And, nowhere else can that be truer than travelling.
A place can be just heaving with tourists during the high season, yet be strangely and wonderfully peaceful just a month later.
So it was with Nungwe – the main backpacker resort on the northern tip of the island. In general, it acts as a magnet for most travellers, and is supposed to have beachside bars, loud music, and all the other key ingredients for a good party spot.
Wonderful – unless you're seeking to just chill out.
But, seeing as it was the low season, I decided to give Nungwe a shot, and then move on to the east coast if it was too rambunctious.
It turned out to be a great choice – I rolled into 'town' at 11, and met up with Pam and Kevan from the Spice Tour. Being so quiet, after a bit of negotiation, we ended up getting bandas (small cottages) on the beach for $20 a night, and we were good to go.
Some enterprising locals got us onto a dolphin/snorkelling trip and fortune smiled on us again – as we spotted a small pod of dolphins and immediately jumped in the water. We only got to snorkel with them for about 30 seconds, but it was still amazing – seeing them in their element at about 10 feet, including a mom and her baby!
They checked us out – drawn perhaps by my high pitched calls... I didn't have a lot of time to think about it, so I ended up trying to mimic Beaker from the Muppet Show. Sad, I know.
Rest of the day was spent chilling out by Cholo's bar, throwing the frisbee with Kevan, and devouring a massive burger at Paradise Hotel which quickly grew to be our favourite spot. Add in some card games and reading, and we had a recipe for spending a few days.
The next two days were pretty similar in fact. We took a day long snorkelling trip on a dhow that included a fish BBQ on the beach, then sailed back around four. Add in the requisite admiring of the sunsets, more card games and more beers, and that was a pretty great trip.
I headed back to Stonestown on the 21st and found an even better hotel – called Hotel Zenji. It was perfect, with free wi-fi, immaculate rooms, and welcoming staff for $30 a night. Unbelievable. It was one of those places in fact that would be perfect for romantic getaways – which, uh, I was unable to capitalize on. ;)
My last day on the island was spent, well, shopping – I had never really wanted to carry a bunch of stuff around Africa, so was holding off until the last day.
Bracing myself, I wandered into the twisting alleyways, and just went for it. There's a surprising number of really kitsch shops, all selling the same variants of stuff, but with a bit of concentration, you can find some good buys. I ended up with another mask for my wall, plus a few other odds and bobs – negotiation is fun, but I tend to lose patience when we get to the last dollar or two, figuring 'ah, what the heck – it means a lot more to them'.
Man, I wasn't kidding - they LOVE Obama. This is painted under a special Kenyan tree - and was the center of the party after the election results came out.
Dinner was meeting up with Jessica for drinks at the Africa House again (including a really strong African gin/campari cocktail), then more Zanzibar pizzas. This night, the market was much less crowded and we had some good smiles with the same cooks as we tried our pidgin Swahili... just a great night and a good last memory of the island.
The next day was an early ferry to Dar Es Salaam, and then a flight to Delhi via Qatar... as a sort of going away memory, my cheeky taxi driver had the nerve to try to renegotiate the rate halfway to the airport. Uh, no.
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