8/12
After our quick and easy ferry ride from Dar to Zanzibar (you know it's nice when you pay $5 extra for first class), we walked onto the island, ready with our bags and passports. As we waited in line, a man came around telling us we needed our Yellow Fever Immigration papers if we were new to the country. He asked us when we arrived and what we had been doing for the 2 months in country. Without thinking, I replied "we were volunteers in Arusha". Oops.
Apparently, in order to volunteer in Tanzania, you need to pay an extra $200 along with the visa fee for permission to volunteer. Of course, we did not get this problem in the Dar Airport because, as the immigration officer said "this is Zanzibar not Tanzania". Confused and frustrated, we then spent the next two and a half hours arguing against us having to pay the fee. Long story short, the officer just wanted to make 200 bucks and didn't actually have any reason for holding us and our passports. We argued for so long he realized he was wasting time getting money out of other foreigners, so he finally stamped our passports and let us through. Welcome to Zanzibar.
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