Blogs from Zanzibar City, Zanzibar, Tanzania, Africa - page 2

Weird "Zanzibar" facts: 1. One of the Bob Hope/Bing Crosby "road" movies had them taking a voyage with Dorothy Lamour to this mystical island. 2. Freddie Mercury, lead singer of "Queen", was born in its capital city, "Stone Town". 3. A skanky strip bar in downtown Toronto is called, "Club Zanzibar". 4. A flight on "Precision Air" gets you from the Tanzanian capital "Dar Es Salaam" in 30 minutes...15 minutes to get the passengers and the luggage loaded into the claustraphobic propeller plane and 15 minutes to actually fly to the island. It was however, a most magnificent ending to my first "African" journey. A visit to Zanzibar is in many ways, a time travel back into the times of sultans, fine silks and aromatic spices. It is a predominantly Muslim island and while I was ... read more

After a night at Mikardi beach we made our way on tut tuts to the ferry terminal where we waited to board the ferry to Zanzibar. After taking a motion sickness tablet we buckled down for the two and a half hour journey, we were very lucky as the waves were quite calm. (A week later we found out that the ferry we caught had sunk with 150 people dead) After passing through immigration and finding our hotel in the maze like streets of Stone Town we found a cafe on the waterfront and treated ourselves to some delicious lunch. After lunch some of our group made their way to the slave market or did a spice tour. We decided to wonder around ourselves, we found an amazing local market where I brought some dresses made ... read more

A slow day today, went on a spice tour in the the morning which was actually a lot more interesting that I thought it would be - who knew that mace & nutmeg came from the same plant? Had the otion of going to the beach or returning to Stonetown after the tour and as I'll be spending the next 4 days on the beach opted to go back to Stonetown and continue wandering the narrow alleyways, it's a very cool place. Had a look at the House of Wonders, so called because it was the first house in East Africa to have electric lights, running water and an elevator - all wondrous things. Went down to Forodhani Gardens for dinner - a giant open air BBQ - probably the best thing on offer was the ... read more

One more early start, hopefully this is the last one. Joined the crush to get aboard the 7.00am ferry and 2 hours later I'm fighting my way through the touts on the Zanzibar wharf. The Princess Salme Inn is only 100 metres from the port, built in the old Moorish style with an open courtyard interior and loads of stairs. Zanzibar is a lot more laid back than mainland Tanzania, even the touts don't push as hard, I think I'm going to like this place. Spent a couple of hours wandering around the narrow winding streets of the old town and found myself going past the same shops time after time, the place is like some sort of crazy maze. Took a $10 2 hour walking tour of the town in the afternoon so I'm slowly ... read more

I take back every bad word I ever said, and every bad thought I ever had, about Stone Town. Well, not every single one, but most of them. It's not a bad old place, really. We went back there today and we had a couple of hours to kill before catching the ferry to the mainland. I had resolutely decided to stay inside and catch up on some blogging and banking, more to avoid being assaulted/groped/offered drugs than because my to-do list was particularly urgent. But in the end I headed out with Sarah and Rebecca to explore the Stone Town labyrinth some more and give it a second chance. We found ourselves in the shopping district, where men and women wove at looms inside dimly lit rooms, and the shop doorways were awash with colourful ... read more

It takes less than three minutes to form an opinion about someone you have just met. I believe that something similar must be true for places as well, because it didn't take long for me to decide that I didn't like Stone Town. I'm not sure what, exactly, made me decide this. It might have been the anti-tourist man who shouldered into me so violently, and deliberately, that at home he'd be arrested for common assault. It might have been the eight year old girl who ran up to me and Rebecca and groped us. It might have been the cockroach in our room. It might have been the smell of old fish and sewage that roiled through the streets and choked me when the breeze picked up. Or, I don't know, but it might even ... read more