Chumbe Island

Our first full day on Zanzibar was spent on Chumbe Island (confusing that we spent our first day elsewhere but it’s true!). This island is in the Zanzibar archipelago but is one of the smaller islands and was not permanently inhabited until the early 1900s when a lighthouse was built there.

This island now has an eco-resort and allows day-trippers to come over and use their facilities on a limited basis. We left Zanzibar by a 15-ft boat for a 45 minute motor over to the island and it looked gorgeous:



Our first stop was our private “banda” for the day. The bandas (and everything else on the island) were built to exacting eco-lodge standards. The lodges are open-air and constructed entirely of bamboo, coconut trees, and palm trees. The palm tree roof collects water in fill a giant cistern under each banda since there is no fresh-water source on the island. The water runs off the roof and through a series of sand filters before entering the cistern. M, obviously, was fascinated especially when it began to rain and he could see the whole thing close-up. Dirty water from showering is collected, cleaned, and reused in the kitchen garden and all toilets are composting, etc. It was a really neat operation and a far cry from most of East Africa which is littered with plastic water bottles. Since water processing is so time consuming, anyone who can afford it will simply buy water in plastic jugs or bottles. There aren’t trashcans anywhere in public so people just throw them on the ground.

The banda:



Water filtration:



The main reason for our trip was the reef off the island so we headed down to do a little snorkeling. One really unique thing about this reef is that scuba divers are not allowed. Scuba diving is a bit of a double-edged sword in terms of conservation. Done well, it allows people to appreciate and see the biodiversity which makes them more likely to protect it. It is usually not done well. Many companies are eager to get the high-paying folks onto the reef as fast as possible. Using unfamiliar (and sometimes very old) equipment, divers will often empty their air bladders and go crashing into the reef, swim too close to coral, or try to touch or chase corals or other animals because they forget it’s not allowed. This reefs protected status made it some of the best snorkeling I have ever seen:





Less than 20 ft below us were huge corals in colors I have never seen like blue or green. There were tons of fish including some 150-lb grouper (delicious according to M), lobster, and giant clams. JPB’s new camera allows underwater photos so we took a lot.

After about an hour of snorkeling, we retired to the beach for a delicious lunch and then naps in our banda. Since it’s rainy season, we got a storm from 2-4 which was delightful for sleeping since it broke the heat.

We returned back to Stone Town in Zanzibar (the main town on the island) around 5 PM. We showered up quickly before heading back out to happy hour. The Tanzanians are generally acknowledged to be more polite than the Kenyans, even by the Kenyans themselves, so there is significantly less harassment here than in Mombasa. The boys quickly found their favorite spot, Forodhani Park, where they were 30 tables set up selling fresh seafood skewers ready to be grilled to order. M has never met a fish or streetfood that he didn’t like and apparently JPB feels the same way. So, streetfood dinner it was! Tuna, barricuda, crab, prawn, and octopus skewers were all quickly procured and enjoyed:





After filling our stomachs, we headed to a local bar where the chief amusement is watching the car ferry to the mainland load each night. There is no ramp so the ferry comes straight to the beach and then cars race down the beach so they don’t get stuck in the sand narrowly avoiding crashing into other cars and bystanders. This was a source of endless amusement and proves once again that Kenyans (and apparently Tanzanians) can put up with a lot of angst.