Something off of a National Geographic

Bwejju Beach - Indian Ocean to your left

That is exactly what Zanzibar is: National Geographic or Travel + Leisure, their cover of “history meets culture meets beauty” or “most beautiful beaches in the world”.  A quick lesson about Zanzibar: located on the east coast of Tanzania, it has a long history of being a stop on the Arab slave trade corridor and so has an incredible blend of Arab, Indian, African, and oddly enough Italian culture and food.  It is the “zan” in Tanzania, since the merging of Tanganyika and Zanzibar in 1964 and has its own Vice President.  Told by a local, Zanzibar is like looking at the palm of a hand: the main part of the island is the palm and four fingers together and the east has a thumb with a bay in between the thumb and pointer. 

Bwejju Beach at low tide - Notice how far out the waves are and the numerous "clam diggers"

Bwejju is on the outside of the thumb; Stone Town is at the bottom of the pinky.  So, we got a taste of the inlet between the island and Dar AND the east coast of the Indian Ocean.  The beaches in the east are like something off of a poster.  The land is lined with palm trees growing out over the beach, the sand delicately gives underneath your foot, and the shellage is diverse and abundant (my mom would be lost for HOURS!).  The crazy thing about this coast is the low tide literally recedes for about a mile leaving a marsh-like space in between the regular beach and the water.  I tried trekking out to the water during low tide and made it about 30 feet before being totally stuck in the muck.  The view, however, is incredible.  Hundreds of women are scattered from beach to ocean, dragging big bags and filling them with what I would guess to be sea life that didn’t make it out with the tide, hanging out in the small puddles that make up the barren ocean bottom.  However, when it’s high tide, there’s barely any beach or sand at all, and when we were in Michamvi (at a hotel with a GREAT bar and restaurant that should be visited by all) the tide actually came onto the hotel property and up to the deck.  This part of the island is surprisingly very isolated and quiet, few tourists, and incredibly peaceful, a great place to get away.