Zanzibar: Living the (expat) life

Hello everybody!

Ready for some more tales from Zanzibar? I thought so, so here goes:

My second month on the island started with the tragic ferry accident that killed hundreds of, mainly, women and children (you can read more about this on my earlier post if you've not already seen it). For the three days of official mourning, the place was very subdued, but it quickly turned back to normal after that. Yes, stories continued to emerge (some heart-warming ones, like the four-month old baby found floating on its back, wearing just a nappy, but blissfully unaware of what had happened) and it is still a topic of conversation, but I think the expats and mzungu talk about it more than the locals. Thankfully, the loading of the ferries does seem to take place in a slightly more orderly fashion, at least for the time being.

The start of my second month also brought with it my first bout of Delhi Belly. Mark, the manager, assures me it has nothing to do with the food I ate at Tatu. Oh no. Definitely not. Whatever it was, it lasted for about a week so I had a bit of time out of the water - a wet suit and an upset stomach is not the best combination in the world. It seems, though, that I can out-drink bacteria and after a week, there was a party one evening and I think I must have killed whatever it was with alcohol, as the day after everything was back in working order.

September sees the start of the summer months and there has been a noticeable increase of temperature (it's thirty to forty degrees most days). There has also been an increase in the number of red faces around town (not least my own), but I've managed to avoid getting badly burnt so far. September also heralds the start of a mini-rainy season but, just like the people, the weather is very accommodating and the main rainfall takes place early in the morning before I need to set off and I haven't been caught in it yet. That said, there was one day of absolutely torrential rain; the kind of rain that you see in the tropics, but usually only lasts for 30 minutes, whereas here it just kept coming and coming. The playing fields near the hospital were completely flooded and the potholes in the roads (which were packed level with dust and stones) were given a bit of a blasting so driving around has been a bit more bumpy. 

Talking of getting around, the more I travel on the dala-dalas, the more I think they are a great form of transport. Of course, they can be dirty and overcrowded, and I know their safety record is not spotless (especially if you are clinging on to the side of the bus, gripping the footplate with your toes!), but they are incredibly efficient and epitomise the community approach to life in Zanzibar. For example, if a mother boards with a baby, the baby is passed along to somebody (anybody) else, including me, to hold to make life easier for them. Similarly, small children automatically give up their seat and sit on the floor or wheel arch when adults board. If there are just a couple of people going to a particular place, the dala-dala pulls alongside another, checks if that is going that way, and you just swap vehicles. And it is all for about 12p a trip for any distance within Zanzibar Town - even trips to the other side of the island (about 30/40 miles away) only cost about 60p. I can't really see them catching on back in the UK, where most people I know prefer to avoid public transport if they can, but here everybody uses them from businessmen to labourers, school kids to old ladies and, as the world's resources continue to diminish, they may just be a workable solution to the transport problems.  

Life in Stone Town

Away from the roads, there are other day-to-day challenges that you need to overcome. The ATM networks do not always work, so you need to make sure that you have a sufficient supply of hard cash. The power cuts are frequent (i.e. almost every day), sometimes planned, sometimes not, but they usually only last for one or two hours. It is not too bad to work around, and everybody copes, although after five days of cold showers I was ready for a bit of predictable electricity. These are, though, small problems and quite easy to put up with - or at least they have been for me, but I know I have only been here for a couple of months and some of those who are here for longer may understandably get more frustrated (like when the power cut lasted for three months last year, during the hottest months of the year!).

The main market in town is called Darajani. It is a melting pot of colours and noise (and smells!) and it is generally well stocked (with local produce) and very cheap, especially if you try a bit of Swahili when ordering. In the shops that fill the sprawling bazaar behind the main food stalls, where you can pick up fruit and veg or meat and fish, you can find most of the things that you need to live here as long as you know where to look. I've even found a pie shop! I must admit, I haven't tried them yet, but I'm sure they won't be as good as those from Little Bird Catering (sorry - that was a blatant plug for my friend Robyn, who has started a catering business around Manchester).

I have been working on learning Swahili and am slowly getting a bit better. Other than the usual please and thank you, and learning how to ask for things, the main phrases I know seem to relate to greeting people, which may not sound much, but it is an important aspect of life here and greetings can go on for quite a while! I think it is going to take a little longer before I get to grips with the nouns and I’m sure my syntax is incorrect more often than not, but the locals I know appreciate the effort and are happy to help you learn more. 

In the evenings, I meet up with friends and usually go out for dinner and a few drinks in one of the many restaurants, talking about everything and nothing. It’s a simple pleasure, but it has made the whole experience of being here so much better. I think my favourite evenings are those spent at people's houses with some food, wine and beer and just sitting around chatting or listening to music. I've even found another keen Bob Dylan fan, and I'm working on converting a few more!

There have been some big nights out too, in the bars listening to the DJ or live bands, or just quiet nights which then turn into much livelier affairs as everybody drinks the night away. For the more sedate evenings, you can sit under the stars (and even catch sight of a shooting star or two if you’re lucky) or in one of the top floor bars, where there is usually a cool breeze blowing in from the ocean.

There was even a fashion show held in the ruins at Mbweni. It wasn't quite Milan or Paris, but the free wine made for a great evening and the clothes were a combination of western styles and Zanzibari colours. The after show party was also a lot of fun - although some of the dancing was a little bit, erm…, unusual (and I am not just talking about my silky dance floor moves!). There are exceptions to the cheesy dancing - one guy is a walking Michael Jackson tribute act and his reputation is such that when he walks into a club, the DJs often put Michael Jackson on for him so he can show off his moves. 

One thing that leaves a bit of a nasty taste about the bars is that any black girl in the bar is automatically assumed to be a prostitute, no matter how they dress or who they are with, and I have friends who have been propositioned. I know there is a different culture here, and of course there are prostitutes around whereas most local women do not go to the bars to drink, but it is so casually demeaning. Men really do have it so much easier here. Perhaps the worse thing is that there is, in part, a resigned acceptance that this is a how black girl will be viewed and treated if they do want to go out for a drink with friends.

As I continue on this voyage of discovering new things, I am also trying out a few new experiences and I’ve got to admit that yoga is deceptively difficult. I’m sure that more women practice it than men because it prepares them for the pain of childbirth (although I'm not sure that standing on your head will be especially useful in those circumstances!). I am slowly getting the hang of it but, being male, I did, of course, try to run before I could walk. I’m sure the rest of the class were just laughing with me as I had the unedifying experience of getting stuck in a headstand, unable to get down! At least it was reassuring to find that, at two o’clock in the morning after god knows how many sambucas in Tatu, even the yoga teacher cannot stand on one leg! New experiences are all well and good, but I did draw the line at Laura's zumba class to try and keep at least some of my masculinity. Maybe by the time I get to Buenos Aries or Rio I will be ready......

Away from Stone Town

I have only just started exploring other places on the island and I will tell you all about it next time. During September, I mainly spent any spare time in Stone Town itself or in one of the suburbs of Zanzibar Town. The place I tend to go to the most is Mbweni, which is where a lot of my friends live and there is a bar that has a jetty out through the mangroves into the ocean. It is a great place to relax and go for a swim or have a beer or two (usually both!). As an added bonus, it is west facing, so you get to see beautiful sunsets at about 6.30 each evening. I hope that when the tourism industry fully realises what a wonderful place this is, then it doesn’t spoil it too much and bars like this continue to survive.

Another place we go to is Mtoni Marine, about 10 minutes north of Stone Town by car, near the town of Bububu (named after the noise the trains used to make as they pulled into the station which used to be there). There is a sports bar at Mtoni and we have been up to watch a couple of football games (including watching United beat Chelsea with a couple of their fans, which was nice!) and the rugby world cup. It’s a good place and there is a great atmosphere there (especially for the big football games), but it is also one of the places that usually has a working generator, so after trying to find a place closer to town, it sometimes is the only option.

In the Octopus’s Garden

It is low season here now, so the dive boat does not go out everyday and when it does, it is usually a bit quieter than in August although, to be honest, I think I prefer going out with smaller groups of divers. I'm still getting out most days though and have now passed the 100-dive mark. As for the course, I have pretty much finished all the theory work and just need to sit a couple of exams (I really thought my exam days were behind me) and complete a couple of skill demonstrations and stamina tests, which should all be done in the next couple of weeks. 

I'm afraid that I don't have any more underwater shots for you. The charger for my camera was lost/stolen in the dive shop, so while I have been in the water, there are no new photos. I have managed to get hold of a Zanzibari-style battery charger now though, so I will take some more in the final month here (as long as it continues to work!).


I think the worst thing about the diving life is that I am getting a white sock mark in my tan where my dive boots cover my feet in the boat - but at least everybody can tell I'm English without asking!


Ok, I think that's all for now. Talk to you soon.


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