Once the dream that is Zanzibar was coming to a close, we decided to cut short our stay at Jambiani and spend a night in Zanzibar “Stone” Town itself since we wanted to taste a bit of local culture. We thus phoned Kassidi, our apartment owner, telling him we are spending a day less there ( we had never promised a 5 day stay, but a 3 night stay). Additionally, the nearby coral rock hotel offered us a lift for free to Zanzibar town, so we agreed to scrap the $50 offer by Kassidi to take us back as he had tried to convince us to accept…
The trouble begins
Here, unfortunately, comes a nasty part of our adventure. No sooner had we agreed on the lift thing, a few hours before our last night of staying at Jambiani, Kassidi turns up, unexpectedly and not asked for. He came up to me, asking in a very demanding tone what we had done the last few days. I lied and told him that we just relaxed on the beach (so that he wouldn’t compete with Coral Rock, who had treated us very well whilst he couldn’t give a shit).
That’s when the trouble started – when I told him that we are taking a free lift to zanzibar town and that he would have done the same. He started stamping his feet like a child in a tantrum screaming “NONO, NOT GOOD BUSINESS, NOT GOOD BUSINESS”!! I was shocked…a s we all were in fact. He demanded that since he came all the way here the night before to take us back, we should pay him the $50 we had “promised” (which we never did). He wouldn’t listen to us. NOT GOOD BUSINESS, NJOT GOOD BUSINESS… FIRST 3 DAYS, THEN 5, THEN 4. THEN NO LIFT. NOT GOOD BUSINESS.
He then went on to enter the girls’ room, take some of the bags and throw them out. That is when we became furious.. YOU WILL NOT SLEEP HERE TONIGHT. I COME ALL THE WAY HERE, AND YOU NOT GOOD BUSINESS. SO YOU SLEEP OUTSIDE. We had already paid him for 4 nights, so this was more than unacceptable, this was an OUTRAGE. We were beyond furious! I simply turned redder in the face (in addition to a sunburn) and went into my room and stayed there, fuming over why we found a crackpot to rent out his bungalow whilst Paul and Fran kept screaming at him outside. Pauline too joined in the fury-fest. Kassidi then took the key to the girls’ room, went into the village and returned saying “You can sleep here, but it’s not safe”.
It is hard to express how annoying the situation was.. here we are in paradise, dealing with a grown-up with the mental capability of a 3 year old. We were beyond disappointed. We were furious, angry and turning ballistic. That is when we snapped… when he threatened the girls. We gave him $50 dollars and told him to f*** off, and he did so. We told him we didn’t want a lift with him, and that he was a terrible person… he couldn’t give a damn, he only wanted the money. Paul and fran went to Coral Rock, who were furious with Kassidi but couldn’t do anything much about it… however here is where South African generosity shows its lovely face. THey offered that we sleep over at one of their unused houses… a fully airconditioned gem with a lovely balcony, FOR FREE. How amazing is that?
We packed our bags as night set in and moved to that house. One might ask… why bother moving if you paid for one last night at Red Monkey Bungalow? the reason is that he had threatened us, and we weren’t feeling especially safe. Also we wanted to get as far away from Kassidi as possible…. and also, the house was WAY better than out 2 bungalows, which had run out of water and toilet paper!
Kassidi turned up the following morning blasting his horn like crazy at the bungalows. Of course we weren’t there, but we heard him down the beach. Paul went, and gave him the keys to the bungalows in a hostile manner and told him to politely f*** off. Kassidi obliged, and I’m sure he got very good reviews for his behaviour from all of us!
In short… DO NOT GO TO RED MONKEY BUNGALOWS OWNED BY KASSIDI
