Zanzibar 2012

Tanzania & Zanzibar 2012

We left Tanzania and the wonderful safari experience behind to spend a few days relaxing before winging our way back to the UK (and work!) We arrived full of good intentions of visiting Stone Town, the capital, and/or going on a Spice Tour but The Residence, our hotel, was so comfortable we decided to stay put and enjoy their hospitality, facilities etc instead. We'd paid extra to upgrade to a sea facing villa and were so pleased we had.

We chose The Residence purely on Rukhsana's glowing recommendation - we weren't disappointed. It was about an hour's drive from the airport (and would have been an hour's drive to Stone Town had we ventured that far)

The whole team were friendly and really helpful - nothing was too much trouble. The food was as good as the service and it was a great place to take it easy and relax.

Our villa was 124. It looked quite "ordinary" from the outside but was spectacular once we opened the door.

Needless to say we didn't use the bikes that were so kindly provided for us - but we did walk everywhere rather than call for a lift in a buggy.

Our decking area and private pool looked out to the Indian Ocean.

view

View across our pool

view

View from our decking area

villa

Our "back yard"

villa

I tried out all the loungers and seats!

Jonathon got up early one morning to take photos of the beautiful sunrise.

beach

The beach was white and sandy and the sea was calm and warm so an occasional paddle was required.

No wonder the breach was always so clean. It was swept every morning and the ox pulled the cart away when it was full of seaweed.

Whilst there was a "public" pool (ie. for all guests to use) we didn't need to try it out but did walk round it on a regular basis as it was on the way to the restaurant.

restaurant