Day 22 - Mtoni Marine

After all the camping and early mornings, I allowed myself some leisure time and pampering for the end of my vacation. After a nice, late breakfast, I made my way to the pool side, with my book, magazine and Sudoku and some sun lotion of course. To get some exercise in I started with some laps in the pool, but that was about it, I spent the rest of the day finishing my book (which had not progressed much in the 3 weeks before), drinking a bit, eating a bit and getting a spa treatment.

I had decided to treat myself to a facial and I got something that was quite different from what I’m used to. It started with the natural products that were being used in this spa. Whatever European spas have in little pots or tubes with the word ‘natural’ on them is not even close to the ‘natural’ that was collected straight from the garden before my treatment started. The cleansing and exfoliating at the start of the treatment was not that different from what I’m used to, but then the beautician asked me to turn around. Her English was not very good, so I was not sure whether she actually meant ‘turn around’, but a quick glance in her direction suggested that that was indeed what she wanted. When I did, she place one of those ‘face doughnuts’ at the end of the table, so I figured I had to put my face in there, but this lady very effectively gestured that this was not what was supposed to happen. So I lifted my face and she put a big bowl in the doughnut that had some garden material in it. It looked like stinging nettle, but she told me it was ylang ylang, and some other greens from the garden. When she then put some boiling water in the bow, it became clear to me that this was the steaming part of the treatment, so I was hanging with my face above this bowl and a towel hanging over my head. Every once in a while the beautician would take the ylang ylang branches in the bowl and stir things a bit.

After the spa, I made my way to the reception area, to say goodbye to the majority of our group members, as they were going home. When I booked this trip, their plane was fully booked, so I extended my stay with one day, since a few others had booked the 4 day extension to the trip, I was not alone and we had a nice dinner together that evening. Unfortunately for the others, the plane in Zanzibar left at African time, while their connecting flight in Nairobi left at English time. They had to spend the night at the airport in Nairobi, making me a bit worried about my return flight and my connection to Stockholm in Amsterdam for the next day.