Blogs from Zanzibar City, Zanzibar, Tanzania, Africa - page 2
June 8th 2011
Before starting graduate school, I worked for a short stint as a host at an Ann Arbor restaurant called Zanzibar Pan-Tropical Bistro. The place’s shtick was that the food was a global fusion representing the tropics from around the world, using spices from that rather broad swath of the world. There was little that was specific to the real Zanzibar, but the name was meant to evoke a sense of the exotic - a faraway land redolent of spices, bathed in salty air. It was an easy choice of name for a “pan-tropical” bistro. Almost everyone has heard the name “Zanzibar”; almost everyone carries an image of what exotic Zanzibar is – or should be. It is an almost a mythic place. Sort of like “Timbuktu”. Except that Zanzibar is a real island, just like Timbuktu ... read more
May 25th 2011
There can be few places in the world that are better for people watch than Jaws Corner in the centre of Zanibar's old Stone Town. An elderly gentleman has set up an impromptu coffee stall, and the junction, where four of Zanzibar's winding alleys converge, has become a meeting place for everyone on the island. The coffee is brewed is two stainless steel kettles, balanced precariously over a small charcoal stove. It's drank in the small handle-less porcelain cups so common in the Muslim world, from Cairo to the Indian Ocean. And when you're finished, the cups are washed clean in rainwater collected from an overflowing gutter that runs from the roofs of one of the surrounding dilapidated buildings,complete with rusty roofs, and rotting shutters hanging ajar on the last hinge. And as you sip the ... read more
April 28th 2011
After quitting our jobs, moving out of our apartment and sending our belongings off to storage for a year, we finally began a new chapter of our lives here in Africa. Our first flight from Hong Kong was to Tanzania and our journey commenced on the tropical island of Zanzibar. Zanzibar is a small island of 800,000 people, approx 90 % of which are Muslim. Our first few nights were spent at a beach town called Bwejuu located on the east coast of Zanzibar. The east coast is quiet and most of the beaches are untouched, maintaining their natural beauty. Our timing wasn’t perfect as it was the beginning of the low/rainy season and it rained most days. We made the most of our days staying at the Twisted Palm Lodge, had beach walks, hired a ... read more
March 12th 2011
Hello again…. Finally (after a 2 hour boat ride) arrived in Zanzibar. It was incredibly hot, but in yet another muslim country I had to cover up…not impressed - but as they say here...Hakuna Matata! We immediately met out new group members and much to Danny’s disappointment they were all girls and one 50 year old guy from Canada….oh well! I know travelling is meant to broaden the mind, but when danny refers to wanting better conversation – he really means he wants a guy to chat about sport to! And who says find out about brad and angelina isn’t interesting…………. Anyway, straight off the boat we headed straight to our hotel - it was lovely – a big 4 poster bed with flowing white mosquito nets –and not inside a tent! Loved it! We then ... read more
March 9th 2011
So after the bright lights of Dubai, we landed back in reality in Nairobi in the evening and met up with Aleem, Carrie’s friend from Uni who lives in Nairobi. He kindly took us out for a bite to eat (best Indian food we have had, including when we went to India!) and a few Tusker beers. Unfortunatley, we left at 7am the next morning so that was the extent of Nairobi that we saw, but it was great to see a friendly face! So, the next morning we were up early and met our group, guide and bus that is taking us all the way to Cape Town in the next 40 days. There are 21 of us in all, with ages ranging from 19 to pensioners. Lots of different nationalities but I am one ... read more
December 29th 2010
Zanzibar has only one airport, so no risk of going to the wrong airport this time. The flight to Mombasa was on a bigger plane than the one from Arusha to Zanzibar. It is such a joy to walk on a tarmac and up a stair case to get to a plane. It feels like real travel. In cold Canada it certainly makes sense to protect the passengers from the dangerous elements outside. But jetways don't give the same feeling of journey as walking on a tarmac and up a flight of airplane stairs. Of course, we have the luxury of saying this while we're young. When we're older and feebler, we'd probably be asking for jetways in place of staircases. Another small reason why we're trying to do as much travelling at this age before ... read more
December 25th 2010
Zanzibar is a beautiful island with an ugly history. Stone town or Zanzibar town was fought over many times, but was primarily under the control of the Sultan of Oman who wrestled control and maintained it by moving his administrative offices from Muscat to Zanzibar. The ugly history has to do with Slavery. Hundreds of thousands of slaves were hauled in from the African mainland and kept here before they were shipped off to Arabia or the Americas. We visited the site of the old Slave market, which is now an Anglican church. The slaves used to be held in horrible conditions in the dungeons of what is now the church. Later on, the British banned slavery but this was not necessarily for altruistic purposes. Slavery was the source of much of Zanzibar's wealth and power, ... read more
December 25th 2010
Jambo! We are currently in Zanzibar. We have been here since Tuesday morning. This is the island that musa was born on and grew up on. He was able to meet some of his old childhood friends and alot of people that his parents are friends with and he grew up knowing. We saw the hospital he was born in, the school he went to, the old house he lived in, and the shop where his dad's and uncles stores use to be. We also saw the house his uncle and aunt use to live in. He was very excited to see all the streets he use to walk down and all the places he use to go as a kid. The ferry ride across the Indian ocean was 2 hours long and I got burnt ... read more
December 25th 2010
We booked tickets from Arusha to Zanzibar online on an airline named Fly540.com. We'd never heard of this airline before, but the online comments seemed positive. It certainly beat travelling for ten hours on a rough road. The flight was at 13:30 and we were told to be there 2 hours earlier which made it 11:30 and the taxi driver said it takes an hour to drive to the airport, so we left the Outpost Lodge at 10:30. The driver asked if we were heading to the Arusha airport and Nalin confirmed that we were going to the Kili airport which is an hour away. There is an Arusha airport just outside of town, and is for small prop planes that fly small groups to the Safari parks. We had passed this airport on our way ... read more
October 29th 2010
EXOTIC ZANZIBAR Zanzibar is a group of islands in the Indian Ocean close to the coast of mainland Tanzania. It has endless silver sand beaches, calm blue seas, historic architecture, friendly people, a past associated with wealth, greed and cruelty and many tales of Sultans, princes and princesses. Island of Sultans, forts and palaces: Zanzibar has been influenced by African, Persian, Portuguese, Arabic, Indian and British cultures. It has been inhabited for around 2,000 years. The Persians who were the first outsiders to visit the islands had built Zoroastrian fire temples here. The Portuguese had built the fort and ruled from Zanzibar from around 1498. The fort is an open air art gallery today and holds the Zanzibar Film Festival. Wh... read more
