We checked out of Sea Cliff Hotel this morning, but it was someone else and not Vumbi came to pick us up on the way to the jetty. Kojo chose a safari fam trip, while I was on the Zanzibar team with Max. We did a round to pick up some people from their hotels, like Petro, Bhavani and Tanya, before heading to the jetty.
At the jetty, we met a couple of others who were staying farther from our pick up route. So we were close to twenty on the two-hour ferry journey from Dar to Zanzibar.
Once we arrived in Stone Town, we were taken to our respective hotels. Maascha and I were taken to Ngalawa Resort & Hotel in an area called Bububu.
About two ours later, our escort from Palm Tours, Khamis came to get us for a walking tour of Stone Town. We were driven down to the Golden Tulip Hotel, Malindi, where we picked up Mark and Sandra to complete the team before starting the tour.
There was much to see and learn about, but it wasn’t an ideal situation for me. The scheduling was rushed to absorb the information about Princess Salma and the Zanzibar-Omani dynasty. I also missed taking pictures at the Freddie Mercury’s house because I thought we would come around again.
After the tour which ended towards 19:00hrs, Maascha and I didn’t have time to return to Bububu to freshen up because the evening rendezvous at the Emerson Spice Secret Garden restaurant, a dinner date with the Zanzibar Commission for Tourism (ZCT), was scheduled to commence at 19:00hrs.
Luckily for Mark and Sandra, the take-off point was Malindi and they could dash into their rooms at Golden Tulip for a quick touch up. While we waited for them, I saw the setting sun and asked Khamis to get me to the shore to try and get some shots before it disappears from the sky.
We arrived in good time and were welcomed to the Secret Garden with fruit juice. Some of the other teams were there before us. It was a good networking evening and we made a few new friends. There were a few speeches, light music and enough food and drinks. I could have enjoyed it more, I really could have but I was tired.
On our way back to Bububu, I learnt we were leaving Stone Town entirely for another part of Zanzibar. I had seen the itinerary, but I never realised we were being moved out of Stone Town. I asked Khamis if we could stop by Forodhani Gardens to witness the night market, even though I was tired, as we got into the bus at Golden Tulip.
Understandably, he couldn’t make the call. It wasn’t in his brief, besides Bububu was like the outskirt of Stone Town and he had to get home too after dropping us off at Ngalawa Resort and Hotel.
