No lie in for me on my birthday (the last of my twenties-eek). I was awoken from my sleep in a grand and traditional Zanzibari bed to open my cards, followed by a quick breakfast on the hotel roof terrace, before we made a mad dash around the ubiquitous travel agencies to find the best and most reasonably priced spice tour. As Zanzibar is (was?) famous for its spice trade, this was something many people had recommended to us, but Dave was more keen than I as I don’t like spicy food! Anyway, as Dave hadn’t had much of a birthday with all the travelling, I agreed we should go.

We were collected by the famous Mr Mitu’s driver and driven to a plantation in the centre of the island. Our guide took us round the different plants and showed us what spices really look like in the wild. We were given the opportunity to smell and taste a variety including cloves and cinnamon (the two main exports), vanilla, ginger and tumuric, as well as trying exotic fruits such as jack fruit, lychees and star fruit. I declined to try some of the weirder looking things, but did make use of the ‘lipstick plant’, as you’ll see from the photos.

At the close of the tour we were invited in to a local’s house where a meal of rice and coconut vegetable sauce had been prepared for us, using some of the spices we had seen earlier. It was actually very good.

Later that evening it was my turn to chose what to do, so we reserved the best table at the Freddie Mercury restaurant which overlooks the sea and is a great spot to watch the sunset. Freddie was born on Zanzibar, and as I’m a fan of Queen music and sea views, it was a fitting place to go to enjoy a pizza and pina colada as the sun went down. They even played Happy Birthday for me (not a Queen version, sadly). After dinner we had to negotiate the scarily dark alleys of Stonetown to get back to our hotel – they really do need to get this electricity problem sorted! (Our hotel’s generator has kicked in as I type, meaning I now have light and a fan).

So, all in all, a day to remember for my last 20-something birthday. Thanks to everyone who sent cards and messages x

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