UGH! So much for me trying to play catch-up on my something new posts… I’m currently sitting at 3, almost 4 weeks behind 🙈 Bear with me, please… I’ll get there!
So, before I begin I have to disclaim that Zanzibar is not the topic of my something new for week of 8 – 14 July because I did this last year 🙂
The actual topic of the something new is the stuff that I got up to on the holiday, as well as the hotel stayed in.
New stuff:
– We stayed at the Double Tree Hilton, Nungwi
– We visited the turtle sanctuary in Nungwi, and fed turtles
– We went on a spice tour while out on our Stone Town tour (walked around Stone Town last year but didn’t do an actual ‘tour’)
– We had lunch with our tour guide, at his mom’s house, eating food that his sister had cooked!
On this holiday, we booked an all-inclusive package at the hotel which meant that all meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks), as well as all drinks (alcoholic and non) were included all day, every day. So this meant that we didn’t spend a lot of time out of the hotel trying out other restaurants etc.
We did have a cocktail on the beach one afternoon, and of course the day in Stone Town involved lunch at our guides’ mom’s house… but other than that it was all at the hotel.
And I have zero complaints about it!
The food was always really well-prepared; the buffets for breakfast, lunch and dinner changed all the time (theme nights for dinner everyday!); the a la carte options were enough to give variety; and the beers were always cold!
View from my hotel room
A local making ‘zanzi’ hats for the kids
Waves crashing up on the hotel wall
Picturesque water outside the hotel
Sunset at the hotel
Looking back at the hotel from the sea – very low tide!
When we visited the turtle sanctuary, we met Azizi – our soon-to-be tour guide 🙂
He works at the turtle sanctuary where they catch turtles that are injured, sick etc., as well as hatchlings that won’t be able to fare for themselves. They then care for these guys in various stages, and once they’re sure they’re safe to be returned to the sea, they have annual ‘release days’ where everyone can join in.
Turtle sanctuary
Feeding time!
Tiny babies
Turtle hospital
A couple of days later we were picked up from the hotel and taken through to Prison Island for a quick tour, and then Azizi took us on a tour of Stone Town, followed by lunch at his mom’s house. It was an experience that I would highly recommend to anyone travelling there – the locals are all supremely friendly and want to share their stories with you.
After that we went off to the spice tour. This was super interesting, getting a chance to smell some things in their purest form – for example cinnamon. The tree that it comes from has 2 very distinct smells to it: 1) the roots smell like vicks and 2) the bark smells like cinnamon.
Prison island
Prison island
Tortoises on Prison island
Streets of Stone Town
Slaveyard
Markets in Stone Town
Lunch at Azizi’s house!
The rest of the holiday was exactly what Zanzibar is so good at offering – total chill and relaxation, perfectly blue waters, and lots of fun and laughter with family and friends 🙂 ❤
Here are a bunch more random pics that were taken on the holiday – enjoy 🙂
Beautiful sunsets
MAGNIFICENT!
Look at those colours!
Bliss!
Waves crashing up against the hotel wall
Cows on the beach
Dolphins spotted
