After all the excitement of the safari, it was time to wind down a bit. we did the reverse Cessna trip from Kogatende airstrip to Arusha in the company of two Canadians from BC who were going to be on our connecting flight as well. We landed in Arusha and were met by one of the representatives from the Safari company. Because we had a three hour layover in Arusha and there’s nothing to do in the Arusha airport, they took us to a local restaurant where we could get lunch.
But eventually we had to do the “go through security and sit and wait” thing in the tiny airport again. An hour later, we landed and were met by the driver who proceeded to take us across the island to our resort in Matemwe on the north east coast. The contrast between Zanzibar and mainland Tanzania was obvious even from the passenger van. Tanzania itself is a bit of a mixing pot – 63% Christian, 34% Muslim – Zanzibar is 99% Muslim and you could see it everywhere. I was interesting to see but wouldn’t really affect us since we didn’t have any intention of going outside the resort while we are here.
We got checked in and shown to our swim up a villa which was lovely. The whole resort is brand new – it only opened in November. And there are some places where you can see that: buildings still under construction just outside the main resort area, construction detritus poorly hidden, missing landscaping, and the lack of amenities that I know are on the agenda such as a gym et cetera. But still beautiful all the same.
Our biggest disappointment? The beach. The sand is absolutely amazing: talcum powder fine and bright white and beautiful. And that’s the best thing to be said about it. It’s advertised as a “wild beach“ which means that it’s not groomed or cared for by any one in particular. It’s a public beach so there’s no obvious entity to take responsibility. There’s a small patch just outside the resort that seems to be tended but that’s it. The sand gets a bit of sprucing up but the water, while bath water warm and aquamarine, has sea grass and a variety of other natural stuff still floating in it. I guess that’s makes it “wild”. What makes it less appealing is rubbish left behind by the wide range of beach goers (largely articles of clothing?) and the constant badgering from the “Maasai” hawkers on the beach – in traditional tribal garb and fake Ray Bans – trying to sell everything from beads to snorkelling trips. The are VERY persistent to the point of being exasperating and require stern NO – or “Nada Gracias” when we needed to pretend we only spoke Spanish.
However that doesn’t detract from the lush greenery and strong winter sun. The temperature and humidity are higher than what we had expected even with our stalking on weather apps. All of which makes it difficult to get the 10k steps in to walk off all the food! As it turns out, that would be a moot point. After two days of lounging on our deck with our own little pool and generally starting to relax in earnest, we ran into a small snag. Or rather I ran into a hard chair. With one of my soft toes. Which did not respond well. In fact, it’s probably broken given the pain, swelling, and discolouration. {sigh}
So for two days I have been confined to a sun lounger by the pool with my foot propped up. I confess that the forced relaxation is more than I bargained for but is great for making progress on my Goodreads challenge!
I’m able to hobble around so getting to meals isn’t a problem and nice people are bringing drinks to me so I suppose it could be worse. It will make our snorkelling trip and Stone Town tour interesting. But that’s a story for another day.
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