Zanzibar: Pwani Mchangani

 

Drying out the ocean product

We enjoy visiting different parts of Zanzibar whenever we have a chance. We are particularly fond of the northeast with its quiet and pristine beaches. This trip we elected to stay at a small hotel with 10 or so rooms in Pwani Mchangani. The village proper was located a little south of our hotel and the north was nearly deserted. 

The area was extremely quiet with hotels sparsely dotting the coastline with large tracks of land lightly fenced or left fallow. The evening walks were beautiful passing a group of tourists playing volleyball, a local football game, and the usual tout trying to sell a massage, snorkeling tomorrow, or kitsch souvenirs. When I was recently in Spain I met someone that had just returned from a trip to Tanzania. I asked how he enjoyed the trip and he said he liked it but in Zanzibar he couldn't walk the beach because of all the harassment from the touts. I feel for him as I see the aggressive, often Maasai, harangue all the tourists. I know exactly how to deal with it in a polite yet firm way in Swahili so it's just a minor annoyance but I realize not everyone has that luxury. And the beach touts are on every single beach in Zanzibar so I hope everyone has their strategy of how to deal with it!

Some evenings the beach was quite deserted while others there were many people both foreign and local taking a stroll. The breeze blew strong off the water we were mostly greeted to cloudy mornings opening up to sunny days with some wind. The area had a similar feel to Matemwe, a stones throw to the north. The only downside to this area is that due to the sparse collection of hotels, sometimes you may be captive to your hotels food, especially for dinner. It's great if your hotel serves excellent food but if not places like Paje have an advantage of numerous easily accessible food choices.

Empty beach