Off on holiday: Stonetown, Zanzibar

Once again we have to get up early, this time we are driven by a school bus, as our trusty driver Richard takes the public bus back to Tunduru in the morning. We fly back to Dar es Salaam, where we have breakfast at the Holiday Inn - what luxury! - and then take the ferry to Zanzibar. When we get out of the taxi we are immediately swarmed by porters, but luckily we are warned in advance and are well escorted through as a group. The fast ferry is standard today, so we glide to the island in just over an hour. Then porters again, off to a large taxi and to the hotel.

We spend two nights in Stonetown, see the old town, the market, the various houses and the fortress. An island influenced by Indians and Arabic, and later by Portuguese and English, which is also closely connected to the slave trade, as this is where the slaves were brought before being shipped.

On Tuesday we are told all this on a city tour, in the afternoon we drive to the former slave island, which was later used for quarantine in case of illness and is now Turtle Island, as giant turtles live here. After a quick swim in the sea, we return home by boat, circling the island and sailing at sunset.