1/10 – Zanzibar, Tanzania Stone Town walking tour

Arriving right on time this morning, we are fascinated with the scenery and the boat activity around the port. We still can’t figure out what all the 100s of people are doing in front of one of the buildings on the pier. They are either waiting for the fishing boats to look at their catch or waiting for water taxis -but whatever, the boat launch is teeming with people as we hit the gym and then a quick breakfast before getting ready for our next ship’s tour.

Our appointed meeting time comes and off we go to find our tour leader and start our tour with 14 others. Even though the port gate is only 400 meters away, we can’t walk through the port, so there are shuttles for independent passengers. We are shown to a van as well, thinking it is only a shuttle to the gate but turns out this is our tour van and we go off into the city’s terrible traffic with our guide, Said, who gives us a great overview of the history of Stone Town.

It will come as no surprise to any of you that I was clueless on the history of Tanzania and Zanzibar. My only reference here is the vague memory of exotic-ness, from what, I don’t know, and Freddy Mercury. Suffice it to say, the country and city’s history is an intriguing mix of original inhabitants – Bantu – conquering nations – first Persian, then Portuguese then German and British – culminating in an agreement with the Omani sultan for protection and then finally independence. The culture began as a mix of Persian men marrying Bantu women creating a more Muslim influence, progressed on to Portuguese marrying inhabitants with a Christian background and finally the British conquering and immediately turning Zanzibar into a slave trading location for mainland – and island – plantation owners. Crazy.

Today Zanzibar is a more tourist oriented destination, although still heaped in traditional history. We start our tour driving down the main road that splits Old town from New town – named creek road because it used to be a river that had to be crossed to get from one side to the other. Our first stop is the Cathedral Church of Christ, the location of the former slave market. There is a wonderful memorial monument in front of the church, and inside the altar has been placed in the same location as the large tree that was once where the slaves were brought to be sold.

Said tells us the story of Dr. David Livingstone, a Scottish missionary who spent most of his life exploring Africa and campaigning to end the slave trade. His last expedition was to find the source of the Nile, but he fell ill with Malaria, eventually dying in Zambia. He told his guides he wanted his heart buried in Africa because that is where his heart belonged. They could do whatever they wanted with his body – but his heart must remain on the continent. The guides buried his heart right at the spot he died – under a large tree in the Chitambo village Ilala in Zambia. They then carried his body to Zanzibar – a 3-month journey – where it was shipped to England for burial. 25 years later, wood from that same tree was used to create a cross with Jesus and presented to the Diocese of Zanzibar.

Next to the church is an exhibit dedicated to the history of the slave trade, along with a reproduction of two basement rooms that would have been used to house the slaves as they were waiting to be sold. Upstairs there are great informational panels that trace the history of Zanzibar, the slave trade and lots of good pictures.

Then we are off into the streets of Stone Town – so named because if you scratch under the surface of all the concrete facades you will see that all the buildings are made up of the local coral stone, just covered over. We wander through the little alley-like streets, passing gorgeous wood carved doors with spikes embedded into them. The more spikes you have, the richer you are apparently. Same with the wood carvings around the doors – they signify someone rich lives there.

Entering into the central market, we are immersed in seafood – and OMG! The seafood! Octopus, tuna, squid, shrimp! How much we’d love to buy all of this and bring it back to cook! Let’s hope Sri, the new chef aboard has been here this morning. Moving on, we walk through the meat section with goats hanging up, ready for further butchering and sale, then the fowl section – tons of chicken in a round basket, on the back of a bicycle, going nuts trying to get out. Our final stop here is the spice market where they have anything and everything you’d ever want – Zanzibar is after all called the Spice Island for a reason.

Meandering through the twisting turning lanes of old town, we pass more beautiful doors, a mosque (with girls posing in front of it), the now closed for renovation People’s Museum and the House of Wonders. Also closed for massive renovation. Each with a great story from Said as to what the building was used for when it was built (mostly palaces for the rulers) and the history of its use over time.

We are on the seafront now and there is a lovely breeze blowing through, keeping us cool as we walk along the promenade, through the Forodhani of Zanzibar, a lovely little urban park, and back into the streets of Old Town. Arriving at the destination we had hoped – The Freddie Mercury House!

We’ve read all about Freddie being born here, about his parents who worked for the British Colonial office and when he left for Britain with his folks at the age of 17. We figured we would just walk back here after the tour, so we are really happy to be here now. We also have 30 minutes of free time here, which is nice – not enough time for the museum, which we have read isn’t all that great anyway with basically a bunch of old family pictures – so we wander off up the street, eventually stopping at a little restaurant for iced coffee and a banana shake (so we can use the restroom, really!).

And that’s our Stone Town tour. We are back in the van, driving back to the ship in really slow traffic, past the Old Dispensary building and the huge Strangler Fig near the port entrance.

Now we have the whole rest of the day to ourselves, reading, blogging, spending time on the balcony looking out at all the cool paintings for sale down on the pier, and watching all the small boats overloaded with people sailing out of the harbor.

Afternoon is the norm, gym, Living Room, dinner in Prime C to avoid White Night, with a great sunset off the aft. Dinner goes fast enough, that we are able to go and watch the Destination Show on the pool deck. A great group of traditional dancers perform all sorts of energetic moves.