My Second African Home

So far, I have had the pleasure of visiting the following African countries: Gambia (where I lived for 2 years), Morocco, and Zanzibar. I can proudly say Zanzibar is my second home in Africa. The Island of ‘Hakuna Matata’. A place where I felt like I was back home all over again, but with a variety of different flavours and richness.

I have a few friends with me in England who are from Zanzibar with families back in the motherland. So this journey was pending and inevitable. Moe was the closest and the main man to experience this adventure with. I was counting down the days when I would get that phone call from Moe saying: It’s time.

Moe and his family bought a car from the UK and shipped it over to Zanzibar ahead of us visiting. This car was the key to our incredible journey. We booked our flight. I was going to stay for just over 2 weeks and Moe for a Month.

We planned our journey very effectively and efficiently. These included: beaches, the wedding of his cousin (whom I also know very well and spent some time living together a few years back), activities, full moon party, historical adventures, hanging out with locals, exploring key development areas, and more.

On our flight to Zanzibar, there was an obvious and yet interesting observation I made – it was my first flight to Africa, where there were more white people on board than black people. Truth be told, this gave me a sense of significance in terms of the nature of tourism in Zanzibar – which means basically Zanzibar is popping and a place to be.

We landed and hit the ground from the get-go. The image below will tell you that the two of us conquered the entire Island of Zanzibar in 14 days.

I had so many highlights, but two that stood out were: Spending a traditional evening with Moe’s family and renting quad bikes to visit a few villages. The former gave me a proper introduction to the Zanzibarian culture. Food was refreshing and impeccable, and Moe’s mom’s “Katlesi” is undefeated (I kept asking for more regularly). Great music (of course, when in Africa, you must expect to see the hand drummers and their traditional instruments), and interacting with a long chain of various family members from all over the world – a memorable experience.

The latter (quad bike adventure) saw us branching into a journey of the unknown and known. We rode through endless beautiful scenery and stopped at 4-5 different villages. Every village was filled with a great sense of community and challenges. Equally, they were also filled with humility, respect, and gratitude. It was a 3-hour adventure, and an incredible and invaluable experience.

We also did a lot of sea and water adventures, stopping by one of the most incredible beaches and seas you’ve ever seen. Well… I am still yet to learn how to swim, so I sat back on the boat and captured the moment with my camera, some have to, right?