Zanzibar Town, Tanzania

March 17-25, 2008

Zanzibar, Tanzania

(Matt)

We have found paradise. As I write this blog, please visualize that I am lying on a bed that sits on the covered patio of our white beach bungalow facing the most incredible blue ocean in the world. The branches of the palm trees around the bungalow rustle lightly in the breeze while clear blue waters of the Indian Ocean gently wash up on the blindingly bright, white sand of the beach as the tide sleepily rolls in. This chalk-white sand can be seen glowing up through the turquoise waters for miles and miles off shore. Local children are running along the beach playing soccer and laughing, while their mothers carry bags of harvested seaweed to town to be shipped to the Philippines to supplement their subsistence fishing economy. It is completely tranquil and hypnotic.

But I need to back up..... We are currently in the village of Jambiani, which is about one kilometer long and probably has only a couple hundred residents. It's located on the east coast of the island of Zanzibar, the largest island in the Zanzibar Archipelago. The Archipelago is a semi-autonomous state within the nation of the United Republic of Tanzania, though the only evidence of this semi-autonomy that we have seen has been an additional passport control at the port with customs and an additional Zanzibar stamp in our passports. From Dar es Salaam, it was about a two hour boat ride to get to Zanzibar Town on the island of Zanzibar. After purchasing tickets and paying off a tout, we boarded the ferry. It was pure madness and required a lot of pushing and shoving among the ticket holders, but the ride itself was uneventful.

The boat's crew played two movies: episodes of Rowan Atkinson's "Mr. Bean," which mostly has no dialogue, and a really bizarre Thai martial arts flick in the vein of "Hero," but not as good...the characters used Muay Thai kickboxing as the main fighting style, rather than kung fu. Of the probably 200 people on the boat, only about six were tourists. Most locals transported goods to the island for trade or personal use. So these were not movies that were picked for the tourists. It was hilarious to see that someone who was not British (who was in fact African) could think that Mr. Bean is funny, but the Tanzanians were laughing at this absurd brand of comedy....and yes, I laughed also. The music that was playing on the boat during embarkation and disembarkation was primarily American soul and rap music, though there was a VERY long Shania Twain dance remix in there too.

Out the window of the boat we got our first glance of what was to come on Zanzibar, the bluest water known to man. Upon arrival, we entered Stone Town (in Zanzibar Town), which is culturally one of the most interesting places that I have ever visited. It is actually difficult, if not impossible, to describe Stone Town and Zanzibar as a whole without first giving a brief overview of the history of this fascinating and diverse area of the globe.

As early as AD 60, a Greek merchant wrote a guidebook called Periplus of the ErythraenSea that was to be used for sailing along the present Tanzanian coast. This book describes small established Arabic trading settlements along the coast and on the island called, Menouthias, which is thought by historians to be the island of Zanzibar.

Around the 8th century, Persian traders had established settlements on the neighboring island of Pemba and one on Zanzibar called Unguja Ukuu. During the first millennium, Bantu-speaking people from the mainland of present-day Tanzania sailed to the Zanzibar Archipelago. From the 12th and 15th centuries, the archipelago became a major trade link between East Africa and Arabia and the Persian Gulf, supplying slaves, gold, ivory and wood to places as distant as India and Asia.

Unfortunately, Zanzibar's relationship with the slave trade endured until 1873, when a treaty with Britain finally ended the slave trade in the region. Thus, between the 18th and 19th centuries, the Omani Arabs gained control of Zanzibar island, and trade flourished principally based upon slaves, ivory and cloves. Caravans into the heart of the mainland were organized on Zanzibar. In 1840, during the height of the surge in trade, the Sultan of Oman relocated his court to Zanzibar Town.

In 1862, the sultanate was partitioned, and Zanzibar became a British protectorate until December 1963, when Zanzibar formally declared its independence. In April 1964, Zanzibar signed a declaration of unity with Tanganyika (mainland Tanzania) and later became the United Republic of Tanzania.

Because it was governed by the Omani Arabs for an extended period and because of its history as a center of trade between Arabia, Persia and India, modern Zanzibar is a great mixture of these cultures. But the most prominent feature of the contemporary culture retained from the Omani Arabs is Islam.

Our guidebook refers to Zanzibar Town as a "conservative, Muslim society" where "women should avoid sleeveless tops and plunging necklines, and stick with slacks, skirts or at least knee-length shorts." Our book also states that "during Ramadan, take particular care with dress, and show respect by not eating or drinking in the street or other public places."

Other things I have noticed is that the mobile phone rings are frequently of either of a man singing a prayer in the mosque, as we hear at about 5am from our hostel rooms every night, or of some other Arabic song.

For me, the strange thing about the adoption of Islam by indigenous African people is that the rise of Islam in this region is often credited as the principal factor contributing to the rise in African slavery.

Both in our guidebook and in the book we recently read called The White Nile, by Alan Moorehead, which is an excellent source of information about the history of Zanzibar and the Arab slave trade in Central and Northern Africa, a reference is made to the fact that Islam only prohibits the enslavement of Muslims and, therefore, did not prohibit the Arabs from being prolific in the slave trade throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.

So as we walk around Zanzibar Town, which is heavily Muslim and almost entirely black, it is hard not to ask why modernly Islam is the principal religion here. Yet, as I was writing the previous sentence on the porch of my beach bungalow, Muslim prayers began being sung through a loud speaker from somewhere in Jambiani, a very small fishing village with basic housing built of coral, mud and thatch. Islam is here to stay on Zanzibar.

March 17, 2008

Zanzibar Town, Day One

shoes in the mosque
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(Matt)

So with that background, we walked around Stone Town on our first day and explored its maze of cobbled streets and unique architecture. Architecturally, Stone Town is a mixture of Arabic, Indian, European, and African influences.

We immediately noticed the famous doors of Zanzibar, which are ornately carved wood with passages from the Quran or images of things desired in the owner's household. These doors were a status symbol, and they probably still are. As many as 500 of these doors remain in Stone Town. The square-topped doors are older (of Arabic influence), and the round-topped doors are newer (of Indian influence). Often the doors have large brass spikes, which was a tradition from India used to prevent doors from being battered down by elephants. [Note: This is a stylistic feature because there are no elephants on Zanzibar.]

The Indian influence on architecture can also be seen in the ornately carved wooden balconies in Stone Town. The Indians influenced the food as well, and you can find curry in most restaurants. In fact, the best food we ate in Stone Town was an Indian and vegetarian place called the Radha Food House. We had thalis for about $6 each.

(Amber)

Stone Town is fascinating. Picture the architecture Matt describes but set on the blue coastal waters, full of locals (many Muslim, some Massai, some Christians, and some surely unaffiliated and on the DL), with dusty and winding little alleyways that immediately made me think of an African version of Venice. It could be, and was, very easy to get lost in the maze.

Around every corner, there were charcoal grills, people sitting and talking, kids playing soccer, and always the yells of JAMBO! There was some shady behavior too, so you have to stay aware of your surroundings, especially at night when the alleyways are pitch dark and still full of people.

Our first meal in Stone Town was a disappointment. We had not yet written off meat, but I ordered a cheese sandwich. Good thing we were still open to the idea of meat because what was brought to me was something I can only refer to as the "chicken fat red mayonnaise surprise" sandwich. Told you we shouldn't feel guilty about the stuffathon in Buenos Aires! Matt's lunch was, if it was possible, worse. It was two cold and old drumsticks in a red sauce that was supposed to be curry. He pushed it around the plate with a grumpy look on his face. We paid about $20 and moved on to wander the city streets in search of something to take our minds off the chicken fat red mayo surprise.

(Matt)

Our first day ended with a trip to the Forodhani Garden, which is a fish market that used to be along the coast in a real garden setting but has recently been moved pending the city's renovation of the Forodhani Park. Now the fish vendors are in the Northern street along side the Old Fort, which was built around 1700 by the Omani Arabs to defend against the Portuguese.

We ate a huge crab leg, a shrimp kabob, and a tuna kabob there...but there were some problems.

First, the only utensil we were provided to eat with was a toothpick. Brought out on a paper plate, the crab leg was partially cracked open. But try to dig crab meat out of a crab leg with a toothpick and see how far you get.

Second, there was the sugar cane vendor. You see, we ordered our seafood from one vendor, then other vendors tried to get a piece of the action. A drink vendor sold us water, and then a pesky sugar cane vendor saddled up to us and began asking us to buy a drink made of crushed sugar cane, ginger, and lime, which was quite good really. It is low season here, and we felt sorry for the guy, who had mastered the following lines in English: "You think I like trying to convince you to buy my sugar cane juice? My life is very hard, and what is very little money to you will help me a great deal."

So we bought sugar cane juice that we really didn't want. It was supposed to cost about $1, or 1,000 Tanzanian shillings. After buying the drinks, we only had two 10,000 shilling bills totaling 20,000 shillings (about $20) left to pay for the food and the sugar cane. The seafood was 14,000, and the sugarcane was 1,000. Plenty of money, right? Before paying for the seafood, we asked the sugarcane salesman if he could break a 10,000. He said that he could. He left with bill and didn't come back for a while, which is not uncommon here (or in South America for that matter) because no one ever has change for anything. He came back after a while, and I inquired about my change. His reply concerned me, "You are from the United States [we told him that while things were still jake between us]. What is 10,000 shillings to you?" Big red flag there.

So at this point, we owe an unaffiliated vendor 14,000, and we had only 10,000. I confronted the sugar cane vendor further, and he said that he had sent my 10,000 shilling bill with a friend to another town to get it broken....keep in mind that this is biggest city on the island. I was unhappy with this response, and after more arguing I finally got an additional 4,000 shillings out of the sugar cane vendor so that I could pay my debt to the seafood vendor. The sugar cane vendor said to meet him back there the next night to get the rest of the money, but Amber forbade it because she was convinced that, if he failed to pay, that I would end up in a altercation that would land me in Tanzanian prison. So I didn't return, though we saw the seafood vendor in town the next day, and I assured him that I would be coming to get my $3.50 from the sugar cane vendor. Amber was probably right, but I was sore about it for the rest of the night.

March 18, 2008

Zanzibar Town, Day Two

(Matt)

We began our second day with a somber excursion to site of the old slave market, which is now an Anglican Church about a five-minute walk from our guest house. In the 1860s, Zanzibar was the major slave depot for East Africa. Estimates range from 10,000 to 50,000 slaves passed through Zanzibar Town each year during the peak years.

In all, between 1830 and 1863, close to 600,000 slaves were sold through Zanzibar. All that remains of the slave market today are some slave holding cells in the basement of an Arabic building that is now a hostel. We toured the holding cells, which were built low so that the adult captives could not stand upright. It was dark and dank. The silence facilitated our imagining the fear that must have filled the innocent people placed inside. It was disturbing. Like our visit to S-21, Pol Pot's torture prison in Cambodia, Amber and I were alone in the quiet remains to consider the atrocities of one human against another.

In the spot where the slave market stood now stands an Anglican church. The high altar of the church stands directly above where the whipping post stood in the slave market.

We toured the church, stood at the high altar, ate a $2 meal in a local little dive (rice, soup, and some sort of meat), and left for the Zanzibar Town market.

(Amber)

I love markets. The crazier and stinkier the better, as long as there's lots of action. Matt and I frequently go to the Flea Market in Austin on Sundays to eat a turkey leg, wander around, and halfway pretend we're in Mexico. I love markets.

And I loved this one too, but it was crazy. The first part we stumbled upon was the fish and beef section. I can't explain to you the filth, the flies, the maggots, and the smell. It was horrendous. And we generally have a really strong stomach for foulness. That tipped the scales. And it marked the beginning of what we knew was coming..."traveling vegetarianism with the exception of fish on the coast, if it seems OK"....That's a mouthful, no pun intended, but it's the only way I can describe what we now are.

We got some attention at the market and at one point had to change course when a less-than-stealthy little pickpocket set his sights on us, but for the most part we were able to wander through the thousands of people in peace and able to try and take this amazing scene in. There were people carrying good on their bicycles, a man carrying two twin mattresses on his head, women haggling over the price of material for their Muslim head scarves, rotten fish, various produce, blown speakers blaring loud radio commercials in Swahili, men hocking sunglasses, people grilling meat over open flames....you name it, it was there.

But even I, the ultimate market enthusiast, needed a break after a couple of hours, so I told Matt I was ready to come up for air.

(Matt)

That day, we also toured the Beit El-Ajaib (House of Wonders), which is now a museum, built in 1883 by Sultan Barghash as a ceremonial palace. We also did more wondering around neglected areas of Stone Town and found the sole vegetarian restaurant there.

(Amber)

That night, we ate great vegetarian food at that Indian place in town, the Radha Food House. It was bitter spinach, a coconut soup of some sort, flatbread, spiced potatoes, a yogurt lassi, and a ginger sweet. Thank you fish market for leading us to this wonderful meal.

Photos here: http://share.shutterfly.com /action/welcome?sid=8AatmbZk0Zt FHOg