Stone Town with Local Flavour, Zanzibar, Tanzania

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Arriving in Stone Town by Ferry

After a couple of days recovery, I was feeling fine after the altitude sickness, the fluid in my lungs now reabsorbed by my body. I was back to normal, whatever that is…. We left Bernie in Moshi to catch his flight home. It was great having an old friend join us on our travels for sure, but it was definitely time to leave Moshi!  We had spent many a night there, and didn't find the town at all special.  It was what was around Moshi that made it special. We raced Bernie to Dar es Salaam, us on a bus for 9 hours, and him, later by plane (2 hours).  We won, but I'm guessing Bernie's was a much more comfortable ride!  Our bus took so long we missed the last ferry to Zanzibar, and we had to spend the night in Dar. Not to worry, plenty of boats the next day, and soon enough, we found ourselves on the fast boat to the heart of the Spice

Stone Town from the Palace Museum

Islands.

Zanzibar Island has a lot of history, and was an important location on the old trading routes.  The town of Stone Town is also a Unesco Heritage Site, and as our boat rounded the corner of the town, you could see all the old Colonial style buildings in various stages of renovation and plenty in disrepair. We were surprised to have our passport stamped coming in to the port.  Is Zanzibar not part of Tanzania??  I think they are looking for autonomy.  As usual we were met by plenty of touts off the boat, but we brushed them off and hustled into the tiny streets confident that we could find our own way.  If I can get around the world, then I can find my way through the little streets of Stone Town. It reminded us a little of Fes, Morocco, but much less crowded. With a mix of the exotic about it, it has influences from Arabia, India, as well as African and Europe. We found a nice little hotel owned by a Zanzibari lady and her

Muslim Ladies at the Forodani Market

English husband, but have to come to terms with the higher costs in Zanzibar.  This is the most we have paid for accommodation in some time.

We actually had a contact in Stone Town.  When we were in Victoria Falls in Zambia back in October (Rafting the Zambezi), one of the kayakers, Sara, actually asked us to go and visit her lone Aunt Khadija in Stone Town. As travelers we always take people up on their invitations and offers and looked forward to meeting a real local. As it happened Sara's Mum and Dad were visiting from the UK, but busy that day so Aunt Khadija met up with us at the Forodani night market for some Zanzibari Pizza and Sugar Cane Juice, then took us home for some homemade tamarind juice with fresh ginger and lime. Wonderfully refreshing in the sticky heat!  Yummy. The following morning Sara's mum, Nafisa, took us around Stone Town and gave us a personal tour of where she

One of the many painting shops

grew up. It was lovely to hear about her childhood and about the different sultans and the 'first family' and what they get up to now. She took us to the main Darajani market and walked the narrow cobbled streets of the town. We enjoyed watching the old men playing games at Jaw's corner (or as her husband calls it - jobless corner), and marveled at the ancient Arabic doors with pointed brass studs (apparently Indian tradition to keep elephants from breaking the doors down in India). Across to 'the other side' of the market to show us that Stone Town is not all about small merchants and cute boutiques down mysterious cobbled alleyways: there in the township part, people live in shacks or in ugly 1950s east german block-style housing. 

At the main museum, Beit El-Ajaib or 'House of Wonders' we learned about Zanzibar. How it was settled by many peoples, but really came into its own in about the 12th century when trading between Arabia and the Persian Gulf took off. It became key in supplying slaves, gold and ivory to India and Asia, and in return imported spices and textiles.  The Portuguese came on the scene in the early 16th century and eventually got turfed out by the Omani Arabs.

Lunch at Khadija's House

With pressure from the British, the mid-1800s saw the end of the slave trade. Eventually in the 1860s Zanzibar  became a British Protectorate for about 100 years, then it gained its independence, and then quickly became part of Tanzania.

We enjoyed being with Nafisa hearing her stories, getting inside info and we loved not being plagued by touts. Aunt Khadija was a fabulous cook and at lunchtime we enjoyed fish cakes and biryani with fresh salad. SOO nice to have homemade, healthy Zanzibari cuisine rather than greasy street cafe food. We felt very honoured that they took the time to show us around and can't thank them enough! * Mush/Stub