Day 64: 17/06/2011 – Pangani to Kendwa to Stone Town, Zanzibar

The boat to Zanzibar took about 1½ hours to reach Kendwa, which is at the northern point of Zanzibar. I caught a large speedboat across which was extremely comfortable and I’m sure a lot more pleasant than the public ferries that travel between Dar es Salaam and Stone Town which take about 3 hours. There was one other guy on the boat with me, a young Mauritian who was the manager of one of the large Ngorongoro Lodges. He was a chef by profession trained by one of the top French Michelin chefs. He was very interested in Gareth’s training and offered some valuable pointers.

From Kendwa it was a half hour drive to Stone Town where I checked into the Zanzibar Coffee House where we will be staying for the next 3 nights. I dropped off my bags in my room and decided to go and explore Stone Town. There are hundreds of small alleys and passages leading in various directions. Doors and openings were everywhere and contained shops of all descriptions, from groceries to butchers to travel agents to curio shops. I eventually came out at the main Ferry Terminal and wandered along the beachfront past the various local sights. It was extremely hot and humid and seeing that I hadn’t had lunch, I decided to have a late lunch/early dinner at Mercury’s – Freddy Mercury of Queen fame lived as a small child in Zanzibar and the locals try to believe that he belongs to them. Anyway I had a great lunch of Calamari.

I decided to walk back to the hotel and settle in for an early evening, but this was not to happen. The hotel was probably about 150m as the crow flies from the restaurant and I got hopelessly lost in the different passages. It eventually took me about an hour to find my way. 

I retired to the rooftop sitting area and watched the sun set and then the sports began – the Muslim call to prayer resounded over the town, with about 15 different mosques trying to be louder than the other. They all had loudspeaker systems and the noise was amazing.  It eventually came to an end and the evening returned to normal.

                                                         Zanzibar from the boat

                                           Stone Town Alley