Zanzibar

Someone had mentioned the Evergreen "Resort" to us, the guide spoke well of it and we headed there. I don't know what happened but it was love at first sight. There were two rooms left, one of which on the second floor of a Bungalow. The wooden walls and the roof strictly of coconut leaves, palm trees all around.... They gave the idea of a treehouse. Veronica couldn't believe her eyes, for years she has been tormenting me with...."I would like a treehouse".... I didn't even have time to ask the price before I was already there trying to climb with the luggage up the steep stairs. Never was a decision more apt. The place was very quiet, in the evening a wonderful breeze blew, in the room the light was dim and the water at room temperature. In the morning, we woke up to the sound of the waves.

A good book, walking and cycling on the beach, relaxing on the braided rope sun lounger, among the streets of the fishermen's villages, in the evening a great fish dinner at Jamal's, this was the routine. The sea often went out, on this side the tides are significant and allow the locals to cultivate seaweed. I remember with pleasure the women, early in the morning, walking toward the harvest and returning after lunch when the water came back up. Bweju with its silence and isolation, its enchanted beach and its palms pleased us greatly, a shame to have to leave for Nungwi.... The collective minibus is a couple of hours late and, after insistent requests, the boy at the reception warns us that it won't come....it's already full! I go to the beach to a beach boy friend and with his car we reach Nungwi.

Having put our bags in our cheap bungalow, Jumbo Brothers, we go to eat a pizza by the sea scanning the horizon. The first impact with this locality was not, as far as we are concerned, very positive. Used to the silence of the savannah and the relaxation of Bweju, we now felt catapulted into a dimension foreign to our idea of tropical paradise. Bars and restaurants as far as the eye can see, small and large resorts, open construction sites and new accommodation facilities under construction, internet points, shops, happy hours and music until late at night. The coast of Nungwi is high and jagged, very wild in some respects, a shame that they have built on every square inch. We came here especially to dive at Mnemba and, considering that the beach disappears after lunch, to visit nearby Kendwa.

After the first night and waking up to the romantic sound of drills...I thought about how we would survive 5 nights here. In any case it was time to dive; after two hours by boat, here we are in the depths of Zanzibar, exploring a corner of the Indian Ocean. Unexpectedly very positive experience, warm and calm sea, beautiful corals, carried by the current we encountered turtles, moray eels, scorpionfish, lots of nudibranchs. The following morning, with the low tide, we took a nice walk until we reached Kendwa...well, what can I say, a whole other world. In this locality there are some large resorts, no international chain, which however are well hidden inland and do not disfigure the idyllic landscape. The water is transparent as never before, there are no algae and the sand is of a luminous white.

We remain enchanted by so much beauty and decide to inquire at the various receptions in search of accommodation; we were by now convinced to abandon Nungwi well in advance but, alas, here in Kendwa everything was full until mid-September. The advice is to book well in advance, at least in high season, it is truly worth it. The positive thing in East Africa, and also here in Zanzibar, is that the saying Akuna Matata (no problem), sometimes, has reason to exist. When we informed our small guesthouse of our early departure by 3 days, we could have expected any reaction but instead they did not create the slightest problem, we paid what was due and left to return to the much-missed east coast. Having left our Belgian friends in Stonetown, we were torn between the idea of returning to Bweju or discovering another beach.

Having chosen the second option, we head toward Pongwe and find accommodation at the Santa Maria Coral Park. At first glance the structure and the surrounding nature is very similar to that of Bweju and for this reason we like it very much. Later we will discover that in reality the structure and services are a bit run-down but, all in all, we have found the peace we were looking for, the hammocks to swing on and the palms to shelter under. Among other things we have found that at least as far as the period of our stay is concerned, the weather is clearly better on this side; the wind in fact, blowing from East to West, always kept the sky clean allowing us incredible sunbaths.

The beach of Pongwe is the richest I have ever seen as far as shells are concerned, it is a real shame that the local inhabitants (but it is a problem all over Africa....they have other things to think about) use it as an open-air dump, not understanding how many more tourism opportunities they would have if only they dedicated themselves to cleaning it. Last stop: Stonetown. We would have liked to treat ourselves to the last night in luxury and within the Moorish architecture of the Tembo House Hotel or the Dhow Palace but, here too, nothing doing, everything full. We fall back on the more modest Abuso INN, a disturbing name but in reality a clean, convenient and economical solution.

Wandering through the beautiful city that gave birth to Freddie Mercury, we dedicate ourselves to last purchases, spices, Tinga Tinga paintings and wooden handicrafts, we eat good fresh fish at the characteristic Forodhani gardens. We visit the markets, the Anglican cathedral and the monument to the slave trade. The most pleasant thing however is wandering in the intricate labyrinth of narrow whitewashed alleys, where pastel-colored doors and windows stand out. We leave from Zanzibar and after two stopovers at Dar Es Salaam and Kilimanjaro Airport we arrive in Nairobi. Here the airline tells us that, due to overbooking, there is no place on the plane but to wait a bit to see what solution they could propose.

After a moment of discouragement and some discussions about it, the flight attendant approaches and informs us that we have been put in Business!! What a blow, well then!! But it couldn't have happened to us last year returning from Australia....you're never really happy!! Reluctantly we have to say goodbye to this land that hosted us for 24 days; Kenya, Tanzania and Zanzibar have captivated us. In these cases people talk about Africa sickness, well, even today I don't know what that means. Of equally exotic, incredible, exciting and in their own way unique places we have seen many and I hope we will continue to reach them. Certainly there are other things that will remain memorable and unforgettable for me; sincere eyes, selfless gestures and so much, so much generosity.

Those who have so little, managed to give me truly so much; seeing certain things and experiencing them directly, now I realize how many are the trivialities for which every day we argue and lose patience. There remains nothing else but to always remember the fortune we have in our hands, treasure it and, as far as I am concerned, leave as soon as possible for new adventures/experiences reaching places and peoples far away from whom to continue learning.