Last days in paradise.....

We were approaching the end of our "little" holiday, so we decided to go out in style with a trip to the paradise island of Zanzibar.  The Island of Zanzibar lies just off the east coast of Tanzania in the warm Indian Ocean.  It's famous for its beaches, spices and scuba diving off the many reefs surrounding the Island.
We flew from Kilimanjaro airport to the main city on Zanzibar, Stone Town where we spent our first couple of days.

 Boarding the flight to paradise.

Our comfy bed in our Stone Town B&B.

Outside Freddy Mercury's old house !!!

 Its a kind of magic !!!

Kids cooling off in Stone Town.

 Fun in the sea.

Seafood market stall.

 Cheers time for a non alchoholic Mojhito (Zanzibar being an Islamic Island ) !!! 

Enjoying a refreshing (non alchoholic) sugar cane juice.

 Squeezing the juice.

The next day we went to a spice farm to have a look at all the different spices that grow on Zanzibar.

Our spice guide Omar showing us some Tumeric.

 Gillian and her Spice Basket.

Tikka !!!

Nutmeg

Inside the Nutmeg.

 Anyone for a coconut ?

 Cheers !!!!

 Our new "spice" clothes !!!

Gillian buying some spices.

Arabic influences in Stone Town.

Stone Town street.

 Shop front.

Down the beach

Down the beach

Sunset at Stonetown.

After our time in Stone Town we went up to the north of the Island to a small village called Matemwe, we were staying in a small beach bungalow by the sea.  It was absolute paradise, it was low season so we pretty much had the beach to ourselves.  The sea temperature was an unbelievable 30oC , great for swimming.

Relaxing at Matemwe.

A fishermans Dhow.

 Matemwe beach.

More relaxing !!!

 Time for a beer.

 Dressed for dinner.

Sundown

We also went for a morning's snorkelling on the reef just off shore.  It was the most amazing experience, we saw hundreds of different fish and even some dolphins.  Unfortunately we didn't have a waterproof camera to take any pictures !!!!.

Dolphins.

Nice Hat.

Snorkelling.

Fish food !!

Ready for another dive !!

Back on dry land !

 Gillian gets a Henna Tattoo !!

The painted lady !!!!

The tattoo ladies.

 Women gathering seaweed.

 Monkeying around !!

 Morning dip.

Morning swim.

 Children off to school.

Hearts for the Cup !!!!

Zanzibar was a perfect way to finish our world tour.  It was great to spoil ourselves and reflect on that we have seen and done over the past 6 months.  We never thought we would enjoy a beach holiday, but Zanzibar is a beautiful place and the water is warm and clear.

After Zanzi we headed back to Arusha for a final night to say goodbye to all our volunteer friends.  The next day we got on a bus to Nairobi, in Kenya to get our flights back to the UK.  Time for 1 final blog post to follow ......

A last drink under African skies before flying home.