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Published: October 26th 2010
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Zanzibar
Stonetown - one of the main roads What a different crossing a border makes, from the moment I crossed from into Tanzania from Malawi I seemed to get hassled, I had a few really bad days and just wanted to get on the first flight home. I will not bore everyone with the details except to say that a white person is seen as a meal ticket and everyone seemed to want to rip me off. I traveled to Mbeya, then on to Dar es Salaam I disliked both places, so headed to Zanzibar as quickly as I could, I had heard positive things about it and it was one place I had always wanted to visit.
The very name of Zanzibar puts the imagination into overdrive. It is also know as the spice islands, and was once the center of the slave trade, it is only 6 degrees south of the equator and sits about 50 kilometers of the east coast Tanzania. It has tried for independence, but is part of Tanzania although it has a very different feel to it.
Most people, like me, travel to Zanzibar by boat which docks in the old town of Stonetown which is part of Zanzibar City, and has been
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Africa House - Stonetown designated as a world heritage site. It has had many different influences over the years and has a mixture of Arabic, Indian, and European styles, it is a fascinating place with a maze of narrow roads and alleyways along which double doors open to reveal shops with dark interiors that go back deep into the buildings.
Some people I met think Stonetown has to many tourists, but I don't agree, if you if you compare it to places such as Venice the numbers are small, and if you get off the main tourist alleyways and take the ones that run deeper into the town, the tourist shops change to shops selling everyday goods and services such as bicycle repairs, dress making, carpentry etc, and the locals are just going about their normal lives. In the main streets & alleyways, you get approached by guys trying to sell you tours, gifts etc, they ask you your name and where you are from, after a couple of days they recognised me and realised I was not buying, they had trouble saying my name so would just shout out "Kiwi, Jambo" which means "hi", and wave.
I had been given the contact details
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One of the many doors that Stonetown is famous for of a local guy who's family own a few houses in the town and rent them out, so I ended up with a room in a very basic, but clean, three bedded house. I had my own small bathroom and a TV with 30 channels . There was also a kitchen, dinning room and sitting area, and the other two rooms were also let out to other travelers.
I ended up staying over 2 weeks there, plus a few days traveling around the island to some of the beaches, it was really good to have a base for a little while and gave me time to explore Stonetown.
There is a large market on the edge of the old town, it is a crazy place that attacks all the senses, there is no such thing as supermarkets here, so fresh food is purchased daily. There are different sections in the market, one section sells fish, another meat, then there is sections selling, rice & grains, fruit & veg, spices etc, you must squeeze between the different stalls and people, and barter prices, at first it was a bit intimidating, but
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Stonetown after a couple of visits I got use to it.
I got into a bit of a daily routine; I would buy fresh fruit, tomatoes etc from the market, then just around the corner from the house I discovered a set of large double doors that opened to a dark sooty interior, in the corner were 2 open fires built into the wall, here is where all the bread is made that the street sellers sell at the market etc. Every day there would be a long que of bicycles with woven baskets attached waiting for the bread to come out of the ovens. The men working there would sell me a couple of small loaves and I would then have to juggle them back to the house so not to burn my hands. So each day I prepared my breakfast and lunch, but most evenings I usually went out to eat. Sometimes I met up with Alex (one of the other people staying at the house) and we would walk to the far end of Stonetown to where the ferry's came in, and eat with the locals in one of the many street cafes, or I would treat
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Stonetown myself to one of the more expensive Indian restaurants ( the Indian food was so good) or I would meet up with other people I met and we would go to Forodhani Gardens where loads of food stores are set up every evening (mainly for the tourists) selling a selection of fish, seafood and meat on sticks, you make your choice, then they put it on small open fires and serve it in a choice of different flat breads with salad. I never had any as everything was precooked then just warmed up, I ordered the vegetarian Zanzibar pizza (I will explain when I see you), or small balls of mashed potatoes coated and deep fried, or the banana bread, but the best thing was the fresh squeezed sugarcane juice with fresh ginger and lime; delicious.
Although I am a tight budget, it is good to see how the other half live and occasionally I would go to Africa House which is a very upmarket hotel and was once the British Club, up on the first floor is a very smart open fronted bar that has the feel of arabian nights about it; all big cushions and hubble bubble pipes,
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Fisherman on Dhow and over looking the ocean, a very good place for a sundowner.
But most nights I would go to the Livingstone Bar/restaurant (was once the British Embassy) for a drink it has happy hour between 5pm-7pm, and has an outside area right on the small beach which is a great place to watch the Zanzabarian world go by; At the side of the Livingstone is a narrow road that ends as it reaches the beach, large cargo ships sail right up onto the beach in front of this road and lowers its rams, there are no cranes or concrete ramps here, the locals just throw down some split tree trunks and the car and trucks trundle off. There are people swarming all over the ship unloading and loading, carry everything you can think of on their back; fridge/freezers, car engines, etc.
Young boys swim and play in the sea next to the ship, climbing up the ships anchor rope, then hang for a few minutes before droping back into the water. Older boys practice acrobatics (it seems to be a big pastime activity here) on the beach using an old truck tyre to spring off, women and girls of the
family all dressed up in flamboyant and colorful clothes stroll down the beach to socialise, in between all this is the tourist with their hugh cameras trying to take photos of the setting sun as it disappears behind the many boats; tradition dhows and super yachts.
Once or twice a few of us ended up at the local reggae club (reggae is big in Africa); after paying a small entry fee you walk through a door, and only then do you realise the club has no roof, there are a few tables & chairs, a bar that appears to be in a cage (I didnt dwell to long on why they would need a cage), a pool table that was surrounded by scooters and motorbikes as the locals drive them straight in, and then try and play pool around them, a large dance area, and a DJ pumping out reggae music all night. Everyone dances together, and everyone wants to be your friend, there was also the constant aroma of a locally grown plant in the air, all very amusing.
I went out to a few beaches for a few days; swimming, snorkeling, and reading on long white sandy beaches bordered by palm trees and with coral reefs, but even paradise can get boring and after 4 days and reading 4 books, I headed back to Stonetown. I also acted as a real tourist for one day and went on a spice tour which was really interesting.
I really enjoyed my time on Zanzibar, but then it was time to move on to my next project.
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