Spices & Stone Town

27 December

Transferred from Paje to Zanzibar Town/Stone Town mid morning and spent a pleasant afternoon soaking up the atmosphere of Stone Town.  Narrow winding cobbled streets, courtyards, whitewashed houses and a relaxed pace made it a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Not that I did a huge amount there, apart from browse through craft shops and quench my thirst in cafes!

28 December

Went on a Spice Tour from Stone Town inland to a large state-owned spice and fruit farm.  Spent a very interesting (and hot) morning learnign about spice growing and seeing all the spices in their natural plant form, as opposed to dried in a jar in my kitchen! We saw nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, turmeric, curry, pepper, cloves and vanilla and on the fruity side there was jackfruit, papaya, oranges, breadfruit to name but a few.  The tasting session was particularly good!  After the tour, we were well fed on seasoned rice and potatoes in a coconut-based mild sauce - quite like a korma and we left the tour full and satisfied!

Back in Stone Town, it was back to the port for the return ferry trip to Dar.  I wasn't taking any chances this time and had booked the ticket the previous day.  The sailing was swift but hot (my choice to be out on the top deck!) and I returned to Dar for one night before the bus ride back to Moshi....