It's finally summertime. Don't ruin it for everyone else.
Nungwi is the northernmost village on Zanzibar. Traditionally it's been a fishing village, but there are an increasing number of resorts. 6 of us went up there to charter a fishing boat one afternoon.
Tried to get lunch at a place on the beach before heading out, sat down and ordered with more than 30 minutes to spare. Not in Zanzibar where all of life is polepole (slowly, slowly). An hour later, no food. 30 minutes late for fishing, we paid for lunch before it was served.
20 minutes after the first cast of the afternoon, John pulled up a GT that was well over 100lbs. On an empty stomach.
Dhow casting off it's mooring at midday in Nungwi.
Zanzibar's market is a bazaar; a collection of shops and stalls that winds around a bunch of narrow streets. To a naive visitor from The West, it's complete pandemonium from early morning till late into the night, with maybe a bit of respite during a midday siesta type hour. Scooters, pedestrians, bikes, trucks, people, hustlers. Few westerners. Swahili everywhere. The pace is frenetic.
Fresh meat department.
After a couple of days, I sat in the front seat with my cameras and started taking snapshots out the window with 35mm and 80-200mm lenses. They're not the greatest pictures I've ever taken, but in totality maybe it's possible to get a glimpse of what you see and feel driving from Zanzibar Town (top) out into the country (bottom). Next time I will be riding a bike, walking, or taking the Dala-Dalas.
A few of the people we met on Zanzibar.
Kids in the village of Fumba.
Seafood is the main source of protein for people living on the island of Zanzibar, off the coast of Tanzania. Men on the island fish, and women who live in the villages of Zanzibar can earn about $100/year gathering shellfish. Hauke Kite-Powell started a project with the University of Dar es Salaam's Institute of Marine Sciences about 10 years ago to improve their skills and capacity for farming shellfish. Areas close to shore have been exhausted, and women need to walk a long distance out to gather shellfish. And the tides there are low enough to do this only on the very low ones that come with the full moon, one week each month.
The Island Creek Oysters Foundation joined the project about a year ago, contributing technical expertise gained from oyster farming in the US as well as financial backing. Priorities are to build a small shellfish hatchery, and to teach the women how to grow local shellfish close to shore, using methodologies very similar those used to grow oysters in Duxbury. While the hatchery is constructed, experiments are being carried out to see how shellfish grow when transplanted closer in to the shore in mesh bags (for easier harvesting).
She will earn maybe $1-$2 for the day's work picking Anodera clams on this tide.
From the United States, one route is to fly overnight to London. Spend the day in London. Fly 10 hours the next night from London to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. If you're lucky and able to sleep on the 2nd leg, you wake up a bit before flying by Mt. Kilamanjaro. That is when it really hits you. Africa.
The airport at Dar Es Salaam is pretty modern, but when you're driven to the other side of the field for the 20 minute flight to Zanzibar and see donkeys and ox-carts on the road, you know you're a long ways from home.
Once on Zanzibar and in Stonetown, the incessant hassling begins. They'll bug you to buy sunglasses, nuts, cd's, paintings, tshirts. They'll come up and be friendly, engage in conversation, then won't leave you alone till you or the place you're staying pays them for 'guiding' you. Whatever you do, don't say "maybe tomorrow". Because they'll be there waiting, telling you that you promised.
Mt. Kilimanjaro