I woke up early one last time in Dar es Salaam and made my way through the busy city center, this time to the ferry port and boarded the very nice Kilimanjaro 3 bound for the island of Zanzibar. The Indian Ocean water around these parts, by the way, is just the most crystal clear blue you can imagine. You can almost see all the way to the bottom. After a two hour ride I reach the port of Stone Town, the epicenter and earliest city on Zanzibar. At the immigration stand I am asked for my passport and my yellow fever vaccination card, the first time I’ve been asked for it in ten years of travel. 

They call it Stone Town because all of the buildings are built of grayish brown coral stone and the streets are a tangled web of impossibly narrow streets that wind around in all directions and seem to have no rhyme or reason to them. Even following with GPS I routinely get disoriented. Luckily, my hotel isn’t very far from the port so I find it relatively easily. All the streets are lined with shops. Shopkeepers and merchandise spill into the street while children and cats zig and zag everywhere. Oh, and don’t forget to watch out for the occasional motorcycle!

In addition to the variety of shops, restaurants, cafes and hotels are scattered throughout the narrow streets. The best place to eat, however, is in Forodhani Gardens, along the shore where a bunch of stalls with the days catch are waiting to grill you up some skewers of tuna, mahi mahi, barracuda, mussels, prawns, shrimp, calamari, octopus, and chicken or beef if seafood isn’t your thing, smeared with mango or tamarind sauce. I stick with the seafood, of course. Yum! Then, you sit on the edge of the boardwalk and eat while about a hundred hopeful cats watch you. I can’t help but give a small meal to the most haggard and sad looking one. I’m a softy.

Zanzibar is historically known for two primary things, as an island of spices and as the hub of the east African slave trade. The slave trade is long gone, but the spices are still grown all over the island. I learned all about the history of the island and the sultans that ruled it at the Palace Museum, in the palace where the sultans actually lived. I also visited the sobering East African Slave Trade Exhibit. The exhibit and Anglican Cathedral were built on the site of the old slave market and you can walk through the two remaining slave chambers below the street, where they were held before sale. They don’t hold much back, it’s a pretty difficult exhibit to see.

There are two other things Zanzibar is famous for. One is as the birthplace of Freddie Mercury. There’s a big sign outside the building that says “Freddie Mercury House”. The other is the Intricately carved Zanzibari doors. Pretty much every entryway in Stone Town has an old carved door, in various states of decay and restoration. They’re really beautiful!

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I didn’t spend all of my time in Stone Town, though. I did venture out on some very cool excursions too. First, to the interior of the island to Jozani Forest, the only place in the world to see the crazy multi-colored red colobus monkey. I made my way there via the local minivan transport. Haha A minivan, no joke, on a crooked frame and held together by ropes and stuffed with more than twenty people. The trip took a little over an hour. Good times! Once at Jozani, I get my compulsory guide and have some close encounters with the famous red colobus, as well as an unusual sighting of an elephant shrew, a small reddish rodent with a long nose, and some of the smallest frogs I’ve ever seen, about half the size of the tip of your little finger. Also nearby is a short boardwalk trail through a beautiful mangrove swamp with little crabs all over the muddy ground.

Next, an out to sea excursion to Changuu Island, also known as Prison Island. It seems the sultan built a prison on the small island, but just as it was completed it was decided to make it a quarantine hospital instead because of the cholera and bubonic plague outbreaks at the time. Now, it’s home to some very very endangered giant turtles. In the 19th century, four turtles were given as a gift to the British consulate from Seychelles, the only other place where they can be found. Over the years, four turtles has turned into many. There’s a small pen for newborns while the rest roam about the grounds with their ages painted on the backs of their shells. The oldest is 194! He was born in 1824, no I don’t think you read that right, EIGHTEEN twenty four!!! I also found one that was 160 and several in the low one hundreds. The majority seemed to be in their 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s, though. These guys are so gentle and friendly and they love attention, especially in the form of having their necks petted. As soon as you start reaching out they stretch out their long necks, raise up their heads as high as they can, and close their eyes with contentment as you stroke their neck and scratch under their chins. I just love them! What a great experience!

Well, Tanzania has been super fun and probably one of the more adventurous countries I’ve visited. I’ve climbed two mountains, island hopped and visited beautiful beaches, and had more up close and personal wildlife experiences than I can count right now, but now it’s time to bid farewell. In the morning I go to the airport. I still have one more country and about three more weeks to go on this adventure, though, so as usual, stay tuned…

See all the pics from Zanzibar here.