Zanzibar the land of Opportunity (.. ahem)

In a lot of the things I see in my day to day life, I consider that the world was made with men in mind. From the fact of pregnancy to the inner workings of a car; from the lifestyle of a male lion to the height of that mango up on that tree ... Well I recently had an experience to make me rethink (or perhaps emphasize) that point.

I'd gone for holiday in Zanzibar, this dream island meant to hold beauty beyond your imagination. The spicy island with such a long history. It was meant to be a dream destination. Well it would have been, except that everyone forgot to mention that it's a place best suited for honeymooners. I'm single.

So I did enjoy the beautiful 15 minute sunset (alone) as well as the slender streets of stone town (alone) not forgetting the experience that is beautiful Forodhani by night (alone) and by the 3rd night, I was itching for a super wild party, sort of what I'd have gotten in Nairobi surrounded by friends & loved ones (who didn't rub your singleness in your face like salt in an almost closed wound!).

Well a wild party is what I got. Perhaps I should have been a little clearer on what I meant by 'wild'. Wa! So first of all, to put the Island's night life into perspective, I must begin by pointing out that it's non-existent. There are 2 night spots in town that we came across - Livingstone  & Mercury. None of these could hold a candle to even the most lame of bars in Nairobi. So one of the hotels organized a beach party. We got all excited and queued to attend what was bound to be The Party. When we got there the first thing we noticed was that the music was rather white. Then we looked around and realized that we formed the minority: black women. Turns out that this sort of shindig appealed more to the tourist and hence the exorbitant entrance fee (TShs 10,000).

And along with the mzungu comes the TZ brand of beach boy called the 'sharobaro'. This man makes the scrub look like a hard working coal miner! The lout hangs around all day waiting for manna from above in the form of a white man/woman who will take care of all their financial woes for a roll in the sack. And yes I did say man or woman. I've never seen such open display of bi-ness. The same guy would run to hug a woman and kiss a man. Under the same roof! Talk about equal opportunity! And their female counterparts weren't there. I'm used to seeing such places crawling with women prostitutes (with questionable dress sense) but that wasn't the case here as this male specie had evolved into a multipurpose phenomena .. 2 for the price of one!

Have an open minded day!