after checking out we stayed in the cool of the courtyard of the 16th century part of the hotel waiting for our taxi to take us north. all the while groups of people on the ubiquitous walking tours of stone town passed through on their way to the africa house hotel. we made our way through the hustle and bustle of the new city until we hit the countryside. smallholders were selling pineapples,bananas,watermelons and jack fruit by the side of the road. banana ,coconut and breadfruit trees abounded interspersed with cement houses with iron roofs or traditional huts with banana leaf roofing. our driver told us that the road we driving along was originally the railway line to stone town and was called bububu road as that was the sound of the charcoal fired engine as it chugged slowly along. we even passed the original station and engine shed which was getting a fresh coat of paint. eventually the fertile part of zanzibar ended and we were nearing Nungwi. originally a sandy stony environment with just some small trees used for medicinal purposes (mainly malaria) and scrubby bushes. no locals lived up here until the tourist bungalows and low rise hotels were built because of the lovely sandy beaches. now of course there is higgledy piggledy hotchpotch of housing which we drove through to get to our bungalow complex right on the beach built on stilts above the white sand and crystal clear azure indian ocean. one benefit is that the hawkers are not in your face all the time but limited to the beach. we enjoyed a beer or two as the sun set with pip who is also staying here before a grilled fish supper by the sea.