The Dutch ARE Everywhere!
I’m hoping the cover photo for our March 2018 issue, showing a Friesian flag flying in Zanzibar, will bring some warmth to you this winter. In January I was blessed to be able to travel with my wife to Tanzania to visit our son who is serving in the Peace Corps.
A side excursion brought us to the east coast of the island of Zanzibar, where I had reserved a room via the internet at the KiteActive Guesthouse in the village of Paje. I booked the place through TripAdvisor based on first – the price – of course, and didn’t do much further research other than look at the pictures of the beach. Imagine my surprise as we walked up to the place in person, seeing a familiar flag flying in front of the hotel. When the manager greeted me in Dutch, I thought, “What is going on here?” I’d spent the better part of two weeks trying to make sense of Swahili and here I was surrounded by Hollanders.
It turns out kitesurfing is a big deal in the Netherlands, where young Hollanders like to practice on the North Sea; and they like even better heading by the charter-flight-full to warmer climates to kitesurf. Due to a successful marketing campaign in the Netherlands, Zanzibar has become a destination of choice.
KiteActive, a Dutch company, began in 2011 putting together kitesurfing trips to the Dutch islands. It now also has locations in Brazil, Croatia, and Europe.
The Dutch are everywhere! It was nice being surrounded for a few days by people speaking a language I could understand, even though as non-kitesurfers we were still outsiders.
