ZANZIBAR

Zanzibar is hot...humid, flat and beautiful. I am suffering terribly with tsetse fly bites I got in Serengeti.The Africans pronounce them as "say-say flies". Whatever. They are annoying as hell, and pesky. Sometimes when going thru an infested area, we would roll all the windows in the jeep and completely cover our bodies with 98%'Deet. We still got bit. But, I am the only one who has had such a bad reaction, and got the most bites. both my feet are so swollen that I cannot wear shoes. Suffering in hot humid weather with fat swollen itchy feet, and one hand.

Moving right along....Zanzibar has such an interesting history. It was populated by Arab traders who captured Africans all over Africa and brought them to Zanzibar to sell them to other countries who needed slaves. So ethnically, the people are Africans who all speak Swahili, but are Muslims. 99 %. Arabic is not spoken here very much. Zanzibar is a peacefull island, poor. But pretty safe. They are tolerant of the tourists code of dress, especially in the hotels, but once out on the city, it is better to be covered...only for women though!

Our hotel,is right on the beach and fun to watch muslim women in the full hijab with head cover having "beachboot camp". Also they are swimming completely clothed and with a cap and some with scarves. I saw some men meet their wives on the beach with robes and head covers immediately after they got out of the water. Lots of great fishing skiffs go by, and beach soccer in the afternoon gets very loud and energetic.