East Coast of Zanzibar

After getting off the ferry in Zanzibar we boarded a bus to take us to the Palm Beach Inn in Brejuu, on the opposite side of the island, the East Coast. We had a very knowledgeable guide, who spoke a charming English, from the organization Sahiba Sisters whom we met with in the evening. Our reason for traveling to Brejuu was to meet with the owner of the Palm Beach Inn, a woman who has been involved in Zanzibari politics for decades. For the last 20 years she has run this inn geared toward coverseas guests, but also very pointedly employing local women and men. We saw women harvesting seaweed from the ocean, producing a variety of goods from coconuts, weaving baskets, painting henna ‘tatoos’ and more. The drive to Brejuu was on a narrow but lovely road that had little traffic save for the occasional heavily laden small truck. We drove through the Jozoni and Paje forests where the red colobus monkey, found only in Zanzibar, lives. We saw forests of coconut palms and banana trees.