Last week was mid-term break, so Gil and I left the kids with friends and snuck away for four days to celebrate our 10th Anniversary. We went to Zanzibar, where we have been quite a few times before, but there’s always new places to explore and fall in love with all over again.
Zanzibar is an inhabited island (population 1 million) off the coast of Tanzania and though it is technically part of Tanzania, has a very unique culture. The beaches are unlike anything in the world. The architecture is stunning. The culture and people, a mix of Arab and African, are fascinating. We stayed three nights at a beach hotel and one night in Stonetown, the capital city. We biked, snorkeled, walked, watched the sunset, read, swam, kayaked, and enjoyed great food. It was just plain wonderful.
Gil collected these while snorkeling by tying them to his trunks….don’t worry, we threw them all back after the picture!
A sea turtle conservation facility.
Since I’ve seen baby turtles hatching twice now, it was so fascinating to see them as adults! Such beautiful, graceful, gentle animals.
Mnarani Beach Hotel
The rest of these pictures are views from Stonetown.
Tanzania elections coming up on Sunday….the streets everywhere are plastered with posters!
At night, Forodhani Gardens are lit up by dozens of food vendors selling all the seafood you can imagine!
The front room and kitchen. This picture is taken from the porch. The entire wall of the house opens up into the porch. The pictures just don’t do it justice….
Matthew and the flying Josiah. He loves this. “High! High!” he kept saying, which is pretty significant considering this is the child that is afraid of ants and lizards.
Homemade dough-boys on the porch at night. Doesn’t get much better than that!
Amazing afternoons….unfortunately I was reading a very dry book on Paul’s theology for one of my classes….a novel would have been much more enjoyable.
God’s artistry and Gil’s talent.
The person looking after this nest estimated there were up to 200 baby turtles in there. He opened the nest so we could see some that morning, and then we stayed until night time so we could watch them make their long journey to the ocean.
We cheered them on, all the way down the beach.
Ah, the Splendor of God!
