Nyange Sandbank off the Coast of Zanzibar

After breakfast, we were headed back to Stone Town on the other side of the island. Our flight leaves for home tonight – or, more accurately, very early tomorrow morning.

Our driver was 40 minutes late. He used the excuse that he had a flat tire. Our hotel manager laughed, “yeah, I have used that excuse too.”

There are several popular activities around the island of Zanzibar. I wanted to ride on a traditional dhow boat to see a sandbar, one of the island’s unique features due to the buildup of sand, shells, and fragments of coral.

“Many, many guides go there,” our captain says, pointing to Nakupenda Sandbank. As the closer sandbank, it is too popular these days. It is already pretty crowded with boats and people.

We continue past it.

I can't even find our destination on my map.

As we approached Nyange sandbank, several miles from land, the sea color transitioned from deep blue to crystal-clear aquamarine. Since it is high tide, the sandbank was even smaller, making it seem even more like a floating patch of sand surrounded by open water. Nyange sandbar itself isn’t very big – maybe half the size of a soccer field, if that. It is definitely less crowded and more isolated than Nakupenda Sandbank.

The sandbank seemed to float in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

Most tours to the sandbank include shade, chairs, and food

We had uv clothing, bathing suits and a towel. In hindsight, we should have brought some snacks and beer so we could stay to enjoy the serenity for a bit longer.

Instead, we returned to Stone Island and found our way back to Antonio’s Garden, the bar Papa had brought us to a couple days earlier.  “Hello again,” they recognized us and sat us at the same table.

“Our last Kilimanjaro,” Greg says as we toast with our go-to beer in Tanzania.

A few minutes later he revises his statement.

“Actually, I think I’m going to have another one. So this is the second-to-last Kilimanjaro.”

Enjoying cool and peaceful Antonio's Garden

Our last activity on the continent is the Forodhani Gardens Night Market, which comes alive at sunset. It was quite a bit smaller than I imagined.

I had read that we must try Zanzibar pizza. It is more like a crepe than a pizza. The thin crust is made from a ball of dough barely bigger than a golf ball. Then, the center is reinforced with another smaller layer. You can order whatever toppings you want but we went with the traditional Zanzibar pizza ($5). It has chopped onions, peppers, tomatoes, carrots, an egg, and minced meat. The pizza is cooked through on both sides, sliced, and served with an assortment of sauces. It was pretty yummy.

Night market tips:

-          Do not buy food on a stick. Some are fresh but day-old ones are often mixed in.

-          Do not trust any seafood.

-          It is reasonably ok to buy anything that is being cooked in front of you.

-          Pizza is ok.

-          Swarma is ok.

As I watched this booth set up their food on a stick, most of it came pre-cooked directly out of foil packages

For entertainment at the market, local boys jump off the seawall into the water below. For a tip, they will take your phone and record themselves singing you a song before jumping in with their "Welcome to Zanzibar" sign.

We didn’t stay out late as an attempt to get at least a little sleep before we left for the airport at 1:00 a.m.

During our stay in Zanzibar, I found a piece of coral in the perfect shape of a heart. It would contribute nicely to my beach collection from other countries. But the law here is very strict: attempting to remove shells and especially coral can result in heavy fines and even imprisonment.

I left my heart In Zanzibar.

Logistics:

• We stayed our final night at Dhow Palace. It is affordable, in a good location in Stone Town, and looked nice enough. Our room was nicer than the pictures. It was a much nicer place to stay than our prior Stone Town hotel, Zanzibar Coffee House.
  
  
• It seems like all the tours on the sandbank have a shade cover and food. Except us. Our inexpensive tour was $50 per person for transportation only.  I found a Nyange Sandbank + Stone Town tour on Get Your Guide for $240 per person.
  
  
• Dhow Palace arranged our boat tour to Nyange Sandbar ($100), our driver from Kiwengwa Beach ($35), and our driver to the airport ($20 in the middle of the night). They also allowed us to store our bags for the day.