Zanzibar. Sand, Silence, and a Pink Suitcase.

There are places worth seeing – and there are places simply worth looking at.

The white beaches of Zanzibar’s northeast coast belong to the second kind. This isn’t a place for sightseeing. It’s where you come to let go, lean back, and gaze at the sky, the ocean, and occasionally let your eyes wander to the sand – so white it feels unreal.

This sand is something else. When wet with salty water, it’s so fine it feels more like soft clay or some luxurious cream than the usual beach grit. They say that on the southern part of the island there’s even a spa where you can get your whole body covered with this sand – said to bring all sorts of benefits.

To save time, I just stretched out on the beach and let Monika carefully cover me with kilos of this soul-and-body-healing sand. I’m not sure if it was the timing or our technique, but the only visible result of this luxury treatment – which you’d have to pay quite a bit for just an hour’s drive away – was finding sand in every possible corner of my body for days afterwards. 😉

Zanzibar calls for relaxation. Bring a book and open your ears to the rhythm of the waves. Sure, you can visit the nearby capital to see a market or the site of the former slave trade. If you’re really restless, you can even take a trip to a local school to see how the children live.

We tend to avoid things like that, even though many find them fascinating.

After years of living in Egypt, I know how the locals react when their daily lives are turned into sightseeing. It’s easy to cross a line, just because “everyone else does it” or “paid for the tour” doesn’t make it better. Well… everyone has their own way of feeling out a new place.

Ours was yoga. Two two-hour sessions a day, beach walks, and reading under a palm tree. After just five days, I knew that the open-air studio – two walls and the jungle forming the rest – had something no fancy European yoga center could offer. Lemurs observing the practice. Lizards blinking slowly. The scent of the sea everywhere. That’s what we came for.

If I were to return to Zanzibar today, I’d go straight back to that same spot. From there, across a narrow channel, you can see the tiny island of Mnemba – far enough not to intrude, close enough to draw your eyes from time to time, as clouds drift over it.

We always carry deep respect for the people who live in the places we visit. We are guests – and try to behave that way. Local fishermen go out in small boats, not far from shore, catching seafood that’s eaten right after the catch.

And if someone asked what else we did? Well… we rode bicycles in the Indian Ocean 😊Just to see how long the beach really was, we pedaled north – and when it started to feel too easy, we steered into the sea.

Somewhere along the way, to feel the pull of the earth, we stood on our heads – and later returned to the place where palm-thatched bungalows open directly into the colors of this corner of the world, where the sunrise and the next yoga session are always the same – yet never like the one before.

You laugh now, but after ten days of ocean breeze and yoga... you'd want a pink suitcase too. 😉