Overlanding Through Africa

It was nice to have a later start this morning. We got up soon after seven, when the children started arriving at the international school next door to the hotel. We had been awake during the night when there was a really heavy downpour. At least it made the air feel a bit fresher this morning. We got washed and dressed and went up to the rooftop restaurant for breakfast. Some people were feeling a bit worse for wear, having been out clubbing until 3.15am!! Poor Laban had escorted them. He could hardly keep his eyes open this morning!

Breakfast was fine – an assortment of hot dishes, dry bread, and dodgy-tasting coffee, but it set us up!

Most of the group (16 of us) were going on a tour of a spice farm this morning, and then continuing on to the northern beaches. The others were going straight to the resort with Laban. Our local guide, Ali, picked us up at 9am. We paid him US$25 each for the tour, loaded our bags onto the back seats of a bus, and set off on the 30-minute journey to the farm. Luckily, the rain had stopped and the sun had come out.

We drove out of Stone Town into the countryside. We were very glad that we will be back in the city for another three nights before we do our next overlanding leg. There is so much more we want to explore.

When we arrived at the farm, Ali took us on a guided walk, pointing out all the different trees and shrubs, most of which were spices or fruits that had medicinal uses as well as culinary ones. We visited a similar place in Sri Lanka many years ago, but it was nice to be reminded about all the different plants. During the walk, we saw:

• Rain trees
• Chilli plants (far bigger than any I have seen before)
• Cardamom (the pods develop from tiny white flowers found at the base of the plant)
• A kapok tree
• A eucalyptus tree
• An Indian almond tree (aka an umbrella tree)
• A clove tree which was much bigger than I expected. Cloves are a natural Imodium if you chew them. They are also effective for toothache.
• Butterfly peas which have stunning purple flowers
• Bilimbi – a small tart fruit similar in taste to a lemon. (We have come across these before, but I can’t remember where!)
• Coffee robusta
• Jack fruit – mature fruits weigh 25 – 30 kilograms each. They are distinguished from the similar looking breadfruit as they grow on the trunk of the tree whereas breadfruit grow at the end of branches.
• Breadfruit trees
• Peppercorns – these grow on vines which attach themselves to a different tree
• Bungo fruit – these are vine fruit which are ripe when they turn yellow. They are usually turned into a juice. They taste similar to passion fruit.
• Cinnamon – obviously, the cinnamon sticks we’re familiar with come from the bark of the tree, but the leaves can be used to make tea, and the root acts as a natural Vicks! It smelt exactly the same as the branded version!
• Nutmeg (plus the red coating used as mace)
• Henna plants – the leaves are dried, ground, lemon juice is added, and the resulting mixture is used for temporary tattoos.
• Philodendra – we know this as a house plant in the UK, but here it grows up large trees and is absolutely massive!!
• Durian trees – it is out of season, so they had no fruits to show us. I was glad of this as the thought of its disgusting smell brought back bad memories of our neighbours in Vietnam who loved the stuff! The odour used to spread throughout the entire floor of our apartment block!
• Ginger plants – the fresh version we know is actually a rhizome that grows on the surface of the soil at the base of the plant.
• A lipstick tree
• Cocoa trees
• Lots of vibrant red and purple cordyline grown purely as ornamental plants
• Crotons grown for their striking yellow and orange flowers
• Banana trees
• Vanilla which grows on a vine that attaches itself to other trees. The plants have to be hand-pollinated which makes the spice expensive.
• Turmeric plants
• Lemongrass
• Ylang ylang – the succulent leaves are as fragrant as the flowers. Both are used in perfume production.
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