Off to the Beach Resort at Nungwi

Finally it was time to leave Stone Town and head to the beach resort village of Nungwi. Due to the Swahili challenge I had grabbed my new friend Eddy (my tour guide) to help me negotiate for a taxi to transport me from Stone Town to Nungwi. The hotel was charging $50 (Tsh 111,000) for this which as an experienced Supply Chain Professional was a ripoff. I gave him the mandate and a price threshold of Tsh 50,000 and he delivered.

After a quick breakfast I headed off to change $200, found a bureau de change which exchanged at Tsh 2,230 to $ 1. Once again I had a wallet full of Tanzanian bank notes.
At 10 am prompt I checked out, paid an extra bill of $33 to cover lunch on the 1st day, laundry and tourism tax and off we went in a 7 seater bus.

The journey was smooth, no traffic, road out of stone town had pot holes and was bumpy, we passed a few police check points, policemen wear white and stand by the side of the roads, no barricades on the road like naija police. We weren’t stopped at any point. We had to stop at one point to wait for a big mango tree to be cleared from the road by the authorities before continuing.

Trip to Nungwi took approximately 1hr 15mins. Flame Tree Cottages where I was staying had an exotic look African look and feel. I was assigned to my private bungalow with a veranda in front where breakfast is served each morning, a small sitting room with no TV but has a table, long chair and a fridge and opens up to a bed room with a big poster bed with mosquito nets draped around it. Furniture were basic to give the traditional African look, had an AC which wasn’t coming on, so I called the maintenance people who fixed it promptly. Bathroom had a mud wall finishing even though it was modern plastering made to look like a mud wall. In all it was a nice room.

The resort is located just by the beach, I had lunch overlooking the beach and then strolled down before returning to the room.

In the evening I invoked my good friend Google Maps and we went out looking for Nungwi Supermarket which surprisingly was just a 5 min walk from the cottage. I stocked up on water and some small bites, finally off t the beach strolling past several lodges and hotels. Beach was busy mainly with Muzungus (Oyibos). Finally ordered takeaway BBQ fish, chips & rice. A good 1st day at the resort.Read more