(August 2020, from my journals). See previous post: https://secondchapternomad.blog/2023/03/22/zanzibar-dreams-part-1-meet-me-in-zanzibar/
Side note: I love this traveling lifestyle. I don’t feel as untethered and displaced as in my hometown. My old life in a house I no longer am allowed to enter, with mysterious inhabitants living in my belongings. A divorce that seemingly will never end. The sights and sounds of Africa are so foreign, my old problems vanish in the sultry night air.
https://www.expedia.com/shop/second-chapter-nomad/africa (small commission if booked through me)
Day 25 Africa – NAKUPENDA ISLAND
Writing all day. Decided I needed to live a little to write about it. Took off with Mohammad the fisherman in his ancient wooden dhow to Nakupenda Island (“I love you” in Swahili. This is not “Love Island” of TV haha). It is a deserted sandbar in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Rusty anchor and ladder, buckets for bailing, splintery wood, colorful frayed rope. We bobbed like a cork as the ferries to and from Dar es Salaam passed. More exhilarating than any amusement park ride.
Anchored off shore, and for the fourth time this trip (and second alone!) I jumped off the boat into the turquoise sea and snorkeled in bliss. Now that is social distancing/isolation I can do forever.
I didn’t bring a phone or camera, so memories just in my mind. Here are a few photos from the last time I went to Nakupenda on a different dhow. Now, back to writing!
(p.s. Phone hasn’t worked in a week. Everything is an adventure in Zanzibar. I asked the hotel if there was anyone that could help me. Off I go on the back of a motorcycle, zigzagging through alleyways, past markets, nearly swiping off my knees on human rickshaws, the blonde Mzungu catching many an eye. Haha. Sadly the phone expert couldn’t really help. Sigh.)
DAY 26 – THE DAY OF LUXURY
Producer me met the GM of the Park Hyatt Zanzibar and got a full tour for locations and potential accommodations for cast/crew in future. Got to even see the presidential suite where he said Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas stayed last December.
CINNAMON SPA
Writer me visited the Cinnamon Spa for scene research (somebody has to do it!). The most decadent experience of a full body sugar scrub (clean that safari off), then a… wait for it… milk and honey bath. For real. With bougainvillea petals and ylang ylang flowers floating on top, bathed in the red glow of candles. And I was served tea in the tub. You can’t make this up. Followed by an exceptional massage.
I staggered back into the dusty streets to my hotel, no doubt attracting mosquitos to my sweet scent. Returned to the Hyatt for a sunset dinner, writing notes, and taking in the local beach scene, including all the young men training again (everything from boxing to soccer, and every kind of fitness). Watched all of the fishing dhows heading out to sea for night fishing, nets raised like flags. They dot the night sky with their lights as they fish all night, in hopes of bringing their catch to the morning market.
My mottos continues to be: Live to Write, Write to Live.
Here are some more random photos of my home away from home – the Tembo Hotel.
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