Day 18, 22 July 2012, Kipepeo Beach Camp (via Truck, little ferry, minivan, big ferry and shank's pony) to Zanzibar, the spice islands - For those who aren't aware, 5 o'clock occurs twice a day and the morning version is very dark, somewhat cold and all a bit rushy-rushy. We pared down our 19 kg packs to just the detachable day packs for our excursion to Zanzibar. To avoid 2 hours in traffic to get to the ferry terminal our truck took us to a small commuter ferry to nip across the bay. Just us and seemingly 1000s of commuters. We made the 7 am ferry to Zanzibar with about 3 minutes to spare and no sooner had we sat down than it got underway. On the upper deck our fellow passengers included women in full burkhas, many in hajib head scarves and two masai men complete with sarong like wraps, walking/herding sticks and machetes. The masai would make excellent Boy Scouts - well prepared indeed. The trip took until 9 am when we cleared immigration into Zanzibar (so... Tanganyika + Zanzibar = Tanzania... but Zanzibar is also an independent entity - thus the Zanzibar passport stamps!). We walked to the Shangani Hotel in Stone Town to drop our daypacks and along the way we passed The House of Wonders... in 1889 it was the first building in Tanzania and Kenya (built by 'we British' bien sur) to have running water, electricity and wonder of wonders, a lift). Still a beautiful structure today. Being in a large group is starting to drag us down like a fat man on a frail donkey. Some travellers should simply not. We cut away with relief and roamed the tiny back alleys of historic Stone Town. First stop was the superb Zanzibar Coffee House - coffee you could stand a spoon up in and mixed curry dahl wrap followed by banana cake. Thankfully we found a place open during the day - very rare during Ramadan! We visited the fresh meat, seafood, fruit, vege and fly markets. The flies - very cheap, good price. We actually had a huge time puttering around, learning a little Swahili to speak to the vendors and picking up a beautiful wooden bangle with an agate/bloodstone set into it. Just one of those treasures that truly is one of a kind and we are yet to see anything like it anywhere else. To a certain extent many of the shops were aimed squarely at tourists and were very much same same, but different. However, the back alleys of Stone Town are not just about the intricately hewn wood doors, it's about what is behind the doors - and like meer cats on a shopping bender we poked our heads into doorways and sang out Jambo Jambo! (hello). We met some wonderful craftsmen making furniture, brass bound chests and divine etchings. With a troupe of friendly sherpas and a container ship on call we would be selecting the pieces of a lifetime. But the trip would be 9 months shorter. Having haggled our way around Stone Town we jumped into an airconditioned minivan with comfortable seats for the 2 hour drive to the north of the Island - Nungwi (pron: noon-gwee). Let me repeat - cushioned seats and airconditioning. Sigh.... Life is good. Speaking of good, you can't come to Zanzibar and not take a tour of their spice plantations - so that's what we did on the way - being somewhat suspicious of organised things, we thought a $10 spice tour was the height of dodgy-ness - but it was superb - we saw coffee beans, cinnamon, turmeric and many others. Included was a tasting session of tropical fruits - and testing of essential oils from the jasmine and ylang-ylang flowers. A man - Mr Butterfly - scaled a towering coconut tree to show us how it's done and after 2 hours of non-stop entertainment it was back on the bus to the beach paradise of Nungwi - like visiting a very small Europe. We jaunted next door because we could actually smell money (Great White Hunters make good trackers) and found ourselves in the middle of a frightfully expensive Italian resort. Very posh. Trundled back quick smart before someone spoke to us in Italian. Bring on diving tomorrow... Surely our weather luck must change. Surely. Arrivederci baby!