Do they know it’s Christmas time?

The next part of my adventure was deciding to spend Christmas in Zanzibar.  I was worried that Christmas would be a lonely time and a stark reminder of family and all that at home.  Surely Christmas in Zanzibar would be so far removed from Christmas at home that I would not feel lonely?  This proved to be a sensible idea and the distraction of sun, sea and sand worked very well.

The first journey of the adventure was travelling up from South Africa.  I got a flight from Durban to Jo’burg and then an onward flight to Nairobi.  From Nairobi I was flying straight to Zanzibar.  As I sat waiting at the airport, the flight time began creeping further and further away from the original departure time.  Eventually, two hours later, a steward arrived in the departure gate and said “There is a problem”.  Silence all around.  “The plane is too small.  We cannot take your luggage.”  This time the silence was replaced by angry shouts and much tutting but most of this was drowned out by my hysterical laughter.  Of course there was no room for luggage...why did I ever think things could be so straight forward?!  I was already slightly suspicious about whether I was ever going to see my luggage again anyway, as there had been a computer break down at Jo’burg that morning and after a 30min wait at the counter for them to fix it ended unsuccessfully, my bags were manually checked in.  So I was hugely reassured when we were then told, “We have put your luggage on the tarmac.  Maybe you need some emergency things – pants, toiletries and a spare t-shirt...please take them out of your bag and take them with you.  Your luggage will arrive on a flight by 10am tomorrow”.  I did indeed find my bag with its hand written tags lying on the tarmac and proceeded to zip off the top compartment which contained my toiletries, swim suit and pyjamas – and spare pants (of course).  I then boarded the plane.  It was a small plane with propellers.  There was a commotion at the entrance as the family who got on before me had seats reserved in aisle 16.  There were 14 aisles.  “Shame,” I said “but I am in row 1, so I shall go down there so I don’t get in anyones way”.  And so I did.  The seat was quite a funny one – I was facing the entire cabin.  The overhead lockers were very small and my two pieces of baggage took up two lockers.  “Is this OK?” I asked the cabin crew.  They looked at me oddly as if to say “why would it not be ok?”  “It’s just that there is no room left for other peoples bags”  “Don’t worry about other people, make sure you are OK” I was told.  So I did.

Eventually they managed to get everyone on to the plane.  The aisle seemed to have a lot of luggage in it that they somehow crammed away so that there was still room for the drinks cart to get through.  From our top viewing seats at the front, my seat partner and I were delighted to see we were going to be served first and were very amused by the tray tables we were given that slotted into our seats making the seat look something like a high chair.  Every time the plane climbed, we had to hold them in place as we were facing in the wrong direction!  After a couple of beers and some Starburst (courtesy of the English family sitting with me) it all seemed like good fun.  Upon landing there was a scrabble to complete visa forms and hand over sums of cash (there was no Christmas discount – but I did ask) and then I had to put in a claim for my bag and then I was delighted to be met by someone from the hotel I was off to.

I arrived at Maruhubi Beach Villas quite late and Karen and Jane had spent many hours waiting for me in the bar.  I encouraged them to have a couple more drinks (there was no arm twisting involved) and then we all toddled off to bed.  Next day we awoke to ridiculous humidity and a day of clouds.  And no luggage.  Day two was a bit the same only with more rain and this time my luggage arrived and I got myself some extra money by way of compensation.  The weather wasn’t what I had signed up for, but the hotel staff assured me it would improve and so it did, by day 3 we had lovely blue skies and hot weather and all we could do was flit between beach, sea and pool (we didn’t need to go to the bar as the bar came to us).  We spent a day out on an island where there are tortoises and we went snorkelling. 

View from Prison Island

We spent other days wandering in Stone Town and others on the beautiful beaches surrounding the island.  Christmas day was spent entirely by the pool except for a couple of hours when it got too hot and we retreated to our room to do some face masks and drink gin.  Our dinner was in the evening and it was a lovely buffet and as we ate we were entertained by some local dancers.

Getting into the Christmas spirit

It was so far removed from a Christmas in the UK that it wasn’t hard to deal with.  The weather was divine, the food was totally different, the scenery was stunning...and most of the people living in the area were Muslim.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day view

My last two nights were in a hotel in Stone Town.  It was a lovely hotel with a beautiful swimming pool in the courtyard area and I had a room that over-looked this.  It was an ideal location to explore the old town and then be able to get back home safely.  I ate out at the night street market and at a lovely Indian restaurant where I had a table with a great view and drank a couple of cocktails.  I spent hours wandering around the narrow windy lanes of Stone Town where no street ever led you to where you thought it might go and it took considerable time to get my bearings.  I enjoyed several fantastic cups of coffee and watched some spectacular sunsets from the roof of the hotel and from the terrace of the Africa House Hotel.

I was a bit sad at the prospect of ending my lovely holiday and coming home, but I had such a lovely time.  And I knew I was coming back to a new house, which was exciting enough and there would be an opportunity to unpack everything and settle in.  The journey home was far less eventful and me and my luggage made it all the way back to Kigali together.

Do they know it's Christmas time?  Who cares - look at this beach!