By Ramat Chukwumah
The next day, we were scheduled to visit Kizimkazi, a fishing village in the southern part of Zanzibar (Stone Town is on the West Coast). The village is famous for activities like snorkeling and swimming with dolphins.
Our hotel manager made all the arrangements for us and most of the time people go in groups on the tour. Our tour partners were are a mom and daughter from England called Cindy and Kim, and a Swedish man called Rowle. They were also lodging at Stone Town.
The drive to Kizimkazi was like over an hour. When we got to Kizimkazi, we drove close to the shore, where we were given snorkeling gear. I’m not a great swimmer so I was going to cheer my hubby and the others from the safety of the boat.
The continental shelf of Zanzibar allows one to walk a few meters into the ocean, and the water is quite clear so you can see the sea bed and urchins and tiny fish before you get into the boat. We were introduced to our “captain”, a local fisherman and his assistant, got into the boat and set off.
The dolphins were swimming a few kilometres from the shore, you don’t have to really get too far before you sight them. Everyone put on their gear (except me) and jumped into the water. Once the dolphins noticed the humans, they would swim to the bottom (I was told by the others).
Since it wasn’t very deep, you could just see their shadow as they swam along the ocean bed and hear them make funny sounds. Now and then, the people would get back into the boat, and we would sail around, looking for the dolphins. They would come up to the surface for a bit, but never got close to the boats. We stayed for like 45 mins and then went back towards the shore.
About 500 meters from the shore, the captain stopped the boat once again and pointed out corals and brightly coloured fish which we could see (although not too clearly) through the water. It was here, the swimmers went snorkeling. There was this humongous coral I could see from the boat. I could just imagine the sheer size of it under water. When everyone had seen enough, we went back to shore where we had a quick lunch with other tourists and headed off for Jozani Forest.
The forest was on the way back to Stone Town, and has natural trails and guides who walked us through the forest pointing out different species of trees. The major attraction in the forest is The Red Colobus Monkey.
After the forest, we visited the Mangrove Swamp. They had built board walks, so one could easily walk through the mangroves observing the different animals that lived among the roots like the mud skipper and some crabs.
…to be continued. For the first part of the story, click here.
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Ramat Oshiorenua Chukwumah is a multi-faceted lady who has spent some time backstage in the media and entertainment industry. This piece documents her honeymoon back in 2015 and was first published on moreamthancoffee.com. You can follow her @nadinescakesng on IG.