Driving in Zanzibar

Driving down the roads of Zanzibar is an adventure on it's own. The van is filled with 15 people or more we are pretty much sitting on top of each other. The air smells like a mix of diesel fumes and burning garbage. From the resorts you drive between African and Muslim villages that have been fused together. Everyone in the villages sit outside, most just hanging out in little huts they have created along the side of the road. Others are working and all the children are playing with toys they have made or they are tending to the animals that are tied to small shrubs along the road. Every ten minutes we come to a road block by police who look inside and then let us pass, not sure what their purpose really is. Every drive is an adventure, they have no road rules, half the time we are on the wrong side, passing cars and people to the left and right. Going around curves so fast everyone is tilting to keep the van upright. All this while trying to avoid people on bicycles and scooters, they cut it very close.