THE EAST COAST - ZANZIBAR

 3rd - 6th Nov 2020

The African Paradise hotel. Dwejuu.

Onwards by taxi down the east coast towards Dwejuu. The roads were in good nick and the driver, Babu, was a very competent. Talking of the word 'babu', I was called this several times by the polite and well meaning Zanzibarians. It translates, I discovered, as 'grandfather'. This was not good for morale. I must look more of a wreck than I feel.

Right: Tourist map of Zanzibar. I have circled the places I have visited so far. Scale at top. The island is about 80 miles long and 30 miles wide. Click on to enlarge.

We stopped for lunch half way at the townlet of Pongwe. There is a hotel/restaurant there called 'The Island' (left). It is indeed on an island. Tides on the east coast are extraordinary. At low tide the sea is about a mile off-shore. High tide makes this place (100yds from land) only accessible by boat. I was lucky and could walk to it.

It is an expensive place. I was greeted by the manageress, Margarita, a young lady from Latvia (right, with bar girl). There appeared to be no other guests present and I went to the bar for a beer (that was my lunch) and a chat with Margarita. She is a delightful lady and on rather the same wavelength as an 'unwoke' reactionary old fart as myself, or pretended to be. We put the world to rights! She was then summonsed as a party of (probably wealthy) Russians was due to arrive.

Babu, my driver, had been waiting patiently ashore and on we then went via a necessarily inland route to the Michamvi Peninsular which juts out north on the south-east coast. We passed my intended destination and on 5 miles north to an iconic location off the beach (not part of any village) called 'The Rock'. This is a smart restaurant on, unsurprisingly, a rock (left). Again, this place is marooned at high tide (they provide a boat), but I could walk.

I  had a more conventional late lunch there. Delicious seafood.

Right: The menu. 

Left: The small but elegant dining room.

Right: The outside sitting area. There were a few other diners but I chose not to photograph them. You can just see the sea in the distance. A few hours later it would surround the place.

Left: A stand displaying a multitude of sea shells. I am not, unlike the late Emperor Hirohito, an enthusiastic conchologist.

Right: On to the village of Dwejuu. These villages are very poor but the locals appear happy, cheerful and welcoming. Children play in the dusty streets with hoops and footballs and seem to get great pleasure out of the simplest of games. There is a local school which, by the sound of the noise coming from it, is well attended.

Left: This young lad demonstrated some impressive football 'keepy-uppy' skills. Talking of schools here, I later passed by another school in the neighbouring town of Paje. All the pupils are Muslim and dressed,  simply but smartly, accordingly. They are happy and well behaved. Schools operate a two shift basis. One lot of students in the morning and another in the afternoon. I was shown a physics exam paper for 17/18 year olds by one of the teachers. I did physics A Level but could not begin to answer 80% of the questions. It was difficult! As with schools in this part of the world, and further East, the children are well disciplined, well dressed, respect their teachers and keen to learn. Somewhat different to the many feral badly behaved scruffy youngsters that infest some inner-city UK schools!

Right: A children's gathering in the village for a religious service. There was lots of enthusiastic singing.

More to follow from the beach at Dwejuu and surrounding area.