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Nicole's
Travelogues and Budget Travel Tips..
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ZANZIBAR, TANZANIA
The first thing I notice in the cool maze of dirt alleys is that I have never seen so many cats in a foreign country before. I literally passed about 25 cats in the first 5 minutes. They looked fairly healthy too! Must be a nice supply of mice and rats around - though I didn't see any. Second thing I noticed - um am I still in East Africa? Looked just like North Africa - the people, the architecture, the language, everything. Zanzibar is quite different from the rest of Tanzania - it was fantastic!
So I'm still walking and can't seem to find the water - I must be going in the wrong direction. Hummm the sun is going dowm and now I am passing huge apartment buildings and it's looking like West Oakland. Humm I haven't seen a tourist since the market. LOADS of men on the street - I mean literally there are about 75 in one block (It's been like that all trip - the women are all inside). Maybe I should turn around. No, I'll just stay on this road - it must lead somewhere. OK now I'm feeling like I need to find a taxi and get back to central Stone Town. The one time I actually want a taxi and I can't find one. Crap - it will be dark in 10 minutes and I will be in big trouble! Thankfully I run into a post office that is still open and has an internet cafe. Whoo hoo! I log on and read Helen's email - they are staying at Jambo and left a note for me on the board about where they will be. Great! I am just down the block from them! I ask the post office guy to call me a cab and I am back at my hostel in 20 minutes. I walk to Jambo and get Helen's note - it's too late to meet them so I leave a note for them telling them to come to Flamingo when they get back. So I settle in at Flamingo and talk to the guys that work there. Shibo owns the place and tells me about Zanzibar. He then relates his experience with Clinton - he got to talk to him for a few minutes and shake his hand. He said he was the friendliest American politician he had met. Had he met anyone else? I didn't ask but he did say that Bush's wife was there and she wasn't a nice lady. Ha ha hhaa funny! Later I went up to the rooftop-turned-patio to look at the view. About 6 of us (all backpackers) are up there so Shibo brings us treats - buscuits and avocado juice (yea sounds strange but the bottle said it was mixed with mango juice so we figured it was fruity). The avacado juice was a pleasant surprise - it was delicious (at least until 8 hours later...). A few minutes later Helen walks up the stairs a shade darker than last time I saw he (they went to Kenyan coast to Lamu and Malindi). It's sooo good to see a friendly face after the stalker hassles in Arusha! We catch up for an hour and make plans to go on Spice Tour the next day. In bed by 11pm. |
Zanzibar officially refers to the archipelago that include Unguja (the Swahili name for Zanzibar Island) and Pemba, surrounded by about 50 smaller ones. The main town and economic centre is Stone Town on the actual island of Zanzibar. Zanzibar's main industries are spices (including nutmeg, cinnamon and pepper) and tourism. Zanzibar is the leading world clove producer and is also the only home of the Zanzibar Red Colobus monkey. Once the center of the slave and ivory trade, Zanzibar welcomed into its harbour ships loaded with goods from India and the Far East as well as Europe and America. Although Zanzibar is part of Tanzania, it elects its own president who is head of government for matters internal to the island. Zanzibar also has its own House of Representatives (with 50 seats, directly elected by universal suffrage to serve five-year terms) to make laws especially for it. The musician Farrokh Bulsara (a.k.a Freddie Mercury) of Queen was born in Zanzibar in 1946. There is also a restaurant named 'Mercurys' on the beachfront of Stone Town.
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Anyway, I kind of knew the direction I was supposed to go in but the allies aren't in straight lines, so you are always zig zagging around. I ended up out of the maze and by a market - yum good time to buy some fruit, so I bought a mango and some bananas for 20 cents. The market was on a major street, so I figured I would stay on it and hit something interesting. I pass a bunch of Mosques and Muslim schools (Zanzibar is @ 90% Muslim) and lots of car repair/tool shops. Guys aren't as aggressive here than in Arusha (thankfully) but there are LOADS of them hanging out on the street. Most are polite and just stare or say Jambo (hello) or Habari (How are you?). I say Jambo back or answer Poa (cool). 
