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Published: January 6th 2007
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We'd been pre warned in Dar' that both the official and unofficial currency of Zanzibar was $US, so although we didn't like it we had our greenbacks ready. Even the dodgy customs official who stamped our passports made it clear that bribes were preferred in hard currency and on several occasions we had to ask local stall holders and shop keepers which country we were in when they would ask "Shillingi. What are they?" After fighting our way through the crowd of touts, taxi drivers and opportunists that were milling around the port, again we had been forewarned, we found a guesti that only wanted $30 per night for what was actually a decent standard room. We had already decided however that the absolute maximum we were prepared to pay per night was $20 and it took some special haggling with a very stubborn manageress to achieve our price. The ace up my sleeve came out when I waved $80 in her face as I walked out the door saying that the hotel next door knew what $80 was and would be happy to accept it in return for a bed for four nights. As soon as we were settled in
Forodhani night market
Assault on the taste buds! we set about exploring and losing ourselves in the labyrinth that is Stone Town. From as early as the 8th century the Zanzibar Archipelago has been inhabited, predominantly by Persian and Arab traders (amongst many others) dealing mostly in slaves, spices and ivory. Up until the top of the 19th century Unguja (as the main island is known to locals) and the rest of the archipelago was one of the most important trading centres in the Indian Ocean region. The wealth of the area and different dynasties is still evident today with over 500 hundred examples of immaculately carved, brass studded doors that front the grand Arab houses and mosques. 97% of Zanzibar is Islamic whilst the remaining 3% is made up of Christian, Hindu and Sikhs. The majority of the older dwellings of Stone Town were built with Coraline rock which erodes easily, meaning that many of the buildings are either in a state of disrepair or under restoration. Stone Town is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Getting lost in Stone Town is almost inevitable as there are markets, food stalls and bazaars every where and after you've looked at a few of them it is almost impossible to
Too many choices!
Ofcourse it was impossible to just choose one! remember from which alleyway or street you have come from. Thankfully we found our bearings fairly quickly and even though we spent our first couple of days wandering aimlessly we could navigate our way back to our guesti, via the Africa House Hotel where each afternoon we took our seats on the amazing roof lounge for perfect African sunsets and watching the kids play football whilst drinking cold beers and cocktails. Even though Africa House was purely a mzungu hangout it was definately the place to be early in the evening and also again later for kombe la dunia semi finals. Although Zanzibar was alot great deal more touristy and commercial than we had expected, we were still able to maintain a traditional Muslim and Swahili experience by eating at local stalls and restaurants and buying our goods from the local markets as opposed to the way overpriced touristy markets. Although it was everything that we generally try to avoid - touristy and overpriced, the Forodhani night markets were a visual and culinary assault on the senses. Dozens and dozens of food stalls lined the waterfront, all pretty much selling the same seafood delights that included curried lobster, king prawns,
Knock knock
The largest door in East Africa. calamari, fish skewers, saladi, chipsi, octopussi and so on. One stall that was inventive enough to sell something that no one else was selling was two guys wearing special tall chefs hats making and calling themselves "Zanzibar Pizza." Their chilli veg pizza followed by the banana and chocolate pizza were both scrumptious and at only 500 shillingi a pop they were good for the budget too. The Masai people, who are never far away from crowds of tourists in Tanzania were also out in force selling their crafts and jewellery and even though their fare was exactly the same as the next warriors, and the guy next to him, and the guy next to him too, they were adamant that theirs was original and hand crafted. For 3000Tsh - $3Aus I bought me a genuine, handcrafterd, original, one of a kind, guaranteed to ward off evil spirits and malarious mosquitoes masai maski necklace. Dani on the other hand was taking no rubbish from any of the shop keepers in the local fabric markets and after walking all around Stone Town to find a better price finished up with more kangas and kikois that she could possibly carry! We decided that
Kombe la Dunia
Every afternoon, every patch of available land was used for only one thing. Zanzibar was definately a great place to travel with an empty suitcase. Another of our "touristy adventures" came in the form of a Mr. Mitu spice tour. With about a dozen others we boarded a mini bus from our guesti and were shuttled all around Unguja exploring and learning about all the different spice plantations, how they are grown and maintaned, what they are used for, where they are exported too and even about the lifestyles of the different villages and farmers that make a living from the spices. Ofcourse every opportunity was taken by the locals to remind us that "they were selling" and it was actually hard to resist buying truckloads of different spices as they were so unbelievably cheap. These included cardoman coffee, lemongrass, nutmeg, ginger, barley, cinnamon, paprika, vanilla and quineen from "the malaria tree" which danielle gave a great big bear hug. (For any Aussie readers, dont try and send this stuff home as our esteemed customs officials had a field day with it and it never reached it's destination!) As part of our tour we also visited old underground slave quarters. Even now after the caves and dungeons are well out of use they
still brought the hairs on the back of our necks to a stand. It was evident that the conditions and tortures the former slaves would have had to endure would have been horrific. We finished off our day tour on a beautiful and secluded beach again watching local kids playing football as well as fisherman making repairs to their dhows. After four amazing days on Unguja and two on Chumbe we reluctantly left The Zanzibar Archipelago via the fast boat back to Dar'. For $20 each we had taken the slow boat from Dar' and it was a pleasant enough three and a half hour journey, but the the slow boat only returned overnight meaning that we'd either have to store our bags somewhere for the day or pay for another night at the hotel as well as enduring the conditions on the boat in the dark which from more of a safety aspect we weren't up for. In the end we decided just to pay the extra $15 each and take the fast boat. As soon as we had found our seats on the outside deck (mzungu section) a steward came around handing out sick bags. Sure enough the
Nutmeg - The horny nut.
It is considered an aphrodisiac here. ride was extremely bumpy and not only did it take about three hours still, almost everyone on the boat had used their sick bags! We were very glad to feel terra firma under our feet again although it did take us a good few hours to recover fully. Not even the "Aromas of Africa" could overpower the smell of sick that lingered after the slow fast boat ride. Arriving back in Dar was quite easy as we had previously spent a few days there. We knew where we needed to go and were made to feel welcome when we were recognised and greeted by some local touts "karibuni tena Aussies!" You are welcome again.
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