Zanzibar – Markets, music and mad men on motorbikes

Posted by Tamlin Wightman on 24 April 2009

Oh I love me the islands, especially them Indian Ocean ones with their warm water.

I spent a night in Zanzibar before heading to its less popular (among tourists) neighbour Pemba Island. Travelling solo is fun despite what the Contiki Generation might think.

I met a Greek woman in the pool of theMbweni Ruins Hotel where I was staying. Apparently a famous singer in her country, she owned a house on the island and knew a Rwandan woman, Pauline, who lived somewhere down the road with her husband and daughter. The two women, plus daughter, invited me out to watch some live music in Stonetown with them.

So after dinner on the balcony of heaven (my hotel), we headed into the night, through a hubbub of markets, music and mad men on motorbikes, to one club/pub to listen to dub on the beach. We danced, watched other free and sweaty bodies grinding (a far cry from the coy, well-covered beings that floated through the streets of Unguja – Zanzibar’s local name – during the day).

This was my introduction to Stonetown; I can imagine getting ‘lost’ in the nightclubs for months.

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