Thirty-four in Zanzibar

January 7, 2012

Our second day in Zanzibar was my birthday—I’m officially in my mid-thirties. It turned out that the A/C I was so excited about when we checked into our hotel didn’t work for whatever reason that night, so I woke up on my first day of 34 feeling very hot. Fortunately, the day got better.

Sam did an excellent job reminding my fellow passengers of my birthday and I was greeted at breakfast with many happy returns before heading out for our tour of Stone Town.

Stone Town was home to the slave trade for many years, with as many as 50,000 slaves passing through the island per year during the 1800s. (Our guide joked that slaves were chosen for their strength and beauty, so now all Zanzibar has left are the weak and ugly. Funny, but it’s a little uncomfortable making light of such a horrific practice.) We visited Christ Church which was built over the main slave market. The alter was constructed over the main whipping post, and we also visited the underground holding cells for slaves waiting to be auctioned. 

Alter in Christ's Church

Monument at the church

Slave holding cell

This holding cell held 75 women and kids

The cell for 75 people

Control of the island has changed hands several times over the years: Persians first used the island as a safe, convenient stopover on their trading voyages, later, during the Age of Exploration, the Portuguese took control, and then it was under British rule until 1963. It is now a semi-autonomous region of Tanzania. About 98% of the population of Zanzibar is Muslim. While the Portuguese were there practicing Christianity first, they practiced in private. When the Arabs arrived, they started converting the inhabitants to Islam. 

From there we drove inland for a spice tour. Zanzibar is also famous for its spices, and we had a very engaging tour where we tried to identify the different seasonings in their natural forms.  The tour ended with a coconut tree climbing demonstration (Crazy!), fresh coconut milk, coconut leaf woven hats and purses, and a sampling of different fruits and teas. 

Our guide showing us the natural lipstick some women use.

Trying another new spice

Coconut tree climber climbing a very high
coconut tree 

All he used to aid him was a cloth strip
holding his legs together.

Looking great in their coconut leaf crowns!

Birthday Crown

After our fruit appetizer, we went to a home to have a traditional Zanzibarian lunch. The food was nice. Afterward, Sam gave his coconut leave hat to one of the boys playing outside, and a bit of a melee ensued. We were all happy to give our hats to the children, but it’s really hard to decide how to distribute them, especially when you can’t speak the language. In the end, we gave the hats to the guide who passed them out in an orderly way—something that gave the teacher in me great satisfaction.

Lunch in a home

The kids in their new hats

From lunch we drove to the beach hotel where we would be staying for our last two nights. The setting was stunning and, unlike Dar, the paradisiacal beach here was trash free. As we swam in the clear, warm water, small boats floating behind us, white sandy beaches ahead, I thought I better enjoy this day because birthdays from here on out are going to be downhill—how could this setting ever be topped? The afternoon was spent alternating between lazing on the beach and lazing in the water.

Paradise

Dinner brought a birthday surprise. After the food was served, Isabella came out with the restaurant staff singing happy birthday and carrying a cake! My fellow travelers had also secretly signed a birthday card and arranged a gift certificate for a massage and pedicure on the beach for me the following day. Super kind.

Check out the candles!

The next day brought another full day on the beach (where I took advantage of my massage gift card), and a fish barbeque on the beach for our farewell dinner.

Fish fry on the beach

It was an early start to our journey back to Stone Town the next morning so I could catch the morning ferry and make it to the airport in Dar in enough time for my 6:00 flight. (The airport is only a 20 minute drive from the pier in traffic-free conditions, but you never know what the traffic is going to be so it’s best to play it safe and plan for a few hours.) The excitement of the trip was when the driver received a call saying that someone had left some baggage at the hotel. We all checked our things, and we had all of our luggage. It wasn’t until the person on the other end of the line described the bag that was left that I realized that it was actually my huge bag of souvenirs I had been carrying around for the last two weeks waiting for an opportunity to mail them home. While I was quite fond of several of the souvenirs (Can’t beat a giraffe safari suit for the nephew!), I decided that the catching ferry was more important a sharp-dressed two-year-old, so we didn’t turn back. I had about 15 minutes to mourn the loss of my mementos when a van raced by us honking. When I looked out the window, there was the driver of the van holding up my blue souvenir bag and smiling. We did a quick pullover and I took my loot, not wanting to think about how fast the man must have driven to bring me the trinkets. (Our van was driving pretty fast itself.)

Forty-five minutes later I was on the ferry back to catch my plane to India while the rest of the group was doing last minute shopping in Stone Town.