Zanzibar Archipelago- An African Oasis
The boys loved to jump into the oceans from the shore. There was a competition on who would jump the highest and the furtherest. It seemed it was an impromptu game as all of them jumped with their clothes on.
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( You usually round off your African Safari with a relaxing beach destination. But I did quite the opposite. Tired from a hectic six-day shoot in Dar es Salem, I headed for this beautiful island first and then booked myself on the wild-life safaris. Travelogue published in July 2011)
As soon as I land on Zanzibar Island I am assailed by a battery of taxi drivers. `Jambo’ shouts one in their midst and I quickly signal him out. Jambo is hello in Swahili but I assumed he is from hotel Jambo- the hotel I had called for reservations. But before I can get into his taxi another taxi driver tries to wean me away saying. “Don’t go with him. I will take you to a better place ‘’. It took some jostling before I am allowed to get into the car and drive off . In India the taxi-drivers are competitive but thankfully not so cut-throat I thought.
There are more pleasant ways of arriving on Zanzibar island- a semi autonomous part of Tanzania. The best one and favored by most tourists is flying in direct and not sail in like me from across the African mainland.
If you fly into Zanzibar you will be rewarded with fantastic aerial views of turquoise and blue waters and views of the emerald eden-like islands of the Zanzibar archipelago. Zanzibar is indeed quite an African oasis. Who would imagine white sand beaches on the African continent? But every year this beautiful island attracts thousands of tourists from around the world- chiefly from the Middle-East , Europe and Asia. Most tourists visiting the mainland for its wildlife round off their trip by cooling their heels in the cool , calm waters of Zanzibar.
Almost all beaches in Zanzibar are beautiful but there are more secluded beaches to the North of the island. However if you want a cultural experience you must stay in the historical Stone Town which is right on the harbour. Stone Town is a quaint little town which lives upto its name. Everything seems to be built with stones here. The houses are built with it and the narrow lanes that run through it are paved beautifully with it. The town with its maze of lanes and alleyways has a feel of Chandni Chowk about it without of course the clutter , open drains and the cluster of electricity wires overhead. Its great to walk in these lanes hemmed in by tidy buildings on both sides. The doors of Zanzibar are famous for their elaborate and symbolic carvings. They have both Indian and Arabic influences .
This man was trying hard not to looking into the early morning sun. I thought it made for a good photograph. (sanjay austa austa)
Zanzibar was directly on the trading route to the African mainland from both the Indian sub-continent and the Arabian peninsula. No wonder you can see the influence of both the cultures in Zanzibar. There are not many old buildings here. Old Fort is a ruin of a huge fort built around the eightieth century by the Omani Arabs. Beit El- Ajaib or House of Wonders is a significant building on the island. It’s a high ceiling 3- story building near the port built as a ceremonial house for the Sultan in the 20th century. This building has the biggest and the most ornate doors in Zanzibar. It has a museum with a rich exhibit of tools of various trades, dresses, dhows, and other memorabilia depicting the history of settlers on the island.
Beit El- Ajaib looks over the Forodhani Gardens which has a great spread of sea-food cooked fresh by vendors. It’s a great hangout place for locals and tourists alike.
If you get up early you will find the long queues of people filling water from a community tap. The island has its water shortage issues. But electricity is the main problem. There has been no power on the island for over a fortnight. The underground cable coming in from the mainland snapped underseas and it would be many weeks before it is restored again. All the hotels on the island run on generators. There are no streetlights and it can get very spooky getting to your hotel in pitch dark through the narrow lanes. The locals light candles or sit outside their houses on benches in the dark drinking soup or chatting.
Zanzibar archipelago has beautiful islands among which Pempa island and Prison islands are the most famous. I visit Prison island which is a convenient one hour boat’s journey from Zanzibar. It was used to house convicts but later used as a quarantine for traders coming with illnesses from Asia and Arabia.
Today Prison islands main attraction besides the soft white sandy beaches is the population of giant turtles . They are painfully slow and lazy and prefer to eat out of your hands than make pickings on their own.
Prison island is called so as it was originally ment to house convicts. Much like the famed `Alctraz Prison' this was going to be the perfect island for hardened criminals. The jail was constructed but it was never used as one. Rather it came to be used by the British as a quarintine station for those who came from Asia or other parts of the world to Zanziba and were infected with diseases. The visitors would be housed here until they were treated for their diseases. (sanjay austa austa)
If you visit Zanzibar you cannot miss the `Spice Tours’. Spices have been growing on Zanzibar ever since the traders from Asia introduced it here. The tour is done on a `dhala – dhala’ or minibus that leave in the morning for a daylong excursion into the orchards deeper into the island.
It’s a 30USD tour ( including a lunch in a village ) and the guide takes you to the spice orchard where you are shown various spices on the island from the common ones like ginger, clove , turmeric etc to the exotic nutmeg which is a mild intoxicant and consumed mostly by women. The tour also includes a bit of history as you are taken to the Sultans Royal bath.
Most of beaches promise dolphin watching. Its mostly dolphin chasing what with the hapless dolphins being spotted and chased on boats for the tourists by tour operators. But thankfully for most people Zanzibar is an idyllic beach destination where one just sits back and relaxes.
How to get there:
There are no direct flights to Zanzibar island from India. To get there one has to get to Tanzania or Kenya first. There are no direct flights to Tanzania either. But Kenya airways has regular flights from Mumbai via Nairobi to Dar es Salam.
From Dar es Salam you could either take a two hour ferry to Zanzibar or fly in.