Island is the “A Word a Week Challenge” this week. My contributions are from the Island of Zanzibar off the coast of Tanzania, Africa.
Tag Archives: Zanzibar
Former Slave Market site in Zanzibar
While I was exploring Stone Town on the Island of Zanzibar, Tanzania, I walked by The Anglican Christ Church Cathedral…
and saw that it was the former slave market site. It was only a few dollars to view it and there were a number of guys standing around offering to give tours, so I asked one of the men how much he charged. He said he worked for tips…whatever I wanted to give…so off I went for a tour!
The tour lasted about 20 minutes. First we walked through the church and he explained that since slavery had been abolished in the States in 1863 and it wasn’t abolished in Zanzibar until 1873, for those 10 years, the slaves were shipped to other countries other than the U.S., such as Dubai and other Middle Eastern countries. While researching for this post, I found information that is contrary to what my tour guide gave. Actually, slavery wasn’t completely abolished in the U.S. until 1865 and in Zanzibar until 1897. There was a treaty signed with Britain to suppress slavery in Zanzibar in 1873.
This is the interior of the church…
Here is an underground area where the slaves were kept. The guide said as many as 50 women and children were in this one room where they slept. This area had a palatable sadness. Seeing the shackles and trying to imagine living in these conditions left an imprint!
The last country in Africa to abolish slavery was Niger in 1960. Even then it wasn’t illegal until 2003. From 1960 until 1981 slavery was abolished in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Mauritania, respectively. I was surprised by this.
Although slavery is illegal in all nations, it still exists, or forms of it, throughout the world!
Related articles
- African Postman: The Legacy of Slavery in Zanzibar, Tanzania (petchary.wordpress.com)
- My Little Friend from Zanzibar (ireport.cnn.com)
- I’ll come back to Zanzibar… (thehindu.com)
Sante Sana – Stone Town
It was time to return to Stone Town, Zanzibar for one final night after staying two nights about an hour North of Stone Town in the seaside town of Nungwi. I would be making my way back home to Ohio after spending 40 days going through six (actually seven if you count going into Zimbabwe to see Victoria Falls from that side) countries in Africa!
I had only explored Stone Town for an afternoon a few days previously, so I was looking forward to another day of walking from one twisting street to the next…getting lost and taking lots of photographs!
We had learned to say “No thank you” in Swahili “Hapana Sante”, but we also learned to say “Thank you very much” — “Sante Sana”. I enjoyed saying that more!
I went out on my own this time and felt very safe. That’s one of the things I learned on this trip (that will be another post). You may read that somewhere is not safe or someone will tell you a story of something bad that happened to them, but if you keep an open mind, you have a completely different experience (but I don’t mean travel in areas with a war going on…you know what I mean!).
Here are some photos from the day…
I asked one of the locals where a good place to eat was and he said Lookiman’s (or something like that). He gave me directions, but there aren’t many street signs, so I asked someone else along the way and ultimately found the restaurant. It was definitely a locals’ hangout, so I knew the food would be good. I had lentils, some type of curry, a yummy rice and some naan bread.
More walking…
Although Stone Town was amazing…I was ready to go home! I was more mentally/ emotionally exhausted than anything! But stay tuned, we’re not finished with Africa yet!
Related articles
- My Tour From Zanzibar to Nairobi (vickyflipfloptravels.com)
- Itinerary for Africa (travelspirit333.wordpress.com)
- Weekly Photo Challenge ~ Friendship (ronmayhewphotography.wordpress.com)
Sunset Cruise – One life jacket…plenty of Rum and Coke
I spent two nights at the Amaan Bungalows in Nungwi, Zanzibar and an optional activity through my G Adventures 35 day Overland Truck adventure was a two-hour Sunset Cruise with all you can drink beer and Rum & Coke, followed by a fish dinner on the beach with a bonfire, for $35. Although I didn’t have any preconceived ideas of what it would be like, when I approached the boat, I have to admit I thought it seemed a bit rickety or primitive…
There was one life jacket, but plenty of drinks!!
Unfortunately, when the two young Danish girls were getting onto the boat, the wood was wet and one of them…Kikki…slipped and hurt her foot. Here she is with her foot propped up…
Here’s our driver…James and another G Adventures Tour Director in training.
I spent the two hours on the second level with these fellow travelers…
and here is my roommate…Suzanne…
Cheers!!
That night after the cruise, we had a great time on the beach…eating, drinking and dancing! It was so much fun…I don’t have any photos!!
Related articles
- Hapana Sante – Stone Town, Zanzibar (travelspirit333.wordpress.com)
- Itinerary for Africa (travelspirit333.wordpress.com)
Paradise in Nungwi, Zanzibar
The seaside town of Nungwi on the Island of Zanzibar is absolutely gorgeous! With only three days left of my G Adventures 35 day Overland Truck tour through six countries in Africa, I was ready for some relaxation! After a two-hour spice plantation tour, we headed to the Amaan Bungalows in Nungwi.
I thought this was pretty cool…underwater Yoga!
Here’s the garbage man with the odd looking cow…
It didn’t take me long to hit the beach…my first time in the Indian Ocean!
Here are two Russian girls that had joined our group…
And a sight I’ve not encountered anywhere else…Masai Mara on the beach! And looking quite dashing!!
As usual, the sunset was gorgeous in Africa…
That evening I played pool with some of the people from our group and our Tour Director and Driver…Jess and James. We had a great time!!
Nungwi, Zanzibar is stunning!
Related articles
- Hapana Sante – Stone Town, Zanzibar (travelspirit333.wordpress.com)
- Why I’m so glad I left Canada and came to Africa (anitaleemedia.com)
- My Little Friend from Zanzibar (ireport.cnn.com)
- My Tour From Zanzibar to Nairobi (vickyflipfloptravels.com)
- Itinerary for Africa (travelspirit333.wordpress.com)
Spice Plantation Tour in Zanzibar
An activity that was included in my 35 day G Adventures Overland Truck adventure was a two hour Spice Plantation Tour on the island of Zanzibar—off the coast of Tanzania. Spices are one of the top forms of revenue for Tanzania; although they’ve been surpassed years ago by Indonesia. We got to try different types of fruit, like Mango, Oranges, Grapefruit, Pomegranate, Papaya, Passion Fruit, Banana, Soursop, Pineapple and Coconut! They made hats for us and we drank coconut juice!
The chickens were fighting over the coconut droppings. This chicken was strange looking!
These little girls were off in the woods….so I zoomed in to get their photo…
This guy wrapped some type of strong leaf in a figure 8 around his feet, jumped up on the tree and began leaping like a frog up the tree! He was singing the entire time and made it to the top!
Another guy in our group wanted to try it…he got up about 8 feet and stopped. It’s harder than it looks!!
During the tour we stopped at all types of spice plants/trees. This is nutmeg. The guide would give all of us some of the plant, have us smell it and see if we could guess what it was.
I don’t remember what this red one is…
This is vanilla!
The Spice Plantation tour was quite educational!
Hapana Sante–Stone Town, Zanzibar
If you read my last post (see here), you know that my G Adventures 35 day Overland Truck tour had a 13 hour day yesterday, driving through Tanzania, to Dar Es Salaam, where we spent the night camping. The next morning we were packed up and left by 7:30am via Tuk Tuks, with Stone Town, Zanzibar as our destination! Stone Town (a World Heritage site) is 95% Islam with an average life expectancy of 48 years and the main sources of income are tourism and the sale of spices.
Our Tuk Tuk drivers transported us onto a ferry for a short ride to the main ferry that goes to the island of Zanzibar, located approximately 20 miles off-shore and takes about two hours to reach. We arrived at 11am and this was my first view of the island…
We made our way to Mazson’s Hotel, where we would stay for one evening, before heading North to a beach resort in Nungwi, which is located about an hour away. This was my room and my roommate’s name was Suzanne. She is from Belgium!
This was the view across from the Hotel…
Because this was an ending and/or beginning point for G Adventure trips, new people joined our group. I met Samantha and Kathleen, Scientists from America, and they said they had gone out walking around Stone Town and didn’t like the assertive touts trying to sell things to them. We had learned how to say “No Thank You” in Swahili, “Hapana Sante”, so the three of us set off to get lost in the winding, narrow streets of Stone Town. It was an odd feeling to not consult a map…to just walk and not care if you didn’t know where you were.
This is Samantha…
And here’s Kathleen…
I had a good time saying “Hapana Sante” with a smile on my face and the touts seemed to like it! It became a game! It reminded me a bit of Egypt, but they weren’t as aggressive… or I was just more prepared.
The architecture, people and culture of Stone Town, Zanzibar were very intriguing to me!
Sherry Lachelle Travels 
