Zanzibar, Tanzania
The ship was anchored overnight off of the coast of Tanzania. Tender boats continued to run every hour through the night. I doubt if many passengers were out past sunset. It is near the end of Ramadan. Restaurants will be packed with Muslims breaking fast. Finding a bar to have a drink is difficult. Many that serve alcohol to tourists won’t sell during Ramadan. Passengers have also been told that it is frowned upon to eat or drink in public during Ramadan. That message goes a long way toward keeping people on the ship.
We have a tee time today of 10 am at the Sea Cliff Resort. We left the ship about 8 am. We get numerous questions as we pull our clubs around. “Are you playing golf?”. “What gave it away?”, is the only response I can think of. The forecast is much more favorable today.
Not many on the tender today. Smooth ride into the port. After leaving the tender and walking through the port area, we were in an area where numerous cabs and busses parked. We had little US currency left and really didn’t want to get any local currency. Any left over currency that you take with you becomes worthless. No one wants it. Uber would be our best bet because it goes right to our credit card. I had about $60 USD on me and would be willing to barter for a taxi if it was the right price. I decided that $40 was the right price. It was rainy and I knew it would be a slow day for cabs. The first gentleman I came upon gave me a price for $100. To the course and back. He showed me a printed sheet of prices. “These are the prices set by the government”, he said. “I don’t care about your government. I don’t want to give any money to government”. He said, “OK, $90 and you have a deal”. I stuck with $40 and I said to him, “Do you want me to walk out of the port? Someone will take me for $40.” He gave me many more opportunities to take me. $80, $70, $60, $50. Finally he took me to a driver down the street that agreed to take us to the course, wait until we are finished, and then take us back to the port. $40
The drive to the course was slow. Lots of cars, busses, motorcycles, donkeys pulling carts. The streets going to the course were again lined with businesses. I could have easily counted 1,000 of these businesses along the way. Where do they get all of the goods they are selling? My guess is that are all from China. There is a container port next to where the tender comes in. They get the goods from the container port to their little business by cart, or taxi. I saw a man riding a bicycle with a bag containing hundreds of shoes. There are little businesses that make items. I saw many hand carved doors, beds and other furniture. I am guessing that they are not marketing them to the locals. The beds would not even fit into the houses that people live in.
We passed many abandoned structures along the way. Many had large trees growing out of the center of them. Driving here reminded me of Sri Lanka. Vehicles going every which way. No one gets angry. People just allow everyone to move around. I am guessing that people living here have really no way to advance up the economic ladder to a better life. Selling goods out of a bag or a shed is just for survival. No advancement in anything here. Survival is what it is all about. Many of the busses have Chinese characters on them. They are printed on the side.
We arrived at the course at about 9:45am.
We packed up the cart and were off. We noticed the course was in much better shape than it was when we played here in November of 2022.
At the first tee, a boy about 11 years old spoke to me in Swahili. I couldn’t understand him. I tried to communicate but Jombo or Hakuna Matada is all of the Swahili I know. After we hit our drives, he ran out to fairway and pointed at the ball. He did this constantly, even finding balls off the fairway. He was with us the entire game. He took our clubs, wiped them off and put them in the bag. When we drove off he stood up on the back of the cart. It was obvious he wanted to be our caddy and we were glad to have him. Make a good shot and he would applaud. I asked what his name was and when he said it, it sounded like David. I knew that this couldn’t be his name but we used it anyway.
Our caddy
As we drove to the second tee we saw boys at the fence selling balls. I had so little cash on me I could only buy a few. I would have bought all of them if I had enough cash on me.
The course is challenging and the weather was beautiful. 9 holes were over before we knew it.
I asked our caddy if he played. He understood. I gave him my 9 iron, a ball and a tee on hole 9. Great shot! I think he dropped the putt for par!
We packed up our clubs. I told the clubhouse manager what a great caddy he was. Our driver was waiting for us and we headed back to the port. We could see the ship from the course but traffic was unbelievable. The driver told us it was because of Ramadan ending.
We put our clubs under the HAL tent at the port and went to get a drink and something to eat. The Freddy Mercury Restaurant was only open at 5 because of Ramadan. We walked a bit further and found another restaurant. Soft drinks only. We split a salad and I had a mango juice and Terri a diet coke.
It was about 2:30 and we walked …