Zanzibar – A sobering exit.

We have had a lovely final 24hrs on Zanzibar. The beach we look out over is quite remarkable. The gradient is extremely gentle and the reef encircling this part of the island is about 1500m off shore. This creates the most incredible tidal variations. At high tide, it laps the ramp up to ‘our’ garden. At low tide there is a 750m walk out to the remaining lagoon beyond which lies the reef. The water is the most stunning blue and has a swift current as the vast volume of water tries to exit through a gap in the reef somewhere distant.

The beach and lagoon are places of much activity at low tide. There are numerous seaweed farms tended by local women. Our understanding is that these are a recent initiative to create an industry for the ladies here, with the plants being sold as a food item or as an ingredient in beauty products. 
There are also numerous local fishing activities as you might expect and for us the lagoon current was to be an excellent playground. We walked upstream then waded in and allowed ourselves to be swept back downstream in the warm water. It was excellent family fun – we are all water babies at heart.

We also went out on a boat trip with our host to visit a snorkelling spot. Wanting to offer our younger two children the opportunity to see coral and reef fish we were not to be disappointed. Predictably, close to land the coral was very limited, but the fish were plentiful and our littlest even spotted a most beautiful moray eel. The local crew also took full advantage of the paid trip, and found an octopus that they deposited in the bottom of the boat – interesting for us, sad for the octopus as it was heading for the cooking pot!

Octopus in the boat and Moray Eel in the lagoon

Sailing back

Our departure from Zanzibar later that day though offered a more sobering perspective. Amongst all the thriving tourist business, local life still remains challenging. Our taxi driver stopped to speak to a lady sitting by two children. They must have been about 8 and 12. It transpired that they had just lost their mother. Their father had already died 3 years ago. Our driver had stopped to offer his condolences as is the custom here. My conversations with him suggest that these deaths are probably HIV related. Regardless, for us all sitting in the car it was a fairly stark reminder of the challenges faced here. The children we saw sitting outside, stoical but clearly grieving their loss, were essentially the same age as our older two sitting next to us. An extremely sobering thought. The extended family network here is incredibly strong, so they will have somewhere to live and will be cared for. But what an extremely difficult way to start out in the world. My wife and I exchanged a look that clearly said we were feeling the same thing – heartbroken.

We left Zanzibar on another delightful flight, this time with an all-female (and equally glamourous) flight crew, arriving safely home in Muheza late in the evening. I must say walking through the door was a real pleasure for me. It was that very pleasant feeling of returning home.

And so we enter my final week here. Slightly earlier than originally planned, I have got to fly back to the UK next weekend before then heading back out to re-join my family in Australia for our planned holiday on our ‘return’ leg. I think it likely to be an eventful final few days.