Zanzibar

I came back to Nairobi on Friday from a week in Zanzibar. Definitely the most expensive week of my entire four months in Africa! But it was so sunny and beautiful - I understand now why Zanzibar is the tourist hotspot it is.

Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous region of Tanzania, near Dar es Salaam. It consists of an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, with two main islands, Unguja (the main island) and Pemba. Zanzibar was a major slave trading post for the Arab slave trade, where slaves captured in Africa were held and then sold in markets, before being transferred to buyers in Arabia. Today, one of the old slave holding cells is preserved as a tourist attraction but an Anglican church was built over the site of the old slave market.

Stone Town is the largest city in Zanzibar, though I can't emphasize how small it is. You can walk from one end to the other in 15 minutes. The town as a whole is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it's easy to see why. The town, the culture, and even the food illustrate an interesting mix of Swahili, Arab, Indian and European influences. While Tanzania is mostly Christian with a large Muslim minority, Zanzibar is over 90% Muslim. I think it's actually the first predominantly Muslim place I've been to.

Having a map in Stone Town is so useless. There are no street signs anywhere, and the streets are so narrow that in any other town, they would just all be considered alleyways. Below is the street that my hotel was on, and my map actually drew it as a relatively large street. People had warned me that Zanzibar is relatively expensive for travel because it is so touristy. Despite being popular with travellers, I could not find any hostels or dorm accommodation in Stone Town... so I stayed in a single room at the cheapest place I could find. USD14 for a single room with shared bathroom (with a hot shower) and including a breakfast of coffee or tea, eggs your way, four slices of bread AND fruit? Not bad. Not bad at all.

Zanzibar seriously has such blue water. I remember going to Miami when I was younger and being so disappointed by the colour of the water because the movies all make it so bright and beautiful and in real life it's just a boring dark blue. On the other hand, When I was swimming in Zanzibar I could see the treading bodies underwater of people 5m away.

Near the port

Things drying 

One evening, I attended a rehearsal at the Culture Musical Club, one of Zanzibar's main taraab orchestras. Taraab is a popular music genre in Tanzania. The women sitting in the side of the photo aren't spectators - they sing together, and take turns singing lead.

Unfortunately, Zanzibar's really great beaches aren't in Stone Town, but elsewhere on the island. After three and a half cold months in Kenya, I was desperate for some beach and sun. I went to Kendwa, one of the North Beaches. It was about 60km north of Stone Town. Though most travellers take a taxi or a shuttle there, I decided to give the local transport a go, and save some money while at it.

Dala dalas are the main form of public transportation, shown below, the Zanzibar version of the matatu. There are benches along the sides of the vehicle for passengers to sit in, but when it gets really crowded (and it does, as the dala dala picks up more people along the way), people start sitting or crouching on the floor in the centre, and men will just hang off the back. They will also transport bags of rice/potatoes/fruit on the top. The dala dala was only 2000tsh ($1.30) compared to $40 for a taxi or $7 for a shuttle. Win! (though, I took a shuttle back)

Dala dala

The beach was so relaxing. Nice couple of days.

After returning to Stone Town from the beach, I went on a spice tour. It's one of those things tourists do. Spices are a big part of Zanzibar's economy, though less so now. Zanzibar was once the world's leading clove producer! On the spice tour, they take you to a spice plantation and show you different fruits and spices and let you taste them. I have to say, the taste of raw, fresh clove really lingers in your mouth.

Annatto

One of the boys from the spice plantation demonstrated for us the application of annatto. Its orange-red color makes it popular as natural lipstick and hair colour.

We were all given little leaf baskets to collect spices and fruits. The photo below shows only some of what we tried. In the photo you can see black pepper (green and unripened), cinnamon, lychee, starfruit, annatto... and I don't recall what the white stuff is.

On the flight back - a view of Kilimanjaro!