Beautiful Bwejuu

Ahhh, so now we know why they are going on about Zanzibar. Don't get us wrong, but Stone Town has nothing on the other side of the Island...basically one long strip of palm fringed beaches, turquiose water and locals going about living Zanzibar style... We met another Dutch couple on the bus who shall remain nameless (as we never bothered asking their names - whoops).

To top it off, we found a cracker of a guest house. About 6 bungalows (think what Robinson Crusoe would have built if he were a German Civil Engineer, and decked out with a 4 poster bed draped with mosquito net, fans and lanterns) are set back just under the palms... oh yeah!! Under the shade in-between is littered with hammocks and locally made sun beds and umbrellas (the Med coastline could learn a lot from here)... and we had to share this 3 km stretch of beach with about 8 other people. And the best bit, we had 5 nights here and bugger all to do. For some reason this only makes the days last longer...and leads to interesting games of what day of the week is today :)

The first 2 days consisted of very little activity....lounging like lizards is the best way to describe it. For some reason we purchased Factor 10 suncream - which did feck all good in the tropical sun (which now seems so obvious)... So we were cooked a little tender but not too badly - lucky the hammocks were in the shade !!

Josie continues in ignorance of how good the local seafood is cooked... now embarrassed by the erotic grunting noises I make while consuming it.

Day 3 yielded a rare spurt of energy...and we decided we would walk up to the lagoon (did I mention the beaches were fringed with reef?) supposedly good for snorkeling at any tide. And a good 1.5hrs later we found a jetty extending out some 200m from some posh hotels, with a bar at the end. We made a mental note to be back here later...

Vespa Day - for those not in the know...a Vesper is a mo-ped (spelling?)... now my Mum really only wanted one promise from me in life - not to ride a motorbike! And to date I had pretty much avoided them...hence my natural skills with this 'vehicle' were, as the Irish say, Shite. But not to be deterred, we hired one for the day (Sorry Mum) - to visit the jungle, see the Colobus Monkeys and take a spin to the southern end of the island to see if the grass was greener...

My main problem with the Vesper (is it Italian? - certainly not made by Ferrari or Lambo) was turning slowly... managing the clutch, gears and throttle and having to turn the handlebars was too much for this simple lad. Riding it through sand also brought about amusing consequences.... Josie showed a remarkable lack of common sense, having watched me practice a few laps, by then gamely getting on the back! And we were off to the monkeys... after a 15min 'getting my bearings' trip we were soon off on the right direction.

Somehow, we arrived safely in Jozani Forest... although I was a mess of shattered nerves and sweaty palms, and started our tour. Lovely walk through the steamy jungle, and then a close up session with the monkeys lounging in the trees... Now for those of you not familiar with Josie, a camera and animals - what happens is like a Tom Cruise Paparazi snap-a-thon. One monkey took exception, and had a good whiz on her to sort her out :) Very amusing - not sure if the Monkey whiz is good luck or bad luck though?

Then I said to Josie 'should we just head home?' (hoping for a graceful avoidance of unnecessary vespar riding)...but to Kizimkaze she wanted to go. Luckily for me, I got a bit better on the bike and even managed to get the wee beasty into fourth gear :) Kizimkaze was nice, but too hot (lacking the sea breeze) and for any locals reading - no dolphin trip now or tomorrow thanks! After a quick stop at another beach, and getting surrounded by locals - I produced one of my trade mark turns and drove us into a chicken coup or something... so with pride and manliness removed and Josie laughing in my ear - it was back to Bwejuu!

Our last full day, we headed back to the lagoon for some snorkelling (with Dutch friends) and a drink and lunch with the 'posh' crowd. We hired mountain bikes, designed by some sadomaschicist to hurt your ass and rode on up the beach. The reef was not the best... but lots of fish and a good snorkeling run down the beach with the current

...and so we came all too soon to the end of the beach bit. No more sunset beers, backgammon by the beach or swinging in the hammock. Tomorrow was back to Stone town for a night before the ferry trip to Dar. For your information these days are what we call 'work' days - where we actually have to do something...