and the Indian Ocean.

This was the view awaiting us from the balcony of our rather superb suite of rooms. 

There is no central block of rooms as in many hotels. Here all guests stay in a small house which provides for four apartments. 

The bed was about 8 feet across with a large mosquito net which was let down overnight by the staff.

Adjacent to our balcony was a tall coconut tree complete with coconuts. Not particularly interesting but the colourful Bee Eater sitting on one of the coconuts was. 

The resort grounds were very well maintained.

This is the large swimming pool which was also used for Padi Open Water training for those who took their qualification whilst staying at the hotel. 

It took on a different appearance at night although usage of the pool stopped at 7 pm. 

All meals were served in a large dining area, waiter service one day and buffet service the next.

In front of the hotel is the beach and beyond that a coral reef and a lagoon. The sky was invariably blue and lying on a sun lounger, shaded by a large umbrella, listening to the sound of the sea and being kept cool by a southerly breeze was more than relaxing. 

I did four dives over two days and this is the dive boat I used. It took me outside of the lagoon into deeper water for each dive. The fish were nothing spectacular nor was the coral but diving again was very nice, it having been a few years since I last dived.

We both felt that Breezes was perhaps the best hotel we have ever been to because it provided unobtrusive service and luxury. Its reviews on TripAdvisor are almost universally excellent and we found the few complaints mentioned in the reviews (such as "at low tide the sea was too far away”) rather amusing or inaccurate.

This type of luxury experience is not something we are used to because we usually take far more active and challenging holidays but we are agreed that as we get older, it will become more the norm for us.

The local villages and a River Safari

The Selous Riverside Camp is about 30 minutes drive outside of the Game Reserve and whenever we went to the airstrip of the Game Reserve, we had to drive through one of the local villages - Mloka.  

The road was a dirt road which had recently been rolled to make driving it easier. There is little vehicle traffic and what there is can present their own challenges such as 12 foot pieces of timber being carried sideways on a motor bike

or two water tankers taking over the whole road.

This mobile phone “shop” is typical of the design and construction of the house we saw. 

This one (selling paintings to tourists) is slightly more advanced in that it has some concrete around the veranda.

We were told that when you want to build a house, you just choose some land and get on with building it.  

Your neighbours will help with the basic structure but it is then uo to you to build the walls, usually mud over a framework of sticks. 

 

Although there are power cables running into the village, there is no electricity. The cables were erected two years ago but were never connected up at either end. Water is pumped up by hand from the relatively high water table and communal gatherings at water pumps were a common site. We came to the conclusion that the process and demands of living was almost a full-time occupation.

We noticed a growing number of concrete blocks around the place 

 and a few houses, the local primary school

and this church had more of an air of permanence about them.

Compared to Primary Schools in England, 

this classroom which was for the first year of primary school was very bare.

 

We were told that some children cannot go to school because their parents cannot afford to buy an exercise book for them to write in.

We found the process of driving around the village and looking at its buildings slightly uncomfortable. We were obviously “wealthy tourists” and whenever we stopped, lots of children would run up to us shouting “Pipi” (the Swahili word for sweets) and we were expected to given them some.

We tried to ensure that the local inhabitants were not included in our photographs (other than that above) because it is considered rude to take someone’s photograph without their permission.

A River Safari 

The River Rufiji is home to much wildlife 

and late one afternoon we went on a safari along it. 

Wooden Canoes were very common on the river. These are made 

by hollowing out (by hand) a tree trunk and are works of rural art in themselves. Apparently it takes two men about a week to construct one. We saw a number of ferries crossing the river which were in fact canoes such as this.

Bird life was in profusion along the river. 

This Malachite Kingfisher just sat there posing for us and was not at all perturbed when we got close.

 And this is a Pied Kingfisher.

Lizards are very common and also a danger to birds because they are adept at eating whatever they find in a bird nest. 

This was the smallest crocodile we saw, said to be about two weeks old.

And this monster was the largest we saw. When it saw us, it lumbered into life

and waddled down the shore into the river in our general direction. Fortunately we then moved on! 

Yellow Weaver Birds live along the river bank and, as with their cousins in the game reserve, 

use local material to make their nests. 

Again quite unperturbed at out presence. 

 

The river was full of Hippos with numerous Pods staying cool in the water.

Occasionally they would rise up to show us how large they were 

or spy on us to make sure we were not a threat. 

I still find it hard to imagine an animal such as a 4 ton Hippo managing to climb up a steep river bank along a path such as this. 

We waited in the middle of the river for the sun to set

and when it did, it was time to go back for dinner.