Jozani Forest - Zanzibar

I went to the Jozani Forest with a fellow from South Africa I'd met at the Pakachi Beach Hotel. He happened to be living in Oman, too, which was a co-incidence for the hotel owner because in one week he'd had four people arrive from Oman and he'd never had anyone from Oman there previously.

We decided against a tour guide as we wanted to walk around on our own. I got a simple map of the park from the kiosk and away we went. After an hour of walking through the lovely forest we turned back, but the trails branched out into smaller trails and every way looked the same. I wasn't sure where we were on the map and neither was my friend. I started to panic as I realized the sun was going down and we didn't have a flashlight. I thought we might be out there for the night, or three nights, lost. We're lost! We're going to die of thirst out here! We don't have water! We'll be here and no one will know! Why didn't we tell anybody where we were going? I thrashed through the brush taking whatever path I came across, stopping to check a map that wasn't working for me and waiting for the slowpoke I was with to catch up. He sure wasn't panicking. I went ahead of him and yelled Hey! a couple of times until I glimpsed through the thinning trees, with great relief, the red wooden kiosk. I almost ran towards it, but tried to act normal because some other people were sitting around. I got a drink and sat down and wouldn't you know, the huge 'forest' turned out to be the size of a postage stamp. Kinda like getting lost in a broom closet. So don't ever worry if you think you are lost in Jozani Forest in Zanzibar. You aren't.






And then there was this shiny thing lazing in the shade...........

I have to include Sylvia in my ramblings because she is a one-of-a-kind character who has been living in Zanzibar for the past 15 years, but when I met her she was in the midst of trying to sell her house in order to get back to Norway to be with her teenaged daughter. Her house was almost as amazing as she was.

Zanzibar Butterfly Center

It's worth it to visit the Butterfly Center on the island. It's small, but interesting and there are loads of different butterflies. They ship them all over the world.

Jambiani Zanzibar

I stayed at the Pakachi Beach Resort while I was in Jambiani. It's a laid-back place, low-rent but it's comfortable and if you want a place to get away from it all, this is it. It's busier 10 kilometres further north in Paje.



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Things To See Stone Town

The city of Stone Town, Zanzibar has a wonderful beachfront with restaurants, historical buildings, shops, cafes, food stalls and parks, where you can sit and watch the sunset while the boats traverse the channel between the island and the mainland.

Days before I arrived in Stone Town, a ferry had capsized and killed over 60 people.  Two identical ferries were anchored out in the bay and it was plain to see that they'd been jimmy-rigged in order to cram more passengers into it.  The catamarans looked to be the best ride and that was confirmed to me by Sheila at the Warere Hotel.  She went back and forth every week to the mainland as her daughter was in school there.  No way she'd get on anything but the catamarans.  So if you're going to Zanzibar from Dar, take the catamaran!




The ferry that capsized.