Zanzibar, Tanzania [Post #14, Day 147]

I have made it to Zanzibar! It wasn’t in my original plan, but the timing has worked out that I am here for four days. I signed up for my second Worldpackers volunteer position at the Samaritan School in Chamazi, about 40 minutes south of Dar es Salaam. My first day was on Friday. There is no school on the weekend and as it turns out, the school is also closed on Monday and Tuesday for the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha. Eid al-Adha is known as the “Feast of Sacrifice” and commemorates Prophet Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his son Ismail as a show of devotion to God. For Eid al-Adha an animal (such as a goat, sheep, or cow) is sacrificed, and the meat is then shared between family, friends, and those in need, and special meals are prepared. I have learned that Christianity is the largest religion in Tanzania at about 60% of the population, with Islam being the second largest at about 35%. The population of Zanzibar is about 98% Muslim. So with the Samaritan School closed for the holidays I have made a quick side-trip to Zanzibar, after which I’ll return to Chamazi for my volunteer position.

I am staying in Jambiani, which is on the southeast side of Zanzibar. Zanzibar is actually an archipelago (a collection of islands) and I am on the main island Unguja, also known as Zanzibar Island. I took the morning ferry from Dar es Salaam to Zanzibar Island with two other volunteers, Sarah and Lea from Italy, who had been planning their trip for a while and kindly let me join them. Sarah and Lea had a tour planned so we separated after disembarking the ferry. I first walked around Stone Town a little bit, it was cool walking through the alleyways, surrounded by white buildings with ornate dark wooden doors. I saw the house where Freddie Mercury (the lead singer of Queen) lived before emigrating (at that time his name was Farrokh Bulsara) with his family to the UK. After walking around Stone Town I managed to take the local dala-dala buses over to Jambiani with the kind help of several local people. I met Humphrey along the way who is from Tanzania and happens to be an architect, he is 29 years old and I felt we have a lot in common, we had a nice conversation before he got off the dala-dala at Paje. I was dropped off along the main street in Jambiani and started making my way towards the beach. I stopped at a little local outdoor restaurant for lunch where I had mixed vegetables with coconut sauce and ugali (I love ugali!), nice reggae music was playing from a speaker at the bar. I hadn’t yet seen the water but I had a feeling a special sight was in store. To get to the beach I walked down a narrow passageway between houses. It was a long, shaded corridor but I could see a small square of vibrant turquoise blue in the distance. The blue square became larger and larger as I walked down the passageway, until I reached the beach, where it opened up into a beautiful expanse, white sand and a stunning ocean of clear turquoise and blue water of different shades. I generally avoid saying things are the “best” I’ve ever seen or experienced, because I think all experiences and places are unique and special in their own right, but I think I can say Jambiani Beach is the most picturesque beach I have seen to date, and that’s even after having seen the beaches in Western Australia which are also spectacular. I am staying at a hostel called New Teddy’s on the Beach. It’s very nice, like an open-air resort with a private beachfront, a pool, and all manner of lounges, chairs, and hammocks spread about in shady and sunny areas. The dorm I’m staying in is like a beach bungalow, the floor is the beach sand! I’ve never stayed somewhere like this before, it is $21 USD per night which includes a full breakfast. It is beautiful and relaxing but it’s also like a little tourist bubble, separate from local daily life. There were Taylor Swift and Maroon 5 songs playing on the speakers during breakfast.

Walking towards the blue square.

One of the most unique hostel dorms I've stayed in!

The view from a lounge chair at New Teddy's on the Beach. The boat in the distance is a traditional dhow boat.

This has all occurred within the last three days but this is my eleventh day in Tanzania. The first segment of my time in Tanzania was spent doing a 4-day, 3-night camping safari to Tarangire National Park, Serengeti National Park, and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. I was in a group with five others – Nina, Martin, and Erwin from the Netherlands, and Amandine and Benjamin from France and Belgium. They had all just returned from hiking Mount Kilimanjaro. It was a great group and our guide James was excellent and very knowledgeable, having been a guide for over twenty years. Our camp cook Ibra was great too! And cooked delicious meals for us. I went into the safari with purposely low expectations of animal sightings, just being very happy and content to have the opportunity to drive around and see this beautiful area of Africa. But boy did we see so many amazing animals! It was a truly incredible experience. It felt like I was living The Lion King. I kept a list of animals we saw, I’m sure I have missed some (especially the birds of which there is a huge variety) but here is what I recorded:

• Lion
• African elephant
• Cape buffalo
• Black rhinoceros
• Hippopotamus
• Maasai giraffe
• Blue wildebeest (also called a white-bearded gnu)
• Zebra
• Warthog (Pumbaa!)
• Hyena
• Cheetah
• Serval
• Banded mongoose
• Baboon
• Vervet monkey
• Impala
• Thomson’s gazelle
• Topi
• Dik-dik
• Hartebeest
• Terrapin
• Red-headed rock agama

And the birds,

• White-headed buffalo weaver
• Superb starling
• Guinea fowl
• Grey crowned crane
• Ostrich
• Greater egret
• Von der Decken’s hornbill (a relative of Zazu!)
• Lilac-breasted roller (beautifully brilliant colors, especially while in flight)
• Maribou stork
• Secretarybird
• Blacksmith plover
• Kory bustard (the world’s heaviest flying bird)
• Great white pelican
• Vulture
• Tawny eagle
• Little bee-eater
• Rufous-tailed weaver

The first four animals in the list are part of the Big Five. The only Big Five animal we didn’t see was the leopard (Erwin thought he may have spotted one as we drove by, but when we went back to check it was no longer there). I am not able to upload all of my photos and videos now because of limited WiFi but I will add a link to them here when I can. For now here is a video I recorded which was one of my favorite moments from the whole safari, during an early morning game drive in Serengeti National Park. It was still and quiet, just after sunrise, and we were the only ones in the area. Up the road we spotted a mother lioness and her two cubs approaching us. Everyone went quiet, locking their attention on the lions, the excitement and awe was tangible, I think we were holding our breath! They walked closer and closer, going right past our jeep as we looked down at them, the mother lioness looked us right in the eye. When you are that close you can hear their breathing and paws padding on the ground as they walk, it was a hugely special moment. In addition to the beautiful animals and landscapes we also visited a Maasai village. We received a ceremonial welcome and the people of the village showed us how they make fire with acacia wood, how they construct and live in their homes, and other parts about their daily lives. This was also an amazing experience.

Since arriving in Tanzania I have been learning and practicing some Swahili phrases. Swahili is the common language spoken throughout Tanzania. For every country I visit I create a “script” of basic phrases like hello (jambo in Swahili), thank you very much (asante sana), please (tafadhali), and it is delicious (chakula kitamu)! I usually get these by watching a short YouTube video of basic phrases, then type them out in a note on my phone which I can refer back to (I love the Standard Notes app, and record A LOT of my daily thoughts/to-do list/just about everything in this, I’m typing this post right now in a Standard Notes note on my phone, then I simply click a couple buttons and post it directly to this blog webpage, it’s very efficient!). I really like the Swahili language, the way the words are spelled and spoken is very nice, and I’m usually able to work out the sounds of words based on how they are spelled. I am practicing my Swahili with the kids at the Samaritan School, who speak Swahili and are learning English. I have only spent one day there (Friday) so far but it was a very memorable day. The Samaritan School is for kids aged about three to fifteen in the town of Chamazi. We had Sports Day on Friday which included games, dancing, and soccer. The kids are amazing. They are so energetic! And happy to have us there to teach and spend time with them. They call all the volunteers “Teacha!”. It was a lot for me at first, basically becoming a human jungle gym with kids climbing all over me, pushing all the buttons on my watch, zipping and unzipping the side pocket on my pants, and when I brought out my camera well they all had to have a try taking a photo! But the smiles and joy from the kids makes it all worth it. There are about 10 other volunteers currently at the school, they are a bit younger than me, mostly in their early twenties, from different countries (like France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, US), and most have been volunteering for several weeks now. They are a great bunch, friendly, conscientious, and do a great job with the kids. My specific volunteer assignment is to help with website development and content writing, photography, and social media postings (this isn’t my forte) to help promote and support the school and organization. I signed up for a one-week stay and seeing as the school is closed for these four days, it doesn’t leave much time for me to help out! But I am looking forward to getting back to Chamazi on Tuesday evening, and spending a couple more full days there before I continue on my journey. Even though it’s a short stint, it is very meaningful and eye-opening for me, and is something I will continue to think about as I make future plans.

As I reflect on my travels so far, including this most recent time in Tanzania, I am so incredibly thankful for these experiences I am able to have. I feel that the world is giving me so much, I am receiving a huge amount of kindness and love from the world and its people and I hold this so preciously in my heart and mind. As I go through my life I want to share as much kindness and love as I can in return – for me, at my current age and with my life experiences to date, I feel this and family are the most important things and the meaning of life.