After 10 days of long drives and amazing wildlife viewing, I decided to spend my last week in East Africa chilling on the beach in Zanzibar. Zanzibar is a gorgeous island off the coast of Tanzania with a complicated history. Beyond it’s gorgeous beaches, it is most well known for being a major hub in the slave trade up until basically the start of the twentieth century.
One funny anecdote before I get into Zanzibar, at the airport when I went to check in for my flight they asked me for proof of a return flight. Of course, I hadn’t booked one yet because I wasn’t even sure where I was going next. I told them as much and they were not as impressed as others are when I tell them I literally plan out my next destination about a week in advance. Apparently it’s highly unusual for an American to fly to Africa without a return flight 😂. I tried to argue with her that my Tanzanian visa was technically good for a year but she wasn’t having it. So I told her, “fine I’ll book a flight right now.” At which point she definitely thought I was a crazy person. I was planning to meet up with some Tulane friends in eastern Europe, so I booked a flight from Zanzibar to Sarajevo at the counter and she then allowed me to board the plane.
First stop in Zanzibar was Stone Town, which is a historic Arab trade hub that was one of the more unique places I’ve ever been. The city was like a massive labrynth with very narrow streets (like 4-8 feet wide in most places), that really didn’t make a lot of sense. It was very easy to get lost and it was actually pretty enjoyable to just get lost and wander the streets. I stayed in this cool little apartment that was right above the main market. It was very loud with hundreds of people outside constantly haggling and shouting in Arabic and Swahili, but I really enjoyed being right in the action. During my time in Stone Town I went to the old slave market, which now has a cathedral built on top of it as well as a museum that talked about the history of the slave trade, which was very sad. Slavery was officially outlawed on Zanzibar in the 1890s, but persisted under the table well into the 20th century. They also took us into one of the areas slaves were actually held, which was horrifying. It was a very cramped room that held 75 grown men, with ceilings were about 4 feet tall, no daylight and a trench running through it where everyone went to the bathroom. Those types of museums always really bum me out, but it was interesting to learn more about it.
The next day I took a boat ride to prison island, which was originally constructed to be a prison but after it was built it was repurposed to serve as a quarantine for yellow fever during a pandemic and ended up never actually serving as a prison. The most interesting part of the island was the fact that it was home to a colony of massive tortoises that were apparently brought to Zanzibar over 100 years ago from Seychelles as gifts for the British nobles who lived in the island. There were well over 100 of these massive tortoises walking around, including one that was 180 years old and had been brought over originally from Seychelles. They gave us cabbage to feed them and I also learned that the tortoises like it when you massage them in between their legs and shell. Beyond that I pretty much spent the rest of my time in Stone Town wandering the streets and eating some incredible seafood. Fun fact, I also learned Freddy Mercury was born in Stone Town and lived there for like 5 years.
My last night in Zanzibar, I also got bamboozled into taking a tour of the doors of Zanzibar. I was walking to dinner and this guy who is walking next to me starts telling me about this door we’re walking by and explaining to me how to identify Indian doors. We then happened to walk by an Arab door and he explained how they are different than Indian doors. It wasn’t until we reached a Swahili door that I realized I was on a door tour that I didn’t sign up for 😂.
After Stone Town, I headed to kiwengwa beach for 3 days of relaxing on gorgeous white sand beaches before it was time to begin a European adventure.
