Before I get to Zanzibar, I have to talk about dinner last night in Dar es Salaam because it was so amazing. None of us had ever had Ethiopian food before so it was quite an experience. We went to Addis in Dar and the food was AMAZING but the atmosphere was even better. It we didn't know of it already, we'd have never found it. It felt like we were sitting on someone’s back porch having dinner rather than in the middle of a bustling city. The main restaurant is on the back porch, with candles and colorful fabric umbrellas lining the porch border. We tried kategna, which is a thin, light, and crispy baked pancake, lightly dusted with spices on one side. You eat with your hands, so we all tore off small pieces of it. The main meal comes served on a huge light sourdoughy pancake, and the waiter literally just dumps your bowl onto this huge pancake you all share called injera. You eat your meal by ripping off more rolls of spongy pancake and dipping it in your meal. We met a new friend on our way you who had actually been from Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, and approved of the authentic food as well!
A storm is brewing here in Zanzibar, but tonight was still really beautiful and clear with a light breeze. We took a small propeller plane from Dar to Zanzibar, and landed on the island around 4:30 in the afternoon. The flight was only about 20 minutes! By the time we checked into the hotel, we were all starving, so we headed to a restaurant called The Rock, which Claire recommended to us! The restaurant is literally on a rock in the ocean, and in order to get there you have to take a small wooden boat. The water here is a beautiful shade of blue and the sand is white and really soft. You can see so many stars and Venus! Being from Charleston, I’m loving the sea smell and breeze reminding me of home! I wasn't able to get good pictures because it was dark by the time we got to the restaurant, but I'll attach the picture from the restaurant homepage. It really does look like this!!
As today begins Ramadan in a primarily Muslim country, you can definitely feel a change in atmosphere. Men especially seem to dress more traditionally, a lot of prayer and religious music is on the radio, and when we asked our taxi driver how he was doing today, he laughed and simply replied “hungry.” Work hours are also shortened because of the toll of fasting, so tomorrow we plan to relax on the beach in the morning, hike part of the Jozani forest in the early afternoon before it closes, and head to Stone Town for a quick visit in time to catch our 9PM flight back to Dar. It’s a shame we only get to spend on night on the island, but we still have lots to do in Kisarawe!
Cheers from TZ,
~Irene
