Tanzania - The Turning Tides of Zanzibar

October 16-19

Hello everyone!

Tanzania is a large place. The mainland area, which used to be known as Tanganyika, became independent from the United Kingdom in 1961. It became Tanzania three years later, when Tanganyika formed a union with a rather famous island…

The beautiful blue waters of Zanzibar

The island is about 90 km long and 40 km wide

Zanzibar is often a synonym for the exotic, a peaceful, sunny and tropical nirvana. What better place to go after a few safaris?

Panorama of Paje beach, just before it got lashed with rain

For a small island, they had an excellent stock of gigantic fruit

It took a while to get there. Air Tanzania once again had a four-hour delay due to ‘operational reasons’ (jargon to fob people off). With no warning, either. Instead of soaking up the sunshine, we thus spent a morning sat in Kilimanjaro International Airport.

The plane itself is modern and nice - just wish it had arrived earlier...

As soon as you take off, you can see Mount Kilimanjaro from the plane window

When we did land, we had to sign an immigration form. Though a domestic flight, Zanzibar does have a fair degree of autonomy from the mainland. It even has its own President, though I’m not entirely sure how that works.

Immigration...on a domestic flight...

The current President of Zanzibar

The island is much bigger than I anticipated, with it taking over an hour to get from the airport in the west to the sleepy beach of Paje in the east. On the way we passed through parts of Zanzibar which haven’t been touched by the tourist shilling. Some of it was beautiful; some of it very poverty-stricken.

How most of the local population live - cramped and under tin roofs

Terrible photo which was supposed to show
us under a long stretch of mango trees

We arrived in Paje late in the afternoon to find...clouds. Menacing black clouds. Not quite the sun-kissed utopia imagined. It was quite windy as well, though I expected this as I’d read that the southeastern part of the island is renowned for kitesurfing.

The plastic bag ban in Tanzania often leaves the beaches very clean

I was tempted by kitesurfing, then settled for being very lazy

The tide on the eastern side of the island is incredible. On a 6am morning walk, the waters of the Indian Ocean swell up to the top of the white sands. A matter of hours later, the turquoise sea is out near the horizon, leaving boats stranded on the beach.

The wildly oscillating tide on the eastern side of Zanzibar

A few hours before and these people would have
been up to their chests in the warm water

The sandbank is quite flat, meaning that you can walk out a long way regardless of the tide being in or out. 

The sea seems to be at the horizon

I think these local women were collecting seaweed -
3% of the world's seaweed harvesting happens here

Paje doesn’t feel particularly developed or overly touristy, with occasional hawkers inexplicably dressed as Masai tribesmen mixing with coconut and bead sellers. 

Mopeds can zip along the firm sand when the tide is out

I haven't been to Harrod's in a while but I
assume it hasn't changed to look like this...

We took a pleasant stroll down the beach one day, heading towards a jetty about 3 km away. Those ominous clouds which formed the background of many pictures on the first two days decided to roll in as we walked back, with rain lashing the seashore and its neighbouring cafes. We had to take shelter for about half an hour while the clouds dropped their load on the island.

This jetty is between Paje and the sleepy village of Jambiani

This was a relatively short storm compared to the rain we experienced and trudged through when we took a day trip to the largest city on the island, Stone Town. There don’t seem to be any drains there, resulting in large puddles forming across the labyrinth of narrow pathways. The rain can't be good for the 1000+ coral 'stone' buildings which give the area its name.

We were told Zanzibar has two rainy seasons: October isn't one of them

The house of Sayyida Salme, a Zanzibar
princess who ran off with a German merchant

Stone Town has an interesting history. It used to be the seat of the Omani Empire and the Arabic influence is still eminent today. It was also a key trading post between Africa and India, reflected in the wide variety of spices you can acquire in local markets.

Zanzibaris are proud of the history of their doors,
over 200 of which have Arabic and Indian influences

The house where Freddie Mercury spent
the first few years of his life

As with most of this region, the British decided they wanted to have a piece of paradise in their own empire. In 1896 they gave the Sultan three days to surrender. He refused. The British bombed Stone Town using two boats. Zanzibar surrendered just over 30 minutes later. This event is sometimes described as history’s shortest ‘war’, though I’d suggest that it was a bit too one-sided to be given that name.

No match for British naval forces...

This was the first building in East Africa to have an elevator

The bombardment took place in front of the House of Wonders, the island’s first building to have electricity (our guide’s claim that this was the first building in all of Africa to have electricity is unsubstantiated). Nearby is Forodhani Gardens, which plays host to a food market each evening. Stalls selling kebabs of any seafood you can think of are sandwiched in between fried pizza makers and shawarma skewers. The market has a lot of hype, which I didn’t feel it lived up to, especially compared to the food found in Paje.

The steam from meat on the grill

A wide variety of overpriced seafood was on offer

Seafood is the obvious food choice on Zanzibar’s main island. Octopus was a particular hit, but any seafood or fish were the dish for just about every meal. In spite of being an overwhelmingly Islamic territory, alcohol is easily found on Zanzibar. As well as ‘Coca-Cola Zanzibar’ - also known as coconut juice.

Fresh calamari and octopus - I could eat this every day

The beer of choice in Zanzibar

Its position between India and the African continent results
in many great flavours - masala chai is everywhere

One other sea creature which can strangely be found in Zanzibar - thankfully, not eaten - is a tortoise. Lots of them, actually. Over 100 tortoises reside on a small rock known as Prison Island (which was never used as a prison). The first four were a gift from the Seychelles and they have multiplied significantly over the years.

They have their ages written in blue on their
large shells - many are over 100 years old

An interesting technique for trying to get the tortoise
to raise its head - not one I'll be trying anytime soon...

The tortoises are one way of summing up my overall feeling towards Zanzibar. A bit exotic, a bit quirky, a bit historical...and a place where visitors can be very content to move very slowly when the Sun shines.

I found my Dad!

Bit too much Sun for my face on this holiday?

Bye Zanzibar. Bye bliss.

Love you all,

Matt