Of things Zanzibarian

I had my first encounter with a Zanzibarian bug. An ugly mother of a cockroach crawled from the side pocket of my backback when I returned from the beach this afternoon. Caring geographer that I am, I set it free again in the Zanzabarian wild outside our bungalow. I also discovered what appears to be my first Zanzibarian mosquito bite. But it is so difficult to care about anything here in Zanzibarian heaven. Malaria sounds more like an exotic coctail than a deadly disease. Now that I think about it, I had so much Kilimanjaro (Zanzibarian beer) running through my veins last night (not my fault if it's only available in 500ml bottles) that the poor sucker of a mosquito probably didn't know what hit him when he chowed this chica!

We're staying at the Sunset resort on Kendwa beach situated on the island's north coast. It's what picture postcards are made of except that no postcard, no words and - dare I say it - no photograph (a most painful truth to admit!) - could do this place justice.
Nonetheless, allow me a feeble attempt at painting you a picture - but a mere glimpse of one of many exquisite moments.

I'm putting pen to paper whilst lying in a hammock on the beach outside our resort's local grass hut bar where Bob Marley is jamming in the name of the Lord. If I stretch my neck I can watch a dhow sailing past on the turquoise Indian which, should I decide to go cool down, would in fact give me the best of lukewarm greetings. As Francis in Under the Tuscan sun wrote: "Clichés collide on every corner." The Zanzabarian rastaman who tries to sell us MJ. The brightly coloured head-dressed Muslim women with henna-decorated hands collecting shells at low tide. The old fishermen bringing in their latest catch from almost primitive fishing boats. I love these breathtakingly beautiful clichés.

Less attractive, and in stark contrast to the simplistic African island life, is the scarcely clad (mostly rich Italian) tourists tanned to a leathery crisp, flashing their dollars for which the locals vehemently compete, be it by selling snorkeling trips, sunglasses or photo opportunities. Luckily (debatable perhaps?) there is no topless tanning, but as Engela so keenly observed this morning: "Speedos are big here". Wink wink. Nudge nudge.

And ofcourse it's lekke hot here bruthas and sistas! The moment you step off the plane that heavy humidity synonymous with tropical climates enfolds you in its sticky grip. But for the most part it's been partly cloudly which is, believe you me, really a blessing in disguise. Still, a 20 minute mid-morning walk to the neighbouring town of Nungwi left me with a tad of a tan. Or at least, what would qualify as a tan in the world of Anita. Regardless, I still remain the whitest person in Zanzibar. (But, might I add, when I look at some of the wrinkly hides on this beach, I'm tempted to say I'm proudly pale!)

Our first day was spent exploring our new surf and turf, lazily alternating swimming in the calm sea with lazing about on a beach chair in the sun (Engela) / hammock in the shade (Anita) . It was indeed also during one of our leisurely wallows that we encountered a strange first introduction to one of the locals here at Kendwa. Diving instructor Dan from Malawi scared the living daylights out of me when he suddenly surfaced from a diving exercise right next to where I was drifting on my back, completely lost in thought.

Another friendly dude who puts a smile on my face is Dude.
Dude - yes, in fact his real name - is the local guide that picked us up from the airport and is in charge of taking care of us here on the island. Dude - true to his name - is the smooth operator who's organising the dolphin and Jozani forest excursions we've planned for tomorrow. Dude knows all the locals and speaks fluent English and French. Dude is indeed a cool dude.

But wait, it's time to conclude this beautiful day with a sunset, a seafood meal and a Kili. I think I've left you with enough reasons to be insanely jealous, yes?
And thus - for now - my work here is done.

And to rub salt in those wounds, view some more photos of the Sunset resort and the beautiful Kendwa beach.