Blogs from Zanzibar, Tanzania, Africa

Literally. No metaphor here. We visited Zanzibar before, and now have visited Zanzibar again. Here are some highlights of the trip. - We stayed at the Dhow Palace Hotel (got a great deal by calling direct even when the booking sites said it was all full). This was literally the palace of a man who built it in the mid-1600s. His family kept it for about 200 years before it was taken over by his clan. Now it is a private hotel. Very cool place with lots of quirks, secrets, and fun antiques on display. - We found a great community shop run by this Rastaman. It's all local arts and crafts for sale to tourists like us. Some special stuff in here. I got the boys new shirts and gifted the owner with a portrait ... read more

According to some things that I have read, Zanzibar has been continuously occupied by human beings for some 30,000 years. According to some other things I’ve read, the earth was created less than 8,000 years ago. I wasn't there for either, I just read about it. Either way, people have been living on Zanzibar island for a very long time. The name Zanzibar comes from the Arabic words for, “land of the blacks”. They named it for the African people they found living there, whom they called the, “Zanj”. The Arabs mixed with the locals, forming the Swahili peoples, who built thriving trading cities over the past 1500 years or so. Inviting the Persians, Indians, Chinese, Indonesians, and others to join the trade in ivory, precious metals, and enslaved humans from the mainland, they built up ... read more

After three weeks of constant moving, activities and being on someone else's clock we were certainly looking forward to some R&R on Zanzibar...starting with four days on the beach in Jambiani, we couldn't have picked a more perfect spot to give our poor muscles some down time after the Kili adventure we had just finished...and no more camping! Lol...while I really enjoyed the tenting experience the thought of a proper bed and ensuite for the remainder of our time in East Africa was more than appealing... Half the climb group were heading to Zanzibar as well, so we hung out together for a bit at the airport before saying our final goodbyes...flight was interesting in the fact that the cruising altitude was actually less than the summit of Kili, that brought some serious perspective to the ... read more

A visit to the island of Zanzibar has always high been on my bucket list, having heard many times of the great sandy beaches along with atmosphere of the UNESCO World Heritage site of Stone Town, and this desire was only further increased after my visit to Oman a couple of years ago when I learnt of the historical trading relationship between these two countries. Given its colourful history, you can see evidence at times of each of African, Indian, Arab and European cultures, within each of the architecture, the cuisine and the people. While I declined to take one of the offered spice plantation tours, having experienced a similar tour previously in Granada, there was plenty of evidence of the presence of their products in the various markets, thus giving rise to Zanzibar being known ... read more

Zjutraj naju je še lepo upsavalo nazaj v spanec »škrebljanje« dežja. Se je vlilo in ker ni oken na šipah se je fajn slišal dež. Ko sva vstala je tudi deževalo, rahlo. Torej brez sonca danes. Kar nama je odkrito povedano, prav pasalo, glede na to, da naju je včeraj pa malo le zacmarlo. Šofer je prišel po naju ob 10ih, ko sem se vsedla v avto je za mano sedel še en njegov prijatelj; madona sem se ga vstrašla! Sploh nisem pričakovala, da še sedi kdo za mojim hrbtom, pa še tak črni so ko noč ti domorodci tukaj. Skratka, šli smo na drugo stran otoka, severno od Zanzibar cityja, to je zahodni del otoka, midva sva na spodnjem vzhodnem delu. Tu so baje najlepše plaže, na tej strani. In smo šli pogledati t.i. suženjske ... read more