Despite the lack of wind, because we actually went a bit too early in the wind season, we really managed to make a nice trip and check the huge potential of the island for kiting. After a long flight we got picked up by frenchman Mathias Oriani who took care of us for the whole week (thanks for hospitality) and showed us the whole island, he landed in peacefull Zanzibar 2 years ago to start his Haraka Kite school, located in the best lagoon spot in Paje beach.

The first day we got there we went crazy to find how intense the colors were, the sand looks like snow, the sea is crazily turquoise blue and the light is so strong. Victor and I were hallucinating to be there when it was 5ºc at home.
We travelled all over the island to ride different spots, we sailed in a stylish local boat to an islet, just sand surrounded by the ocean and us… (On the pics you can check how perfectly perfect this spot was). Plus we kited with dolphins, saw funny monkeys, spent several nights with no electricity while being attacked by malaria moskitos (I like that), saw how scary it is to drive by night in Africa (in general it is), ate nice fruit and delicious lobsters and played football with very friendly Maasai warriors coming from the deep Tanzania where all their tribu are still living, we also had the chance to see their traditional dance. These guys were really nice, they explained us that to become adults and warriors they all had to spend some time on their own in the wild savanna, eating anything they could find, and even more crazy, they had kill one Lion. Well, the one on my right on the pictures killed a lion and two leopards. Respect!!

The pics here are from Loic de Collasson, he’s a semipro photographer and captured some really nice stuff, if you want to check more just follow this link where you’ll find more cool pics from the trip. And for the full magazine report we had french Kitesurf Mag photographer and redactor who joined, but this will come out in 2010. We also tried the new 7D Canon photo camera which is amazing as you can also film in full HD, footage looks insane as it uses photo objectives… we haven’t got much video footage but a small clip should come out soon.

It was also the first time I travelled with a kite travel agency, it is nice as everything is settled before you get there: transport, hotel, flight… Loic also works for them (Fun&Fly.com) and if you want to escape from the cold and discover Zanzibar or other spots just go and check their site. They’ll do everything for you!

Well, now I’m leaving to Tarifa for 2 weeks, 18h driving… the forecast looks absolutely insane, big waves, wind and some rain, but who cares… I hope to catch a nice surf session tomorrow night. This time I’ll really shoot with the video camera as we couldn’t do so in Zanzibar because of the wind.

Enjoy the holidays!!!