"Welcome to Paradise"

Those were Mwangi's words as we stepped off the ferry from Dar and onto Zanzibar, birthplace of Freddie Mercury. And how appropriate those words were.

We were on the island from Friday to Tuesday, and despite all the predictions of thunderstorms it stayed bright, sunny and hot the whole time we were there (aside from a brief torrential shower that only lasted about an hour on the Saturday morning, but which managed to flood the streets of Stone Town in that time).

Stone Town's really picturesque, with big colonial buildings, cute art boutiques and lots of pedestrianised water front space that looks out over the turqouise blue sea. In the evenings, just after dark, there's an amazing food market - smaller than the one in Marrakech but with a similar hustling, bustling atmosphere. I can thoroughly recommend Zanzibar pizza - it's delicious!

Easily the highlight of my time in Paradise was having Tony come to visit for a long weekend. I met him at the airport on Saturday and we were then transferred to the resort at Matemwe Beach on the east coast of the island. For the next 3 days, we lounged around in hammocks or on sun beds under cabanas on the beach, looking out over the powdery white sand, the coconut palms, dhows and lagoon (which at low tide never seemed to get deeper than your knees). In the afternoons we'd mix it up a little by heading to the poolside bar for some lunch, cold drinks and a refreshing dip (the pool being marginally cooler and more refreshing than the sea, which was basically bath temperature!).

It was lovely just hanging out and catching up on what's been happening over the past month - and swapping stories from our respective African adventures. He patiently trawled through my "best of" photo selection as well (I didn't think it was fair to make him view the full 2000+ shots I've taken so far!) - I'll have to post a few on here when I get a decent internet connection... which may be back in NZ in a month's time.

At the time it seemed almost surreal - the air conditioned room, which was turned down by staff who would leave a traditional bedtime story on the bed each evening while we were at dinner, was/is a world away from 14 hour trips in a truck with 30+ other people, nights in tents and early morning wake up calls... but more on that later!