Experience the world with us

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Zanzibar – Tanzania by Aaron Von Hagen

by Aaron Von Hagen 


After a long week of flights, safaris and sickness, we were headed to our final destination on this amazing vacation: the island of Zanzibar.

If there’s one thing my family knows how to do, it’s how to take a vacation. We landed in Zanzibar during a tropical rain storm, which, as some of you may know, is only a few minutes long but can drop what seems like buckets of water on the ground. The air was so muggy and humid I could barely breathe getting off the plane. We gathered our luggage and hopped in the waiting vehicles for the journey to Diamonds Star of the East, our resort on the north end of the island. When we arrived, well, I don’t really know what to tell you. We were living it up like royalty.

We had two villas, each with their huge floor plan, as well as indoor and outdoor showers and a private pool. Each villa also comes complete with it’s own butler for 24/7 availability. Since we were staying in the villas, we were all-inclusive, which gave us access to our own private restaurant, private beach and all the other amenities the resort had to offer. I can’t stress how awesome this was!

Our family made friends with most of the staff, particularly a young man named Martin, who went out of his way to make sure that we always had the best service, no matter what. The running joke became “Where’s Martin?” I can’t remember the one dudes name, but this guy made THE best cappuccinos. I went on a cappuccino-bender one day. I regretted it later, but damn was it delicious!




We went on a tour of Stone Town, which was a main site for slave trading back in the day. It was a pretty crazy place! The day we toured it was so goddamn hot we could barely keep it together. The problem with being a photographer is never knowing for sure what gear to bring, and I really regretted my decision to bring all my gear and tripod with me.

There was a day of snorkelling, and although the water was gorgeous, I’m not one for swimming in the ocean that much. I’m a little scared of sharks and the unknown. Whatever! We spent a week just chilling in the sun and spending Christmas with each other and the family of the hotel that took care of us. It was a perfect end to an already unbelievable vacation.

Taken from Aaron Von Hagen Photography
All pictures done by  Aaron Von Hagen
http://aaronvonhagen.com/2012/02/27/zanzibar-tanzania/

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