Zanzibar

Getting to Zanzibar involves either a plane or a ferry. So off to the waterfront we headed on time for the 12.30 pm sailing. I'd tried to book online earlier in the morning but the booking system froze and left the request in an incomplete state. No response to my WhatsApp follow-up. Arrived at the terminal and it became a game of cat and mouse with 2 big operators being fed by a small army of ticket concierges. Desperately trying to be the one guiding you to the ticket booth. Choosing the recommended Azam service we approached the window to be told it was sold out. And my online booking? Passport, was the response. And then a nonchalant scanning of the pages before a comparison to the screen. Clearly no booking. However he advised 'another' agent might be able to help. So we rebounded back to the entrance of the main building. "All sold out, but you can take the 2.30 pm. " It felt like an elaborate ruse to stop us from taking the opposition's earlier noon boat. It was more likely just part of the operational shambles that was always just about to collapse. My friend Chris and I had conceived a new method for this during one of our many Fonterra projects together. It was called the Scramble Approach. After a nearby lunch we returned to board, escaping the potential 10000TS fee for the bike. The 2.5 hrs crossing passed without incident and at 5 pm we stepped onto Zanzibar. It was here we encountered the recently introduced mandatory Zanzibar 'insurance', for foreigners. At $US44 it was an expensive scam. Already having insurance had no bearing on the mandatory requirement to purchase it, as a foreigner. So it was a tax. No insisted the young man responsible, it was insurance. Which I already have in spades. Yes but this one has a local number. You can tell how this went. Completing the online process and submitting the credit card details meant I could now also get the mandatory immigration stamp. I haven't worked out why it was required either. At 3 pm I received an email with my ticket for the 12.30 pm sailing, and my card got charged. Only the second time this trip I'd been required to request a chargeback to recover the funds.
Our ferry disembarked in Stone Town. It is a smallish multistory, narrow alleyed, cluster of neighbourhoods guarded against sea-based invasion by an early 18th-century fort. Larger than that description suggests. It's not quite the Carcassonne equivalent, but it's stationed as the gateway to an approach by boat. Of course, there are many other accessible landing spots for the well informed invader. It's car free but the tuktuk and the load carrying flat deck, or half-caged, motor trike putt putt through its vein-like access ways. Our hostel introduced us to the sport of vertical stair challenge. Bikes stayed downstairs.
We uncovered a nice local eatery cum BBQ where despite some initial inequities in food portion, in my favour, we both enjoyed it.Читать далее