Zanzibar: Paje Beach (Trip III)

Beautiful beach

Paje Beach is my go to beach (Trip I) in Zanzibar, mainly for it's accessibility and long coastline that provides a variety of establishments to choose from if you want to eat, drink or chill. The white sand and pristine blue water also make it a great choice.

Popular with kite surfers, the beach is laid back. Although there are numerous hotels and guesthouses, the beach wasn't crowded at all. There seemed to be enough space for everyone and it was easy enough for us to find a place that had beach chairs and cold beverages. We had a swim, kicked back and enjoyed the constant sea breeze.

Max relax. 

Zanzibar: Jozani Forest (Trip II)

In the forest

In a previous trip to Zanzibar I really enjoyed my trip to Jozani Forest (Trip I). It's something that I recommend to everyone that visits Zanzibar since it's a beautiful forest with habituated monkeys. It's also not a strenuous or demanding walk and a circuit of trails means you can walk as little or as much as you'd like.

The last time I went was with my sister and our guide seemed to know his birds. I got his number and told him that I'd be interested in coming early the next time I came. About two years passed before I called him again and although he was willing to meet us early and knew we wanted to see birds, no formal plan was made. We agreed to leave Stonetown at 5:30am as to reach the forest by 6:30am.

We reached the forest even earlier than 6:30am and the morning light had barely begun to illuminate the landscape. We walked in the scrub and mangroves south of the forest with the highlight being a pair of bushbabies jumping through the mangroves. As the sun came up we headed to the forest and walked for about an hour or two inside the forest before calling it a day around 1130am.

It was unfortunate that we spent so much time in the hot scrub instead of the forest but it also became clear that the guy did not frequently lead groups outside of his normal work. He definitely knew his local birds but wasn't really in tune with what we wanted to do (ie hike in the forest). I suspect that he doesn't know the trails deeper in the forest and as reluctant to take us. One really cool thing that happened in the forest was that a python crossed the walking trail and nearly struck our guide! He was busy looking in the canopy for birds and didn't notice until I called out when it was right behind him. It scared us both but then settled on the side of the trail extremely camouflaged.

Jozani Forest remains a must do activity in Zanzibar. The temperature is cool throughout the day and the forest is really unique. Huge stands of mahogany trees with coral rock on the trails! The guide said that it gets flooded throughout some of the year, a bit like Minziro Forest in Kagera Region. Although most people come to Zanzibar for the beach, hopefully they are pleasantly surprised by the forest trek. 

Flooded scrub 

Cool crossing sign

Mangroves

In the forest

Music Festival: Sauti za Busara (Trip II)

The "side" stage

My first trip to Sauti za Busara was in 2015 when my brother came to visit me. I had such an amazing time that I vowed to attend every single year that I lived in Tanzania. Unfortunately the following year the festival was canceled due to lack of funding and then last year I didn't make it for a variety of reasons. However, this year I decided that we had to try to make it to the festival since I've been missing live music! I had also managed to visit Zanzibar a few times while Ana had never been, so we thought the fest was a perfect excuse to visit Zanzibar.

Sauti za Busara was as good as I remembered it, if not better. I can't say enough great things about the atmosphere, music, and people. As a musician and music lover, four days of music performed by artists hailing from South Africa to Egypt is a dream come true. Late afternoon music started at 4pm at the public venue of Forodhani Gardens. With the ocean in the background and the sun setting behind us, we listened to a powerful womans group from Reunion, rocked to a Congolese ensemble, and grooved to an Algerian fusion band. At 7pm the music moves inside the Old Fort; a huge partitioned castle built in 1799 with a small amphitheater on one side and a large stage set up on the other. Vendors lined the sides with food and other products but exit and reentry was easy if one wanted to walk literally across the street to Forodhani Gardens where dozens of food vendors sold a variety of food.

Music played on both stages from 7:00pm to 1:30am and the organizers kept to the schedule extremely well.  The diversity of music was incredible; my highlights included a Taarab-style Tanzanian fusion band, an all women's percussion and singing ensemble from Reunion, a R&B-like Senegalese band prominently featuring the sound of the kora, and a John McLaughlin-esque guitarist from Malawi. Some acts mixed in drama and story telling with elaborate costumes and acting. Other acts were full electric while others had unamplified instruments. What I enjoyed the most were bands that mixed old and new; whether instruments, sounds, or presentation. Much of the music failed to be categorized by my musical vocabulary...was it traditional, fusion, modern, R&B, rumba, taarab??? The feeling of a new sound with not only the music but also the presentation was exciting and refreshing.

At the risk of sounding cliché, aside from the music, the spirit of the festival is really what made the fest special. Perhaps it's because I live in a field camp isolated from most of the world beyond our rural work area, but I was overwhelmed but the diversity of festival attendees and general vibe of the concerts. While western foreign countries were well represented, African countries were also equally represented in the crowd; I met people from Japan, Germany, Zimbabwe, and Kenya. The fest was also well represented by native Zanibarians, which I felt added to the inclusive and welcoming atmosphere. I felt so good seeing young Zanzibari ladies in a full hijab dancing to the beats of a Tanzanian afro-soul singer or a group of young local guys having a dance off to a Moroccan afro-pop group. Families with young children were common in the early hours of the fest and the event could certainly be dubbed as family friendly. I didn't see one individual staggering drunk nor did I witness any raunchy or tasteless dancing.

The only negative aspect of the festival was that I failed to get enough sleep. Burning the candle at both ends left us exhausted at the end of the fest. We'd stay out till 2am and then wake up around 7am the next morning for an activity (lazy beach day, hike in Jozani forest, snorkeling at nearby reef), perhaps catch a nap in the afternoon, and then go and dance for five hours straight. A beautiful time and we couldn't help ourselves but hard to squeeze all the enjoyment each day in only 24 hours!

Notable acts:
CAC Fusion (Tanzania)
El Dey (Algeria)
Ernest Ikwanga (Malawai)
Inganzo Ngari (Rwanda)
Kasai All Stars (Democratic Republic of Congo)
Simangavole (Reunion)
Simbin Project (Senegal)

The main stage

The outdoor stage

Flora and Fauna: Agama Lizard

One of the most common and visible lizards in Tanzania is the Agama Lizard. Combined with their stunning color and large size they are a familiar lizard to both locals and visitors. We have several that live in our banda and some have made themselves extremely comfortable. I'd say there is probably a group of 3-4 that permenetly resides in our banda and I know for a fact that two of them sleep in between our tent flaps.

They're innocuous and actually good for eating the insects, though they do leave pretty big lizard turds laying around. These are easy enough to manage when they harden but it's quite unlucky to make contact with a fresh sample. Still, they don't have a truly putrid smell and are more of an inconvenience than something actually disgusting.

They love to run along our walls and get pretty close to us when we are working. Probably about once a month one of them accidently gets trapped in our tent and we have to catch them and throw them out. One night I heard a rustling above me and thought there was a gigantic spider and I was actually relieved to see it was just an Agama. We let him spend the night before throwing him out the next morning. 

Exiting his house in the flaps of our tent. 

Invading my workspace. 

Above our bed.