I left the hustle and bustle of Zanzibar’s main city center for the idyllic beaches of Nungwi, a town on the furthest north coast of Zanzibar. It was an adventure to get here, as I opted to take a dala-dala, an inexpensive mode of transport common here on Zanzibar. It cost about 1/50th that of a taxi.

A dala-dala is a coverted flat bed truck that has had benches installed on the back. There’s also a roof, to carry all the cargo that some riders bring along. My main backpack got thrown up there.

A dala-dala will comfortably seat 11 or 12 people, but the driver will never refuse someone who wants to get on, so at one point, we probably had 24 people crammed onto this little jitney, complete with a gentleman next to me who was traveling with his chicken.

It was an hour-and-a-half’ s ride from Stone Town to Nungwi, with people jumping off and jumping on the transport all along the route.

When I arrived in Nungwi, I found a gentleman who walked me to my guesthouse – a 15 minute walk from the dala-dala termination point in town. Zanzibaris are very friendly people.

My hotel is a group of uniquely-styled buildings surrounding a courtyard. It is a very comfortable and welcoming place. The owner, Mustafa, is a very kind host.

My room at Casa Umoja. Sorry it’s a dark picture. The lighting was a bit challenged.

The building my room was in.

I spent the sunset (what little there was because of cloud cover) sitting on the beach, listening to the Indian Ocean waves come in on pristine white beaches. I feel a million miles from civilization, and it’s beautiful here. Then a soccer game broke out amongst 40 – 50 kids and a few tourists as well.

Nungwi is a wonderful piece of tropical paradise. White sand beaches, azure water and warm breezes combine to make this a great getaway from civilization.

My first night here, I wandered into a beautiful open-air restaurant with a very high thatch roof over the dining area. The business had only been open for a month, and I had the opportunity to meet the family that owns it. They were warm, hospitable and very inquisitive about life in the US.

Kelvin, Glory, Judy and me in front of their restaurant sign.

I ended up spending a lot of time with them that evening and into the night. They closed down the eatery for the night and invited me to join them at a local disco. We arrived around midnight and danced into the wee hours of the morning. Very warm, fun and friendly people. It was a great privilege to spend time with them.

The next morning, I ventured over to the Nungwi Mnarani Aquarium & Turtle Conservatory. They had two primary types of sea turtles – the Green and Hawksbill. The turtles are kept in a large tidepool that rises and falls with the tide, but is contained within a lagoon that is made of old volcanic rock.

With admission, I got a big handful of seaweed with which to feed the turtles, which were happy to come over and get a mouthful of green goodness.

In addition to the adults in the main pool, there were a number of little turtlettes (that’s my word – don’t trouble yourself to look it up!) over varying ages, some as young as a month old in holding buckets while they cleaned those guys’ pools. It was so cool to see all the little flippers flapping up and down as they moved their way around their enclosures.

it was a great experience to see the efforts being made locally to help save these beautiful, docile endangered creatures. They are doing a lot of great work there.

I ended my day at the GuruGuru again, saying a heartfelt goodbye to my new friends as I left at the end of the night.