I woke up early today to watch the sunrise again. 

The sky was pretty overcast and the sunrise wasn’t as dramatic as yesterday.  Plus, the hotel dogs were nowhere to be seen, which was a bummer.  Today, the colors in the sky were magnificent, and they changed by the minute.  

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Today, Mike and I toured the island with a guide, riding around on ATV (all-terrain vehicles).  I had never driven one, or even sat on one, so it was a new experience.  I got used to it pretty quickly.  

Mike, not so much.  That’s him being helped by our guide after driving off the road into a field.  

Our guide spoke English pretty well.  He led us around the island stopping every now and then to provide some context to the things we were seeing.  Like the rest of Tanzania, Zanzibar is pretty poor.  Sure, there are lovely beaches on the coasts, and Stone Town is a big attraction for tourists, but the rest of the island is just a bunch of poor villages.  There are three main ways the people here survive:  farming, fishing, or tourism.  The people who farm are really living hand to mouth.  The work they do that day provides them with food for that day.  It’s hard work, and the children have to work on the weekends when they’re not in school.  Those who make their living fishing spend a lot of time at the beach, but it’s not for sun and surf.  They’re working very hard catching fish, for themselves, and to sell to other people at markets, as well as to sell to the hotels.  Tourism is huge in Tanzania, and Zanzibar thrives on it.  The pandemic has devastated the tourism industry here, as you can imagine.  Today, on the beach, there were very few people, and I’d say about 75% of them were people who live and work here.  

As we were driving our ATVs, it started to rain.  We quickly headed into a nearby village and got shelter under an awning where we were joined by a swarm of children.  

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One kid was wearing a shirt that said “Brooklyn, NYC” on it. Everywhere I go, I see Brooklyn!  I told the kid in Swahili that I was born in Brooklyn, and then got a picture with him.  

As I’ve said many times, African children are outgoing, friendly, and beautiful, and being sidelined by the rain, there wasn’t much to do but take photos of these kids.  One boy had a very expressive, thoughtful face, and I took several photos of him.  

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And then there was this kid, a real clown.

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And this beautiful girl with amazing eyes.  This is one of my best portraits of the trip. 

I took a few more pictures of kids, and then it stopped raining, so we hopped on our ATVs and continued the tour.  

We drove to a local vegetable market, which was pretty sparse, compared to many of the other markets I’ve visited while traveling.

We drove to another section of the beach after that, and then the tour was over. 

We came back to the hotel and grabbed lunch.  It’s been overcast all day, not ideal for sunbathing.  I spent a little time on my beach chair watching a local kid practice his acrobatics.

After lunch, I read my book, meditated a little (I fell out of the meditation routine on this trip, but I’m trying to restart it), and then wrote some emails.  After driving around all morning on the ATVs, it’s nice to have a lazy day.  

Just ask Mike. 

He’s mastered the art of lounging.

Tomorrow we check out of the hotel and head to Stone Town.  I’ll be sorry to say bye to Kiwengwa.  There isn’t much to do here, and that’s the point.  I like this pace of life, and could have used another week here.