Day 19 - Zanzibar
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Elke
30 Oktober 2013 | Tanzania, Zanzibar
After tying our luggage on the roof of the bus once more, we made our way back to Arusha. We had a coffee stop at a project where people with physical handicaps lived and worked. They had some lovely cakes from the bakery and a souvenir shop with beautiful items made from various materials. After our coffee and a visit to fancy bathrooms (no sarcasm here), I had a walk around the site which was quite big and offered many shops for all kinds of different traits. The ‘tour’ ended at the church on the grounds where people were dancing and singing.
The airport of Arusha was not very impressive and the dirt road to the airport (Serengeti quality) would have been difficult to find for non-locals. Although when we arrived there were quite a bit more people there than I had expected.
Even to our eyes there was structure in the way things were organized at the airport, although increase of efficiency did not seem to have had priority when setting up the systems and procedures. Nevertheless, things got taken care of and got taken care of in time… African time that is and that was all that mattered there. When we arrived, there was a black board with departure times written on it in chalk. I could not find our flight on the board, but according to our guide it was scheduled to leave around 14.30 and sure enough, we left at 15.30 when we were ready and the pilot was ready, right on (African) time.
The planes that we were taking were not big enough to carry our group, so we were split in two groups. We were allowed a maximum of 15 kg check-in luggage, so we were advised to put all our heavy items in our hand luggage, as there were no limits to this, not in weight, nor in number of items. Even with hand luggage I think I would not have crossed the 15 kg limit, but many of the others did and some even by quite a bit. Our guide however knew how to get things done, so we did not have to pay extra except maybe a slightly bigger ‘tip’ for ‘the guy’ at the check-in counter (and here I use the word counter loosely). One could question how smart it is to push weight limits in small airplanes and I did, but mostly silently, like with so many other things that I questioned during this trip. I forced myself to stop thinking, when my mind started to wander in the direction of me being right about many other things before as well.
Most people enjoyed the flight as these small planes allow you to really look around in all directions and see the pilot do his thing. And it is true that you could see Kilimanjaro nicely in the distance and you could really appreciate the incredible vastness and emptiness of the land below. However, since I’m not a big fan of air travel to begin with, I tend to have a bit less appreciation for anything that makes it more obvious that I am in a metal construction hundreds of meters above the earth.
The most obvious difference between Kenya and mainland Tanzania, and Zanzibar is that the mainland is mostly Christian, while on Zanzibar Islam is the dominant religon. Tourists are advised to cover their shoulders and knees (which is by the way also considered to be the most decent way to dress on the mainland), but the locals on Zanzibar tend to cover a bit more. When we left the airport on Zanzibar, there was a sea of man, women, and children all in traditional Muslim robes and veils, making music, singing, and dancing. Apparently, some flights had arrived from Mecca with pilgrims and they were welcomed by what seemed to be the whole island.
Since our hotel in Stonetown was not available, we were relocated to a resort at the coast. This resort was absolutely marvelous. Nice beach, great pool, a good bar/restaurant and even a spa. The rooms were big and clean and included a ‘princess bed’ (i.e. with mosquito net) the size of my kitchen at the Maredijk, which was covered in fresh flowers and towels draped in shapes of animals, there was air conditioning and a big beautiful bathroom. I started with a visit to the toilet, since I had to do something that did not seem to be very appealing at the airport in Arusha and then I realized that I managed to plan things such that during the entire trip I had had a decent toilet for all my number twos. A ‘relieve’ in multiple ways. Then I took a shower and when I had dried myself, the white towel was still white. Moreover, my nails were not only clean after the shower, they stayed like that for more than 10 minutes. As a matter of fact, they stayed like that for the rest of the trip. When I got back to my room after diner, the bed had been prepared (flowers and pillows removed and mosquito nets closed and impregnated). It was then I realized that all camping in the three weeks before, must have been for the purpose of making me appreciate this so much more. So that's what I did for a while, appreciate.
The airport of Arusha was not very impressive and the dirt road to the airport (Serengeti quality) would have been difficult to find for non-locals. Although when we arrived there were quite a bit more people there than I had expected.
Even to our eyes there was structure in the way things were organized at the airport, although increase of efficiency did not seem to have had priority when setting up the systems and procedures. Nevertheless, things got taken care of and got taken care of in time… African time that is and that was all that mattered there. When we arrived, there was a black board with departure times written on it in chalk. I could not find our flight on the board, but according to our guide it was scheduled to leave around 14.30 and sure enough, we left at 15.30 when we were ready and the pilot was ready, right on (African) time.
The planes that we were taking were not big enough to carry our group, so we were split in two groups. We were allowed a maximum of 15 kg check-in luggage, so we were advised to put all our heavy items in our hand luggage, as there were no limits to this, not in weight, nor in number of items. Even with hand luggage I think I would not have crossed the 15 kg limit, but many of the others did and some even by quite a bit. Our guide however knew how to get things done, so we did not have to pay extra except maybe a slightly bigger ‘tip’ for ‘the guy’ at the check-in counter (and here I use the word counter loosely). One could question how smart it is to push weight limits in small airplanes and I did, but mostly silently, like with so many other things that I questioned during this trip. I forced myself to stop thinking, when my mind started to wander in the direction of me being right about many other things before as well.
Most people enjoyed the flight as these small planes allow you to really look around in all directions and see the pilot do his thing. And it is true that you could see Kilimanjaro nicely in the distance and you could really appreciate the incredible vastness and emptiness of the land below. However, since I’m not a big fan of air travel to begin with, I tend to have a bit less appreciation for anything that makes it more obvious that I am in a metal construction hundreds of meters above the earth.
The most obvious difference between Kenya and mainland Tanzania, and Zanzibar is that the mainland is mostly Christian, while on Zanzibar Islam is the dominant religon. Tourists are advised to cover their shoulders and knees (which is by the way also considered to be the most decent way to dress on the mainland), but the locals on Zanzibar tend to cover a bit more. When we left the airport on Zanzibar, there was a sea of man, women, and children all in traditional Muslim robes and veils, making music, singing, and dancing. Apparently, some flights had arrived from Mecca with pilgrims and they were welcomed by what seemed to be the whole island.
Since our hotel in Stonetown was not available, we were relocated to a resort at the coast. This resort was absolutely marvelous. Nice beach, great pool, a good bar/restaurant and even a spa. The rooms were big and clean and included a ‘princess bed’ (i.e. with mosquito net) the size of my kitchen at the Maredijk, which was covered in fresh flowers and towels draped in shapes of animals, there was air conditioning and a big beautiful bathroom. I started with a visit to the toilet, since I had to do something that did not seem to be very appealing at the airport in Arusha and then I realized that I managed to plan things such that during the entire trip I had had a decent toilet for all my number twos. A ‘relieve’ in multiple ways. Then I took a shower and when I had dried myself, the white towel was still white. Moreover, my nails were not only clean after the shower, they stayed like that for more than 10 minutes. As a matter of fact, they stayed like that for the rest of the trip. When I got back to my room after diner, the bed had been prepared (flowers and pillows removed and mosquito nets closed and impregnated). It was then I realized that all camping in the three weeks before, must have been for the purpose of making me appreciate this so much more. So that's what I did for a while, appreciate.
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Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
