Zanzibar Through the Eyes of the Locals – Part 3

Heeello! How are you? Where are you going?

Oh, not again!!! I tried to dismiss them politely, while they tried to tell me that the path I was walking on was off limits as it lead to the police headquarters. Sure enough, I noticed a prohibition of movement sign 30 metres ahead. I kindly thanked the group, but it just didn’t stop there.

What are you doing here? How long are you staying? Where do you live?!

I tried to evade all questions not to get tangled in the whole situation and tell them where I lived. Safety comes first, heh heh.

One of the boys just didn’t stop, though. He sent the other two away and took me on a village sightseeing tour all by himself. Encounters like those are true poetry for me, but then I always think people want something from me. The boy became more relaxed as he told me about the village and the locals, while I, on the other hand, was terrified because I had no idea where we were going. He took me to his lodge where he had accommodation for tourists. I knew it, after all, he could speak English! I became his host right away and he cut a coconut for me... He even gave me a whole bag of lemons to carry back home, and then he asked me if I’d cycle with him to one of the “famous” beaches the next day.

I really wanted to go, but I thought about it possibly being a scam. I’d heard so many stories about tourists falling for these things and then getting robbed. I just couldn’t afford that, so I lied that I had so much work to do in the garden I had been taking care of that I just wouldn’t be able to go. Really! A real huge garden! I’m working my ass off all day! I swear!

An Italian tourist came in at that very moment and she wanted to go on the cycling tour, too, but, as it turned out, she would have to go alone because I was protesting. “Oh, really, is it an organised tour?! Well, why didn’t you say so, then, haha.” “Well, I think I can take some time in the afternoon. When do we go?«

Suddenly, I had a whole day off.

And then we had to decide where they’d pick me up, which lead to the point where I told them where I lived. Whoopsie! And I was so good at hiding that information!!! The boy, who was a local, apparently knew the house and was shocked when I told him I lived there all by myself!

“Are you even aware of the things that happen here?! Young people taking drugs and then stealing things around empty houses, and not everyone knows your house is currently occupied! What if someone comes at night?! Who will help you then?!” Don’t tell me that, please! I have to live in that house for the next two weeks!!! The boy wanted to send over his own guard to protect me, but I told him that there was no need for exaggeration. And the guard seemed to be relieved as well. Obviously, he didn’t feel comfortable guarding abandoned Zanzibari houses.

2:2 (for house safety)

Eid al-Fitr (the end of the Ramadan fasting)

The cycling to Mtende Beach was a success.

When we returned to Kizimkazi, the owner of the lodge (let’s just call his “African husband”; he called himself that, just to be clear) felt sorry that I had to walk to my own house after all the cycling. He lent me his own bike indefinitely, since he didn’t have guests at the time. I liked that! Now I also owned a bike in addition to a house.

I got a text from “African husband” in the evening, which said that he was inviting me to a beach picnic the next day as a celebration at the end of Ramadan.

There’s a big celebration at the end of Ramadan in Zanzibar. People put on their most elegant clothes, women and girls braid their hair and put on lots of make-up, and they really emphasise their eyebrows. They celebrate for days, visiting their relatives and making various specialties and delicacies.

“Don’t let all this get into his head. Of course, I’d like to go to talk about life in Zanzibar a bit and meet the locals. But what if it’s a proper date or even worse... What if he kidnaps me when we’re along and stabs me?” I didn’t reply to his text. I simply sat on my bike and drove to the village to clear up my mind a bit to make it easier to decide.

And who did I run into? The very guy who texted me! Shit! He asked me if I got his text.

“I have to check. Was is something important?” I was hoping to get some more information, so it’s be easier for me to decide whether to go with him or not.

But why would he lend me his bike then if he wanted to stab me?

That would surely hurt his tourist lodge’s reputation. Can you imagine a review on Booking: “Stabbed a guest?”. Well, I can’t.

Ida, relax, you’re an ethnologist, and yet you’re so full of prejudice!!! You should be ashamed! I’m going because I want to know who this local is, what he does in his life, and because I know it’ll be great – which is also what I tried to manifest and visualise.

Driving on the left

The next evening.

I dressed up and waited for him to come and pick me up. And he came in his old banger (the car was in a really bad condition), and I had a hard time relaxing because there were conversations in my head about how tourists had been recently lured into cars and then robbed. And where was I at that very moment? In a fucking car, sitting next to a person I saw for the second time in my life and whose bike I borrowed. Ida, you’re crazy!

I tried to go with the flow. It was already too late then and there was nothing else I could do. It was getting dark and we set camp at an empty sandy beach. He made a fire using palm leaves, cooked a fish and a lobster, and baked potatoes in embers, while I was making a salad with coconut. The vibe was top-notch. When everything was “finito”, the guard who was looking over the beach joined us. Wow, what a celebration at the end of Ramadan! Our stomachs were happy and so was I! :)

It was really romantic and truly as if taken from a movie. There was a slight breeze, the first stars appeared in the sky, you could feel the sea nearby, there were palm trees all around us and you could also see my dear moon. There was no sign of a robbery or stabbing. We went back in his old banger that couldn’t even take a small slope on the way back (going downhill was easy), so we had to take a slightly longer detour. At least I got a chance to drive a car with a wheel on the right on Zanzibari roads for the very first time!