September 12, 2005
Michelle and I are up, not wanting to miss the shuttle to Nungwe. We’re told by the guest house staff that someone will come for us. And they do. We follow them back through the narrow streets to the main road, where we climb into the van. The trip to Nungwe, we’re told, will take about two hours. A dalla dalla could take us as well, but they stop frequently and the travel is lengthened. By hiring this van for 3,000 Tanzanian shillings (approximately $3 USD), we’ll be taken to the village itself to look at lodging options. If we decide we don’t want to stay in the village, the van will then take us about 5 km futher north to a resort called Kendwa Rocks.
The road leading from Stone Town is paved but soon turns to dirt. We travel on the dirt for quite awhile and then turn off into scrub bush, eventually entering a village with mud houses on the perimeter. We pass through the center of the village and exit on the other side where we see, as if by magic, brick and steel buildings, even shops with glass doors and signs that say “Yes, We’re Open” in the windows. What a contrast to the red mud huts just behind us. The beach is about 500 paces away.
Michelle and I check out the rooms but the lowest rate is $15 per night and that’s way more than we had budgeted for. We hop back into the van, the only remaining passengers, and take a very bumpy ride through what seems like nowhere until we pull up to a gate. When the doors are swung open by the guard inside, we see the little “resort.” The office building is tiny. We speak to a large woman through a tiny window and she hands several keys to a guy, instructing him to show us the dorm and the bandas. We pass the bath house, which has four combination shower/toilet rooms. They’re unisex. The sink area is out in the open with one mirror and one deep sink for all resort guests. The dorm room is large and priced at $10 per night. At least 15 people can fit into the room. The banda is a small room with a deep, thatched roof and a small porch with two chairs and a table. Two beds with nets make up the furnishings. This is $12 per night, a little more than we had expected, but it’s better than being in the dorm when we don’t know how many other folks will be there (the dorm is also unisex).
Other bandas and little cottages sit on tiers leading down to the sand and beach. A restaurant made of wood and thatch serves Kendwa Rocks guests. We’ll eat our free breakfast there each morning.
Michelle goes down to lie out in the sun. I pull out my money and count. I take away the $24 for the banda for two nights. I set aside 10,000 shillings for a room back at Annex Malindi in Stone Town. I then remove 5,000 shillings for the return van trip to Stone Town. That leaves me 5,000 shillings for the next three days. I have about a pint of water and determine to make it last. Water must be bought in bottles, not taken from taps, so I set aside 450 shillings for buying water in Stone Town. With approximately 4,500 shillings ($4.50) for food, I’m grateful breakfasts are free. That only leaves lunch and dinner to buy. I rest for awhile then walk down to the beach.
Most of Zanzibar is untouched by development. Local ladies patrol the beach, wrapped from head to toe in their kangas (rectangular pieces of cloth printed in colorful patterns. One piece wraps the top part of the body and the other wraps around the waist as a skirt cover), asking female guests if they’d like a massage or henna paintings. Local men also walk up and down the beach, visiting the three resorts in this area, offering to take people on dhow rides to Nungwe village or on fishing trips. Guys also walk by selling everything from toasted cashews to neckties. I play in the water and walk as far as possible both ways. Soon they’ll be serving dinner so we head to the banda for a shower.
Because the bath area is unisex, I again take my swimsuit with me to the shower, using shampoo as soap, and walk back to the room wearing my bathing suit with shorts. At the restaurant, a blackboard announces entrees. The food sounds wonderful. Red snapper with garlic sauce and Flounder with white wine sauce and rice. But each dish costs 6,000 shillings. That’s only about $6 USD, but I only have 5,000 shillings for the next three days. The cheapest item on the menu is soup at 1,500, so I order the soup, crème spinach, served with chappati, flat bread adopted by Africans from Indians. I am heartened to see chappati served with the soup because it is filling.
However, when our dishes arrive, the soup bowl is filled only a little more than halfway and next to the bowl sits two small triangles of chappati. Normally, when chappati is served in Kenya, we get the entire round chappati, which is about the size of a Mexican tortilla. Two tiny triangles!! My appetite hasn’t really returned since being sick so the soup is plenty and enables me to take another dose of antibiotic.
The road leading from Stone Town is paved but soon turns to dirt. We travel on the dirt for quite awhile and then turn off into scrub bush, eventually entering a village with mud houses on the perimeter. We pass through the center of the village and exit on the other side where we see, as if by magic, brick and steel buildings, even shops with glass doors and signs that say “Yes, We’re Open” in the windows. What a contrast to the red mud huts just behind us. The beach is about 500 paces away.
Michelle and I check out the rooms but the lowest rate is $15 per night and that’s way more than we had budgeted for. We hop back into the van, the only remaining passengers, and take a very bumpy ride through what seems like nowhere until we pull up to a gate. When the doors are swung open by the guard inside, we see the little “resort.” The office building is tiny. We speak to a large woman through a tiny window and she hands several keys to a guy, instructing him to show us the dorm and the bandas. We pass the bath house, which has four combination shower/toilet rooms. They’re unisex. The sink area is out in the open with one mirror and one deep sink for all resort guests. The dorm room is large and priced at $10 per night. At least 15 people can fit into the room. The banda is a small room with a deep, thatched roof and a small porch with two chairs and a table. Two beds with nets make up the furnishings. This is $12 per night, a little more than we had expected, but it’s better than being in the dorm when we don’t know how many other folks will be there (the dorm is also unisex).
Other bandas and little cottages sit on tiers leading down to the sand and beach. A restaurant made of wood and thatch serves Kendwa Rocks guests. We’ll eat our free breakfast there each morning.
Michelle goes down to lie out in the sun. I pull out my money and count. I take away the $24 for the banda for two nights. I set aside 10,000 shillings for a room back at Annex Malindi in Stone Town. I then remove 5,000 shillings for the return van trip to Stone Town. That leaves me 5,000 shillings for the next three days. I have about a pint of water and determine to make it last. Water must be bought in bottles, not taken from taps, so I set aside 450 shillings for buying water in Stone Town. With approximately 4,500 shillings ($4.50) for food, I’m grateful breakfasts are free. That only leaves lunch and dinner to buy. I rest for awhile then walk down to the beach.
Most of Zanzibar is untouched by development. Local ladies patrol the beach, wrapped from head to toe in their kangas (rectangular pieces of cloth printed in colorful patterns. One piece wraps the top part of the body and the other wraps around the waist as a skirt cover), asking female guests if they’d like a massage or henna paintings. Local men also walk up and down the beach, visiting the three resorts in this area, offering to take people on dhow rides to Nungwe village or on fishing trips. Guys also walk by selling everything from toasted cashews to neckties. I play in the water and walk as far as possible both ways. Soon they’ll be serving dinner so we head to the banda for a shower.
Because the bath area is unisex, I again take my swimsuit with me to the shower, using shampoo as soap, and walk back to the room wearing my bathing suit with shorts. At the restaurant, a blackboard announces entrees. The food sounds wonderful. Red snapper with garlic sauce and Flounder with white wine sauce and rice. But each dish costs 6,000 shillings. That’s only about $6 USD, but I only have 5,000 shillings for the next three days. The cheapest item on the menu is soup at 1,500, so I order the soup, crème spinach, served with chappati, flat bread adopted by Africans from Indians. I am heartened to see chappati served with the soup because it is filling.
However, when our dishes arrive, the soup bowl is filled only a little more than halfway and next to the bowl sits two small triangles of chappati. Normally, when chappati is served in Kenya, we get the entire round chappati, which is about the size of a Mexican tortilla. Two tiny triangles!! My appetite hasn’t really returned since being sick so the soup is plenty and enables me to take another dose of antibiotic.
posted by Cindi at 4:22 PM
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