And just like that, Marieke and Jon were heading back to Canada and I was on my own again! I checked out of the guesthouse in Dar Es Salaam and made my way up to the main road, where I quickly found a boda-boda (motorcycle taxi). Unfortunately, he did not want to take me to the ferry, so I kept walking until I found a tuk-tuk. I told the driver I wanted to go to the ferry and he quoted me Tsh 4000 (shillings), which is exactly what the Uber tuk-tuk price was, so I agreed (I didn’t have a sim card for Tanzania so couldn’t order through Uber). After about 5 minutes, he pulled into a tuk-tuk rank. Getting another driver to translate, apparently he “misunderstood” where I wanted to go and he couldn’t actually take me to the ferry, as he didn’t have a permit to enter the downtown core. Of course he wanted Tsh 4000 for this short trip. I laughed and offered him Tsh 1000, which he finally accepted after a lot of protest. I then had to re-bargain with the drivers and finally got one who would take me for Tsh 5000. I was already exhausted by the time I reached the ferry with a million touts trying to convince me to take a cheaper ferry than the official, nice and speedy boat.

After our experience of getting to and from Mafia island, I was ready to fork out the $10 extra to take the recommended ferry and was soon on an extremely fast, extremely air conditioned ferry heading for Zanzibar. Upon arrival, the touts tried to convince me to take a “very cheap” taxi to my guesthouse which was only about 10 minutes away by walking, to which I offered my standard retort of “but walking is free” and checked into a blissfully air conditioned dorm room in Stonetown. The heat was oppressive here, just like Mombasa. I had planned to stay a few nights checking out the historic town, but with the heat, I knew I would have to hit the beach and water as soon as possible.

In the Stonetown hostel I soon met Cherise from South Africa, and we decided to travel to Paje, in the south of the island, the next day. I was not used to anywhere being at all busy, so we just booked one night in Paje at a recommended guesthouse. It was cheap, so of course it did not have air conditioning and the first night was hot. The second night the place was full, so the lovely and hilarious Polish woman who operated the guest house suggested we sleep in the garden under mosquito nets on lounge chairs. It may sound less than ideal, but the breeze from being outside meant I actually slept better than the first night. When we moved back to the room the following night, I relegated the mosquito net to the corner and sprayed myself with repellent, as the net was blocking the fan from coming through. That worked much better.

Cherise had been teaching in China but was on a longer-than-planned holiday due to the Corona Virus having delayed the start of the school year there. It also meant she was out of anti-malarials and was very paranoid about getting bitten. The night we spent in the garden she spent sweating in pants and a hoodie. It must have been 29 degrees at night. She didn’t sleep as well as I did.

In hindsight, this was the first indication that something unusual was happening to the world, but at the time, it still felt very far away. Africa as a whole was one of the last continents to really be hit by the virus, and it wasn’t a concern at the time.

Paranoia of mosquitoes aside, we passed a lovely few days on the beach, watching people try to learn to kitesurf, which Paje is famous for, and staring at the mesmerizing water. I also started work on a resume, which I hadn’t done for 10+ years….

After 4 nights, I moved about 10km south to Jambiani, which was better known for diving, and I got my own room (and ceiling fan) and settled for a week. The diving ended up not being as spectacular as Mafia Island, so I decided to save my money, but settled into a nice routine in Jambiani, having a cappuchino in the morning in my upstairs hideaway at a beach restaurant, followed by a late lunch, then a bit of suntanning and fending off local beach boys. Which became a bit exhausting, as I was on my own. Jambiani was gorgeous and relaxed, but a bit more geared towards couples. I would recommend Paje if you’re backpacking on your own as its affordable, still very relaxed and has more independent travelers. Plus you can spend all day watching kitesurfers.

I grabbed the dalla-dalla (bus) back to Stonetown for 2 nights of air conditioned dorm bliss, which I made ample use of. I was planning on doing a day trip to the north of Zanzibar, but couldn’t be bothered, and spent most of the day napping in my luxurious bunk. I also stocked up on coconut milk and spices before heading for the airport for my flight to Johannesburg.