Over the past few years, I’ve established a tradition of watching the dawn rise on each new year from somewhere beautiful. This year (assisted by a Travel Tuesday half price flight), I chose Zanzibar.
And what an end to the year this choice proved to be! As a collector of experiences, it was perfect.
I arrived on the morning of New Year’s Eve to find my bag had been put on a flight to Kilimanjaro, not Zanzibar. So all I had was the contents of my carry on (always pack a change of clothes in your carry on, folks – I had packed a bikini, PJ shorts and a maxi dress).
Dealing with my missing rucksack slightly delayed my arrival and by the time I was able to get on the beach, the sun was setting.
A Maasai man began walking with me, as they do, and in spite of me telling him firmly I wanted to be alone, he persisted in following me, falling into step and calling me ‘Baby Lion’ because of my hair.
I literally couldn’t shake the guy off, but in the process of becoming his reluctant companion I learnt my first Maasai words and phrases, got renamed ‘Mashapie’ (happy happy) and discovered a lot more about Maasai culture. So it was time well spent in the end.
Eventually, we parted ways and I went in search of dinner.
With a little research, I found a local place and surprised the owner by ordering ugali with my fish then asking for my hands to be washed (he asked me three times if I was sure I didn’t want chips!) and got to witness a group of locals play songs (cheered on by a group of local children) and dance (read twerk) in a Zanzibari version of Soca.
I decided I’d head out in search of alcohol and was walking back down the beach (not actually advised for a solo female after dark, but as it was NYE the beach was busy and so, if I was going to do it, then this was surely the time to do so) when my new Maasai limpet appeared from nowhere and fell into step.
After some time we acquired an additional Maasai, who appeared to have been following us.
I decided to just go with it!
The three of us were walking past a place which had set up floating structures in the sea (convincing me they were doing fireworks) when I heard the familiar notes of Jerusalema – and so we joined in the beach party on the sand. A random lady from South Africa and I danced to it – she was surprised I knew the steps, and I explained to her it’s commonly played at kizomba parties in the UK. She and I exchanged a few words after dancing and then parted ways.
I wanted to stay, not just because of the music but I’d chosen Paje as my first location in Zanzibar precisely because it’s one of the few places in Zanzibar that has fireworks on NYE, and fireworks at midnight is another tradition that I enjoy.
The Maasai men and I danced our hearts out to an Afrobeats set before the music changed to salsa and I inadvertently began teaching them the change in steps. This was followed by Shakira and me digging out my long forgotten belly dance moves. The DJ, somewhat inexplicably, followed Shakira with…the Macarena!
Even more inexplicably, I could remember the moves to the Macarena, and ended up teaching them to the Maasai who were both VERY enthusiastic students.
As midnight approached, everyone gathered at the shore in anticipation of the fireworks…except there was no countdown and we saw the actual fireworks explode much further down the beach, realising well into the new year we’d missed the actual stroke of midnight.
As there was a round two of fireworks, we decided to head that way. Sadly, we missed out and they stopped before we could reach them.
We approached a large group of Maasai, who were singing and dancing, and it was the Maasai’s turn to show me some dance moves. They were mainly shoulder-based and it felt surreal being part of the circle; I tried to focus just as much on being present and enjoying the moment as perfecting the moves.
No one seemed phased by my presence.
The original limpet Maasai then sent his friend to get us drinks and I got to experience walking with his cane.
We then sat on the beach, drinking and watching the stars, and people passing by, for hours.
The friend eventually left, without warning, leaving me alone with Mr Limpet Maasai. He could see I was getting cold and kindly removed one of his blankets to put around me. His company also meant as a solo female I was about as safe on the beach as I could be, and I felt I could trust him.
I’d told him my mission was to watch the sun rise and he insisted on staying with me: for much of the time we sat in companionable silence.
Finally, dawn arrived and we got to witness the first sunrise of 2023 over Zanzibar, before parting ways.
As a collector of experiences, it was a beautifully random evening; THIS was truly living and not existing .