The ferry ride was pretty good and there were not many people on the boat. As has been the trend in the buses they had several TVs showing DVDs of American movies. Even though the actors were speaking English it was still subtitled in English and there were no subtitles in Swahili.
Zanzibar has its own government so we had to pass through immigration with our passports, fill in an arrival form, pick up a departure form, and get a stamp in our passport. The majority of the Zanzibarian population is Muslim although you can see the different mix of the descendants of the islanders. Traders from Persia settled on the island in the 8th century. Between the 12th and 15th centuries slaves, gold, ivory and wood were exported and spices, glassware, and textiles were imported. In the 16th century the Portuguese controlled it. The Omani Arabs were next in the 16th century and it became so prosperous that the Sultan of Oman relocated his court here in the 1840s. In 1862 Zanzibar became independent from Oman and the sultans ruled under the protection of the British. In 1963 it became independent forming a fragile union with the new United Republic of Tanzania.
Some of the streets were wall to residential blocks that looked like they came out of the Soviet Union.
These trucks fill up in the market and head all over the island and are known as daladalas and the locals jam in on bench seats set out on the truck deck. The majority of the vehicles used for transport are imported secondhand vehicles from Japan as they drive on the same side of the road. The same reason we have so many in NZ as well.
We stayed in a guest house not far from the ferry and opposite some of the port warehouses in a dusty/muddy dark street. The place was an old house about 4 floors high. The room was very nice with a huge bed with a net hanging over a fret worked frame. On the top floor was a roof lounge/dining area where we had a great breakfast, could catch up with other guests, watch soccer on a snowy TV, use the internet and have a drink in the evening.
From our bedroom window we could see a local very poor family go about their daily activities. In the morning a young woman in a cotton sari would set a huge pot of porridge over a charcoal fire and from about 5.30 on men would drift in to eat breakfast. A little later women and children would arrive. I was snarled at when I tried to take a photo so didn't persevere. The girl and her family lived in a small area in the back of another guesthouse and had no electricity so cooking, and laundry was carried out on a concrete area outside the door to their accommodation which was also the path we needed to use to come and go from our place. In the evening, the woman, her parents or other relatives, and about 5 children would prepare the evening food. They had two burners going and in one, the oldest woman would fry half circles of pastry dough until they browned and puffed up. The young girl and the children would roll small pieces of dough into thin strips and then twirl them to make a plait. These would be fried and then rolled in sugar and we saw these being eaten with the breakfast porridge. We think the dough puffs were sold at the market in the evening. This routine went on each day we were staying and probably continues year after year.
In the evenings we would wander down to the waterfront seaside area called Forodhani Park. It was completed in 2009 and is a pleasant area with cobbles, gardens, a children's playground and seating. Stall holder's are licensed and have to rent a space from the council where they set up their food stalls only in the evenings. They wear chef's dress and all stalls have vinyl tablecloths in blue and white. This guy sold Zanzibarian pizzas. On the small circle of dough he put a dried circle of dough and topped it with a combination of vegetables and meat. He cracked an egg in the middle, folded it to make a square and fried it on both sides. He also make chocolate and banana and other sweet pizzas for about $2 NZ. Beside this guy was a cane juice seller who made wonderful juice with limes and crushed ginger. You could also buy all kinds of seafood that was prepared, and precooked on skewers and once you selected your combinations it was reheated on a charcoal grill. There were many stalls selling exactly the same things done in exactly the
way and looked like they had been trained by the same person. It was also pretty expensive to buy grilled meat or seafood and the first night there were mostly Western tourists but the next night there were a lot more Africans but they were probably tourists as well.
way and looked like they had been trained by the same person. It was also pretty expensive to buy grilled meat or seafood and the first night there were mostly Western tourists but the next night there were a lot more Africans but they were probably tourists as well.
The old part of Zanzibar Town is called Stone Town and there is a huge renovation and restoration project going on financed by UNESCO. A few buildings were wrapped up and scaffolded. Most of the narrow streets in the old town are not signed so we wandered around looking for the old bath house, cathedral and palace.
In the sea were dhows as well as small boats that looked like Chinese sampans.
I ended up with a head cold that caused me a lot of discomfort in my ears so I was hoping it would not get worse because flu like symptoms are a sign of malaria. If I had got worse I would have had to find a clinic and get a blood test. Luckily with some throat lozenges, antihistamines, and cane juice with lime and ginger it improved.
We met 2 interesting guests in the guesthouse. One guy was from Hungary and the other a woman from Slovenia. They worked for the EU as election observers as a few days before Tanzania had had their elections. One of the requirements to be an observer is to speak French, English and Portuguese. They do 3 or 4 observation contracts per year and sit around the rest of the year waiting for more contracts.
