Ah, the port at Zanzibar, what a beehive of activity. The tender dock is right next to the ferry terminal which seems to be always loading or loading masses of people and commercial goods. So let’s just say, busy, busy, busy, which mean lots of traffic in and around the port but more on that later.
Zanzibar is part of an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, 25 to 50 kilometres off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many islands and two larger ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar) and Pemba Island. The capital is Zanzibar City and has a historic centre, Stone Town, which is a World Heritage Site. Zanzibar’s main industries are spices, raffia and tourism. In particular, the islands produce cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and black pepper. This Island is sometimes referred to as the “Spice Islands”. The other main attraction on this island is the Jozani Forest Reserve which is located about 40 kilometres from the Stone Town (port location). The nature preserve is home to the rare Colobus monkey. This was the focus of our first day here in Zanzibar.
Just a side note, our visit here to Zanzibar is our official port on the continuance of the 2020 World Cruise, we pick up where we left off after leaving the Amsterdam back in March of 2020. It’s taking us two years to get here but here we go and we not only very excited to be here but moreover feel very fortunate to be able to continue this amazing journey.
Jozani National Park is the first and only National Park in Zanzibar. The reserve encompasses much of the island’s mature forest. With mangroves and saltmarshes to the north of the park, this area is an extremely rich mosaic of Zanzibar’s diverse natural habitats - a haven for wildlife including rare, endemic and endangered species. It is here that we find the rare, red colobus monkey, where it is noted that there are fewer than 2,000 remaining in the world.
Our HAL sponsored tour took us into this wonderful forest reserve today. The drive, a bit bumpy, okay a lot bumpy which took us from this busy port area, through Stone Town, to the New town and then to the rural areas before entering the Reserve. It was nice walking through the shaded forest and seeing these cheeky, interesting monkeys. We were fortunate to see many including a Male and Female in tight embrace as she was feeding her infant, how cute is that. I’m only hoping that my pictures can show this as there embrace was high up in the trees amongst the many branches. After viewing the main area of where the monkeys were we continued on the nature walk where our guide pointed out the many trees and plants in this reserve, including a eucalyptus tree. After this walk it was a short drive to the mangrove. They have done an excellent job with putting a boardwalk amongst this mangrove swamp. We were there during a low tide and it would have been also very interesting during a high tide.
We did get a late start, due to some immigration issues to get the ship’s clearance, so we started about an hour or so later than our time indicated. This delay caused us to get back to the port at 3:00 pm rather than the scheduled 1:00 pm. In this heat and with our hunger pangs the simplicity of getting back to ship for lunch was the call of the moment. We thought about heading back out to explore the Stone Town area but decided not to just relax on board before dinner and then a very fun event they had on board, a camp fire night up on the Lido. So with a couple of campfire settings, a canoe in the pool and the Ocean Bar band playing it was a wonderful night listening to some nice music and having a dance or two before calling it a night at about 11:00. I’ve got to say that Florin, our Hotel Director, is doing a most excellent job in making this Grand Voyage the best that it can be. He and the Stage production manager sat and rowed in the canoe for over an hour, perhaps even an hour and a half before they went for a dunk in the pool. A great effort for this event by the entire entertainment staff here on board.
Was it worth going back into the city, the real answer is yes. The famous Freddy Mercury was born here and his childhood home here in Zanzibar is now a museum. In addition to Stone Town (an area of narrow walking streets with many shops to narrow for car traffic) is a ocean side park that changes from a park setting to a night market every night from 6-9 pm. So lots to see and do here in Zanzibar.
Some pics of our day, hope you enjoy…
Quote of the day, “Never let your memories be greater than your dreams.” - Douglas Ivester
A nice warm welcome.
A bit of traffic.
Our guide , Sabra.
They look so cute M&S
ReplyDelete