ZANZIBAR
14th-18thJune, 2009.
In Tanzania, staying at the resort we stayed at, you can leave your car safely, also can hook up to electricity or leave your supplies in their fridge without having the hassle of worrying about your car and fridge.
We left on Sunday Morning, over the ferry (both of us in cage) and then went to church before leaving on the 10.30am ferry to Zanzibar. The Church in Dar was a cathedral, very big and a little difficult to hear the priest, but really beautiful and mass was in English. The crossing takes one and half hours, quite comfortable as long as you don’t need the toilet.!!!!!!!! At least we had been recommended where to stay and this was organized, “the touts” (people who try and organize tours and accommodation for commission) they are worse than the beggars on the streets of Maputo, and older and more pushy. Anyway we managed to push through and get to our hotel where we, in some quiet manner, to organize our walkabout in Stone Town for the afternoon and doing a spice tour and beach visit for the next day.
The island is actually a separate state of Tanzania, which we did not know and were told that we only needed a copy of the passport, well thank heavens for a nice custom official, on hearing we did not bring our passports, and listening to the story he stamped our papers and let us through. Here we were imagining having to go back for the passports; ferry price is US$35 one way each.
The island is flat and surrounded by sandy, tropicool beaches with lagoons and mangrove swamps, with Coral reefs lying beyond the shoreline. Up to recently, farming and fishing have been the main occupations, but with the ease of getting there (not cheap) the tourist industry has grown tremendously and this is now a very lucrative source of income for the islanders.
We booked a tour around Stone Town for the afternoon and were quite pleased we did not try it on our own. There is a lot of history which you would never know without a guide and getting lost is very easy. There are dozens of little alleys and the town’s made up of lots of very old buildings, some in rows, but then it opens up onto wider streets and open spaces and within minutes you are back in alleys, where although there are cars allowed, (and no one way streets), you cannot even think that cars and pedestrians can share the same street. In the late1800’s Zanzibar was very big into slave trade. One of the places we visited is now an Anglican Church which is said to have been built over the whipping block and the pits where the slaves were kept before being sold is found the building next door (now Monica’s Guesthouse) We visited these cellars where the space which would probably hold 20-30 slaves lying next to each other was used for up to 75 at a time. With pressure from Livingston, Bishop Steer, and outside Countries, Sultan Barghash closed the slave market and the UMCA (Universities’ Mission in Central Africa) built the church. There is a stained glass window of Livingstone dedicated to his memory and the church’s crucifix is made from the tree under which his heart was buried in Zambia. We actually visited this as well in Zambia. (His body was transported back to England where it is buried.) Other very interesting buildings were the old Arab Fort, the oldest building in Stone Town, the House of Wonders, which is a multi-storey building surrounded by tiers of impressive balconies and topped by a clock tower., the Upimaji Building which was the home of a German merchant Heinrich Ruete who married Princess Salme one of the Sultan’s daughters in 1860 after which it was used for the British Consulate, St Josephs Catholic Cathedral(with twin spires and built between 1896 and 1898), the Old Dispensary, a very ornate three Storey building built in the 1890’s., the Hammani Baths, one of the most elaborate Persian baths built for Sultan Barghash. We also saw many more old buildings with traditional heavy wooden doors and “elephant stoppers” (sharp brass knobs, about 4-6 across and 4 down.) We ended our tour at Africa House Hotel which served as the English Club from 1888.
Sunday evening we went to an open food market, each stall (table) has at least two chefs, (all dressed in proper White Chefs uniforms), only problem if you use their one or two tables which they have available, no alcohol allowed. That did not suit us, but after our meal we made up for it and sat up on the deck of the Africa Hotel, thought of Tommy and Caroline who stayed there during their visit to Zanzibar and enjoyed our drinks. Our meal cost less than two beers and a glass of wine.
The next morning after breakfast we were picked up by our tour operator to visit a spice farm, after which we visited Mangapani Slave Cave. It is a natural coral cavern with a very narrow entrance and a pool of fresh water at the lowest point. The small square cave was cut into the coral and was used to hide the slaves who were being transported onto the ships, we also visited another Persian Bath House built for one of the Sultans and then had a short trip to a private beach where you could have a swim.
Our tour also included lunch which consisted of Rice, Spinach, and a vegetable sauce which was very good, and for sweets you got a small plate of fresh fruit.
The actual Spice tour was very interesting, we saw many spice plants being grown. Ginger, Turmeric, Cloves, Curry Leaves, Cardomen, Lemon Grass, Cumin, Annatto(tandorie made from this),Henna, Chilli, Vanilla, Cinnamon, Nutmeg (by the way ladies, Nutmeg is used to relax a lady before her wedding night) We saw and tasted their fruits which are grown, pineapple, Red Leaches, Starfruit, Jackfruit, Green Oranges, Bananas and Breadfruit. Tip from our guide, to tenderise meat, mix Ginger, Cumin, Garlic and Black Pepper. ( I think you should do this with all meat in Tanzania, everything is “fresh” One restaurant actually told us they don’t have a fridge because everything is fresh, chicken, beef, whatever, we had Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce.
The only spice which is exported in great quantities is cloves.
We chose to spend the other two days visiting the east coast, as we wanted to see the Red Colobus Monkeys in the Jozini Forest which is on the same side. On either of the coasts, your tropicool beaches are white and the see unbelievably turquoise. The beach we were on was in a bay, and about a 1km out you could see the reef and the waves breaking. Unfortunately the day we left for the beach, it rained most of the day, but that did not stop us having a real nice walk on the beach late afternoon. We spent the next day swimming, and seeing a bit of the beaches.
On our last day, we were picked up and driven to the Jozini Forest where we spent two hours with the Red Colobus Monkeys. They are one of the few species which 80% of their food intake is mad up of leaves, for which they have a highly developed digestive system. They have a beautiful tufted crown and their backs are a very dark red colour. They played in the trees above us swinging as if they were going to jump on your shoulder, great fun to watch. We then visited a Mangrove forest, which has a boardwalk through it giving us a good view of the unique mangrove habitat.
We were then transported back to the harbour front, had lunch and a drink in “Eddie Murphy’s Restaurant (For those who don’t know it, Eddie Murphy was born in Zanzibar) right on the harbour, after which we caught the ferry back to mainland Zanzibar and returned to collect our home on wheels.Viks and Franscois we really missed you, I am sure we would have had at least a week if you were with us, talked about you lots and every drink toasted you
14th-18thJune, 2009.
In Tanzania, staying at the resort we stayed at, you can leave your car safely, also can hook up to electricity or leave your supplies in their fridge without having the hassle of worrying about your car and fridge.
We left on Sunday Morning, over the ferry (both of us in cage) and then went to church before leaving on the 10.30am ferry to Zanzibar. The Church in Dar was a cathedral, very big and a little difficult to hear the priest, but really beautiful and mass was in English. The crossing takes one and half hours, quite comfortable as long as you don’t need the toilet.!!!!!!!! At least we had been recommended where to stay and this was organized, “the touts” (people who try and organize tours and accommodation for commission) they are worse than the beggars on the streets of Maputo, and older and more pushy. Anyway we managed to push through and get to our hotel where we, in some quiet manner, to organize our walkabout in Stone Town for the afternoon and doing a spice tour and beach visit for the next day.
The island is actually a separate state of Tanzania, which we did not know and were told that we only needed a copy of the passport, well thank heavens for a nice custom official, on hearing we did not bring our passports, and listening to the story he stamped our papers and let us through. Here we were imagining having to go back for the passports; ferry price is US$35 one way each.
The island is flat and surrounded by sandy, tropicool beaches with lagoons and mangrove swamps, with Coral reefs lying beyond the shoreline. Up to recently, farming and fishing have been the main occupations, but with the ease of getting there (not cheap) the tourist industry has grown tremendously and this is now a very lucrative source of income for the islanders.
We booked a tour around Stone Town for the afternoon and were quite pleased we did not try it on our own. There is a lot of history which you would never know without a guide and getting lost is very easy. There are dozens of little alleys and the town’s made up of lots of very old buildings, some in rows, but then it opens up onto wider streets and open spaces and within minutes you are back in alleys, where although there are cars allowed, (and no one way streets), you cannot even think that cars and pedestrians can share the same street. In the late1800’s Zanzibar was very big into slave trade. One of the places we visited is now an Anglican Church which is said to have been built over the whipping block and the pits where the slaves were kept before being sold is found the building next door (now Monica’s Guesthouse) We visited these cellars where the space which would probably hold 20-30 slaves lying next to each other was used for up to 75 at a time. With pressure from Livingston, Bishop Steer, and outside Countries, Sultan Barghash closed the slave market and the UMCA (Universities’ Mission in Central Africa) built the church. There is a stained glass window of Livingstone dedicated to his memory and the church’s crucifix is made from the tree under which his heart was buried in Zambia. We actually visited this as well in Zambia. (His body was transported back to England where it is buried.) Other very interesting buildings were the old Arab Fort, the oldest building in Stone Town, the House of Wonders, which is a multi-storey building surrounded by tiers of impressive balconies and topped by a clock tower., the Upimaji Building which was the home of a German merchant Heinrich Ruete who married Princess Salme one of the Sultan’s daughters in 1860 after which it was used for the British Consulate, St Josephs Catholic Cathedral(with twin spires and built between 1896 and 1898), the Old Dispensary, a very ornate three Storey building built in the 1890’s., the Hammani Baths, one of the most elaborate Persian baths built for Sultan Barghash. We also saw many more old buildings with traditional heavy wooden doors and “elephant stoppers” (sharp brass knobs, about 4-6 across and 4 down.) We ended our tour at Africa House Hotel which served as the English Club from 1888.
Sunday evening we went to an open food market, each stall (table) has at least two chefs, (all dressed in proper White Chefs uniforms), only problem if you use their one or two tables which they have available, no alcohol allowed. That did not suit us, but after our meal we made up for it and sat up on the deck of the Africa Hotel, thought of Tommy and Caroline who stayed there during their visit to Zanzibar and enjoyed our drinks. Our meal cost less than two beers and a glass of wine.
The next morning after breakfast we were picked up by our tour operator to visit a spice farm, after which we visited Mangapani Slave Cave. It is a natural coral cavern with a very narrow entrance and a pool of fresh water at the lowest point. The small square cave was cut into the coral and was used to hide the slaves who were being transported onto the ships, we also visited another Persian Bath House built for one of the Sultans and then had a short trip to a private beach where you could have a swim.
Our tour also included lunch which consisted of Rice, Spinach, and a vegetable sauce which was very good, and for sweets you got a small plate of fresh fruit.
The actual Spice tour was very interesting, we saw many spice plants being grown. Ginger, Turmeric, Cloves, Curry Leaves, Cardomen, Lemon Grass, Cumin, Annatto(tandorie made from this),Henna, Chilli, Vanilla, Cinnamon, Nutmeg (by the way ladies, Nutmeg is used to relax a lady before her wedding night) We saw and tasted their fruits which are grown, pineapple, Red Leaches, Starfruit, Jackfruit, Green Oranges, Bananas and Breadfruit. Tip from our guide, to tenderise meat, mix Ginger, Cumin, Garlic and Black Pepper. ( I think you should do this with all meat in Tanzania, everything is “fresh” One restaurant actually told us they don’t have a fridge because everything is fresh, chicken, beef, whatever, we had Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce.
The only spice which is exported in great quantities is cloves.
We chose to spend the other two days visiting the east coast, as we wanted to see the Red Colobus Monkeys in the Jozini Forest which is on the same side. On either of the coasts, your tropicool beaches are white and the see unbelievably turquoise. The beach we were on was in a bay, and about a 1km out you could see the reef and the waves breaking. Unfortunately the day we left for the beach, it rained most of the day, but that did not stop us having a real nice walk on the beach late afternoon. We spent the next day swimming, and seeing a bit of the beaches.
On our last day, we were picked up and driven to the Jozini Forest where we spent two hours with the Red Colobus Monkeys. They are one of the few species which 80% of their food intake is mad up of leaves, for which they have a highly developed digestive system. They have a beautiful tufted crown and their backs are a very dark red colour. They played in the trees above us swinging as if they were going to jump on your shoulder, great fun to watch. We then visited a Mangrove forest, which has a boardwalk through it giving us a good view of the unique mangrove habitat.
We were then transported back to the harbour front, had lunch and a drink in “Eddie Murphy’s Restaurant (For those who don’t know it, Eddie Murphy was born in Zanzibar) right on the harbour, after which we caught the ferry back to mainland Zanzibar and returned to collect our home on wheels.Viks and Franscois we really missed you, I am sure we would have had at least a week if you were with us, talked about you lots and every drink toasted you
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