Welcome to Zanzibar!

You could be forgiven for thinking I’d arrived in Vietnam or Thailand again. My first foray into the beautiful old dilapidated waterfront of Zanzibar saw me approached by a number of friendly Zanzibarbarians hawking everything from Maasai jewellery (there are no Maasai on Zanzibar) to t-shirts to boats… and the inevitable marijuana. I think it’s just part of the deal :P Needless to say, I kindly turned him down and carried on my merry way, eager to see just what this place was all about.



Welcome to Zanzibar! My first time on the African continent (well technicall, just off it). After 2 of the crappiest flights I’ve ever been on – do NOT fly Egypt Air unless you are shorter than 5’ – and a 5 hour stopover in Nairobi in the wee hours of the morning, I’ve finally arrived on the island paradise best known for spices, coffee and David Livingstone. It’s an interesting mish mash of cultures, architectural styles, languages, and dress codes. Not knowing what to expect, my eyes and mind were wide open on arrival. It’s a photographer’s dream; the best way to explore Stone Town is to get lost in the myriad of pathways and alleys that criss cross the town. You’ll come across dozens of vendors with hole-in-the-wall shops selling beautiful paintings, wood carvings, jewelers and a host of other gorgeous things you don’t really need. What immediately strikes me is the friendliness of the people – you can’t walk 2 minutes without someone calling out “Jambo!”, most are vendors but in general people are genuinely happy to see you. The local language is Swahili, and for anyone who’s seen the Lion King you already know a handful of key words: Jambo means hello, Asante Sana (squash banana hehe) means thank you, Rafiki means friend and Simba really does mean lion. I just need to learn how to say “no weed for me, thanks”.

I stumbled across a kindly fellow at the information centre by the Fodhani gardens, who offered to show me around for USD$25. I managed to get him down to $10 by feigning disinterest (works a treat) and had my own personal tour guide for the afternoon. It was a fantastic idea – you really will get lost in Stone Town and at least with a guide, you’re guaranteed to get out again! His name was Mohammed No.2 (his father is No.1, but I’m sure there are more than 2 Mohammeds on this predominantly Muslim island), and he knew almost everybody in town. This was a great ice breaker for the people we met on our walk; I managed to get some lovely photos of the locals and especially the kids. Always the kids! And I even managed to get a photo of a cat.

 Zanzibar is famous for its wooden doors. Back in the time it was being built, there was considerable Indian and Arabic influence, so there are 2 distinct styles of door. Those with hefty brass studs/spikes are Indian doors, the purpose of the studs is to stop elephants from ramming them down. Must work, because I haven’t seen a single elephant yet, let alone one ramming down a door. The Arabic doors are decorated with flowers and leaves, but the key distinguishing feature is the chain motif, which signifies that they were slave traders. I don’t think there are 2 doors the same in all of Stone Town. It’s against the law to take down the door frames, being a UNESCO world heritage site, so there is a lot of living history as you walk around.


I’ve managed to tick off a few essential travel experiences already: I tried the local beer, Kilimanjaro, and have bought a couple of beaded Maasai-style (or so I as told) bracelets. Tonight I’m meeting up with the crew from GAP Adventures and tomorrow we head to Nungwi for some beach time. OHHHH YEAH!


Until next time!


X ML

 

 Th beach in town

 Arabic door - note the chains

 Jaws corner - when men (only men) come to discuss things of importance.  Or, I suspect, just to complain about their wives

“Hello my friend! Where you from? You just arrive? You want to hire boat? I can take you to island, very nice, you can snorkel, I give you good price my friend! No boat? … Ok you want something to smoke? I have good mari… Very good only for you my friend, good smoke, good price…”