Zanzibar: a photo itinerary

I’ll be honest. I did not take many photos while in Zanzibar. This was 99% due to me spending most of my time laying out on the beach (don’t worry Mom, I used sunblock!) or taking advantage of a heavenly hotel bed (much needed after 30 days of living in a tent).

My romantic hotel room, just for me.

After living in a tent and snoozing in a sleeping bag, it was absolutely heavenly to sprawl across a queen sized bed and have the space to put my stuff all over the hotel room!

Where and what is Zanzibar?

Zanzibar is an island off the east coast of Tanzania and is 50% of the reason why the country is called Tanzania. Tanzania is a combination of “Tanganyika” and “Zanzibar” both in terms of etymology (origin of the word “Tanzania”) and in terms of the country itself. The country we know today as Tanzania came into being after mainland Tanzania, Tanganyika, and the island nation of Zanzibar merged together into one united republic in 1964, after both countries gained their independence from Britain (Tanganyika was colonized by the Germans then the British. Zanzibar gained its independence after overthrowing the last reigning Sultan of Zanzibar, who ruled Zanibar as a constitutional monarchy within the British Commonwealth).

Itinerary

Zanzibar is known for Stone Town, its historic city center and UNESCO Heritage Site, and its pristine white beaches where travelers go to take a break from or prepare for a safari. We spent three days in Zanzibar - one day in Stone Town, southern part of the island, then drove north to Nungwi Beach, where we spent two days relaxing on the beach. To get to Zanzibar, we took the ferry from Dar es Salaam, the largest city in Tanzania and a major port.

Dar es Salaam

A view of Dar es Salaam. Its skyscrapers are relatively new and the city is modernizing quite rapidly. Dar es Salaam is a major port and an economic hub. It used to be the capital of the country during its period of German colonization, but the current capital is Dodoma. Dodoma became the capital after Tanzania achieved its independence.

Parts of Dar es Salaam are quite chaotic! This is the local market by the waterside

Ferry ride from Dar es Salaam to Zanzibar! The way there was quite smooth but the way back to Dar es Salaam was very choppy. You knew it was going to be rough when the crew started handing out sick bags!

Stone Town

Walking to our hotel after disembarking from the ferry. You can already see the multitude of diverse influences on the architecture.

A sobering memorial and reminder of the island’s history of slave trading. The Old Slave Market Museum was one of the most interesting and educational museums on this trip, and I learned so much about the history of slavery in Eastern Africa, which is a bit different than that of Western Africa, whose slaves were forced to sail to the US.

It was fascinating to learn that it wasn’t just Europeans active in the Zanzibar slave trade. Arabs (Zanzibar used to be ruled by the sultan of Oman) were also active participants and local tribes become involved as there was an increase in demand for ivory and cloves (spices) from Europe, particularly Britain, and the Middle East. Greed ruins lives.

The location of Zanzibar’s night market where my friends and I feasted on local cuisine. Our favorite is a dish called Zanzibar Soup (sometimes called Zanzibar Mix) or urojo in Swahili. This dish contains, fried chicken bits, fried potato balls, boiled potatoes, salad, and fried cassava strips, all slathered in a savory soup. It was delicious.

Zanzibar is also famous for its Zanzibar Pizza, which is essentially a pan fried crepe filled with meat and veggies. The night market also had many BBQ stalls where you could pick and choose your meat, your bread (naan, chapati, coconut bread), and beverage of choice (always go for the sugarcane juice!)

The Old Fort of Zanzibar was originally built by the Portuguese and later rebuilt by the Omani Arabs. It was very unexciting.

A look at the Anglican Cathedral, which was built on the land where the former slave market existed.

A view into the sea from the hotel’s rooftop terrace, where I feasted on a gourmet breakfast.

Spice & Tea Plantation Visit

Zanzibar is known for its spices, and its spice plantations are one of the reasons why slaves were in such high demand. Following Zanzibar’s revolution for independence in 1964, spice plantations nationalized and became co-ops so that the profits go directly back to the local community.

According to our tour guide, all of the spice plants were brought over by the Arabs and none are actually native to Zanzibar.

Our tour guide created these beautiful baskets from banana leaves to collect the different spices we sampled throughout the tour.

At the end of the tour, we had lunch in the village in a family’s home. The woman cooked us a delicious feast with dishes usually reserved for holidays, including pilau (a fragrant rice with liberally spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, cumin, and ginger), sliced cabbage in a tomato sauce, a cucumber and tomato salad, and chicken in tomato sauce. I really regret not taking photos of our meals.

Walking around the spice plantation was a very educational experience, especially since I am so distant from the farming process. It was really powerful and humbling to see how labor intensive farming is, especially for a lot of spices, and made me better appreciate where my food comes from and why certain spices and foods are expensive.

Nungwi Beach

White beaches of Zanzibar . Yes the ocean really was that blue. The water was warm - a stark contrast to someone used to the cold of the Atlantic Ocean! Because the beaches are a big tourist attraction, there are many street vendors and men looking for “company”. Most are harmless but some were particularly persistent.

Sunset in Zanzibar. Many boats were docked in the shallow waters, making it easy for their crew to wade in and untie their boats.

Happy to be swimming in a warm ocean!