Giving the car back, for now…
We enjoyed so much the road trip in Zanzibar the last five days. Driving around the island time flew by. All of a sudden it was time to return the rental car in Stone Town and explore the main town of the island. With the 10L of petrol that we had, it was just enough to get to the rental car office. Driving around the island had been quite relaxing, despite the bumpy roads at times, with almost no traffic. But as soon as we were approaching Stone town, more and more cars where on our way.
We managed to park somewhere near our Airbnb to drop off our bags quickly, and got back to the car. We just had to drive straight on the same street and we would arrive to the office. The only problem was that Google maps thought this was a two-way street, and we realized half way that it was a one way only. Oopss! Someone saw us trying to drive through in the opposite direction and advised us to park in that small street. We phoned the rental company, but no one picked up. Se we went there and explained where the car was and handed the keys. That seemed to be enough for them! No one even checked the car at all!
Enjoying the busy capital Stone Town
It was almost six, so we run to a terrace by the beach to enjoy the sunset. Here we met a really nice couple from New Zealand and UK and what started as a drink watching the sunset ended up in a long night! The next day we did together a trip to Prision island, and we managed to go with a dhow, a traditional sailing boat instead of in one of the touristic motorised boats. It took a while, but we got what we wanted! We visited the small island inhabited only by tortoises, from babies to adults. The oldest one was 194 years old!
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- Tortoise in Prision island
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- Traditional sailing boat
Later that day, we enjoyed one of the best dinners in Zanzibar at the restaurant Zafarini, quite fancy food for under 15 dolars per person!
The next days we walked around Stone Town and visited all the highlights. It’s a small town and seems like one day it was very beautiful, some buildings are impressive! But sadly, it looks like now it’s not taken care of and could use some maintenance and cleaning….
Our next stop after Tanzania will be South Africa, and flight prices were slowly increasing so we decided to book the ticket already, from Dar es salaam to Johannesburg on the 5th of November. We only had a few days left in Zanzibar and we decided to extend our stay at the Airbnb in Stone Town. But the next morning we woke up to a bad surprise: there were bed bugs on our bed and we had quite some bites…. So we went and looked for new places, all of them overpriced and not too clean. So here’s the best part of not having plans: we decided last minute to rent a car again. We wanted to drive to the last accommodation where we had been before, and visit other parts of the South of the island, this time with sunny weather instead of rain!
Renting a car in Zanzibar, again
We went to the rental car office, and one hour later we had our car and were driving towards Bwejuu. The price of the car and the hotel together was cheaper than any of the hotels in Stone Town, so this was a good decision to make!
As soon as we start driving, black clouds were above us. Shouldn’t we have checked the weather before? Probably!
Roads in Zanzibar
But luckily the clouds went away quickly and the sky turned blue with a bright sun that stayed for the rest of the days. We arrived at Bwejuu and the owner of the little hotel where we stayed before recognised us. He helped us with a good price, 15 $ per night, not bad at all! We went a bit further North to see the sunset at Kae Funk, stunning! The funniest part of our stay in Bwejuu is that Richard’s friend from The Netherlands, Charlotte, had actually booked a room in the same place, the same night, by coincidence!!
The last sunsets….
Those last days we drove towards the South, where last time we run out of petrol…. We ended up at an abandoned resort. It was empty for 15 years, we could walk inside what used to be the villas right in front of the beach. Quite an amazing place to see! Later we drove again near Kae funk to enjoy our last sunset in the island…
Masai person walking by sunset in Zanzbibar
The next morning, we drove back to Stone Town. We took the ferry towards Dar es salaam, the biggest and most populated city in Tanzania. Although not so touristic, it’s nice for a quick stop before flying out of the country!
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