We had the great privilege of spending six days on the tropical Island of Zanzibar last week.
It was interesting to see the way of life here on this Island. I think about the way people look back home, tried and irritated, stuck in traffic in their nice cars, frustrated that it’s raining again and that they had to work ten hours instead of eight. That they go home and rather than spend time with their families, they think about work, watch TV, go online again or think about how to make another dollar tomorrow.
When I look at the faces of people on this Island, I see that they too have a look of frustration a lot of the time, but it comes from having to work 12 – 24 hour shifts in 34 degree weather with no clean water to drink, a long walk home and very little food to feed their family with. Their rooms are bare, they wear no shoes and their average monthly salary is $55 USD which is supposed to be enough for their entire families to live.
Excluding the tourists, 35% of the Island’s population is unemployed and you can see them sitting on the sides of the road waiting for something that never comes. Yet they seem to have figured something out that we haven’t. They dance or sing freely on the sides of the road, they laugh heartedly at so many things that we wouldn’t, and find joys in the simple pleasures of their surroundings.
I found that they find peace with friends and family and communicate with their bodies, their smiles and the look in their eye. Words weren’t necessary for us to make a connection with these people, just a mutual exchange of hearts on sleeves.
Aside from the beaches which were exquisite, we had three great experiences here. The first was a tour on one of their many spice farms. Zanzibar is also known as Spice Island, for having the ability to grow almost any spice you could imagine. We saw for the first time how spices like pepper, cinnamon (which I never in a million years thought came from dried tree bark), cloves, saffron and even pineapples. I had never seen a pineapple bush before.
It was interesting to see the way of life here on this Island. I think about the way people look back home, tried and irritated, stuck in traffic in their nice cars, frustrated that it’s raining again and that they had to work ten hours instead of eight. That they go home and rather than spend time with their families, they think about work, watch TV, go online again or think about how to make another dollar tomorrow.
When I look at the faces of people on this Island, I see that they too have a look of frustration a lot of the time, but it comes from having to work 12 – 24 hour shifts in 34 degree weather with no clean water to drink, a long walk home and very little food to feed their family with. Their rooms are bare, they wear no shoes and their average monthly salary is $55 USD which is supposed to be enough for their entire families to live.
Excluding the tourists, 35% of the Island’s population is unemployed and you can see them sitting on the sides of the road waiting for something that never comes. Yet they seem to have figured something out that we haven’t. They dance or sing freely on the sides of the road, they laugh heartedly at so many things that we wouldn’t, and find joys in the simple pleasures of their surroundings.
I found that they find peace with friends and family and communicate with their bodies, their smiles and the look in their eye. Words weren’t necessary for us to make a connection with these people, just a mutual exchange of hearts on sleeves.
Aside from the beaches which were exquisite, we had three great experiences here. The first was a tour on one of their many spice farms. Zanzibar is also known as Spice Island, for having the ability to grow almost any spice you could imagine. We saw for the first time how spices like pepper, cinnamon (which I never in a million years thought came from dried tree bark), cloves, saffron and even pineapples. I had never seen a pineapple bush before.
There were two guides, one explained what everything was and the other collected the spices for the other guide to show us. While the one guide was explaining, the other was making the funniest hats, ties, purses, necklaces, rings and bracelets out of banana leaves. He clothed all four of us in a matter of an hour! The best part of leaving with these things was that our car overheated on the way back to our hotel and while we were pulled over on the side of the road, had some fun with the local village kids who got a kick out of seeing banana leaf clothes. The sounds of their laughter still rings in my ears.
The second experience we had which will forever be in my mind was a tour to find some wild dolphins. We left at 5 am to be the first to find them. Low and behold, as the sun was rising we saw dolphins jumping in the distance. Now, I’m terrified of the ocean and I don’t like going in water but when our guide told us to get in the water, I didn’t miss my chance at swimming with wild dolphins. The second I fell in the water (we had snorkel gear), ten of the most beautiful creatures I have ever seen swam right below me in pairs. We followed them and for about 40 minutes, the four of us got to play with wild dolphins. It was the first time in my life I literally couldn’t remember where I was, just that I was there, looking at a friendly face looking back at me. We could hear them talking to each other and they swam slowly so that we could stay with them for a while.
Unfortunately after about 40 minutes, hoards of overly excited boatloads of tourist showed up and threw themselves into the water, swimming feverishly after the poor dolphins. I’m sure if there were only four of us standing in the forest and 30 hysterical gorillas came running after us with arms and legs swinging wildly as fast as they could, we would be very frightened. It’s sad to think this is how these dolphins spend most of their day. We were lucky to spend some time with them on our own, and we were grateful that they let us be so close to them. It was one of the most beautiful days of my life.Finally, the last great night we had was because of the Zanzibar Music Festival that happened to be on the last night we were in Stone Town. We had a great taste of local music and the show was very entertaining. My favorite part was this local guy who was supposed to be selling nuts couldn’t take working anymore, put down his tray and danced with the rest of us with eyes closed. Everyone was feeling the music that night.
As for Iain and I, we are now back in South Africa and head to Cape Town on Saturday. We’ll be there for three weeks and plan on going shark diving, bungee jumping, hang gliding and a few wine tours. I seriously don’t know what’s more scary, coming face to face with a great white shark in freezing cold waters stuck in a small cage, or free falling 213 meters towards a rock bottom surface on the world’s highest bungee jump… What do you think? Either way, please wish us luck!
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