Culture Shock...

The flight from Arusha to Zanzibar was pretty uneventful. We were packed in like sardines, but there was plenty to see. From Arusha you fly south southwest, which is almost directly away from Kilimanjaro, so we wound up not getting much of a view of the mountain. In any case, we could see the plains below, and as we approached the coast we could see the blue, blue ocean and Zanzibar in the distance. It was close to two hours flying time, so by the time we landed we were ready for a good leg stretch.

They checked our visas when we arrived in Zanzibar, but it seemed pretty cursory. We were still in Tanzania, after all. Tanzania as a nation was formed in 1964 with the merger of Tanganyika and Zanzibar (thus the name Tan-zan-ia) and Zanzibar remains an autonomous region to this day. Our driver was waiting for us, of course, and we were off to our hotel in Stonetown a half-hour or so away.

Stonetown, to the west of Creek Road, is really the older, historic half of the larger city, Zanzibar Town. To the east of Creek Road lies the far larger portion of the city which is much newer and home to most of the city's residents. Stonetown itself is a UNESCO world heritage site that saw much of its development in the early 1800's, when it was a center of the spice trade and east African slave trade, and the seat of the Sultanate of Zanzibar.

Our arrival in Stonetown was a shock after ten days in the bush. There were people everywhere you looked. In the bush you might only see a few others in an entire day. To further complicate matters, we were also making a transition from a culture that is of largely Christian or indigenous beliefs to a predominantly Muslim culture, so not only was claustrophobia an issue, we needed to be cognizant and respectful of an entirely different set of cultural mores.

The ride to the hotel was a little disconcerting. Stonetown is a maze of small streets that lead in every direction. The closer we got to our destination, the more turns we made and the smaller the streets got until I was starting to seriously question our situation. Finally, though, we made one last turn into an impossibly narrow street and arrived at our destination, Kisiwa House. The young man standing in front of the hotel in the picture (I think his name was Sampson?) would be our guide later that day for a walking tour of the old town.

Our room was very nice. Large netted bed, chairs, tv (which never got turned on...) and the bathroom was, well, after ten days in the bush, deluxe. You can't see the large walk in shower behind the door that had, essentially, unlimited hot water. Apparently, Stonetown is heaven. We even had a nice view across the tops of the adjacent buildings.

After a welcome drink of tamarind juice, we rested for a few minutes, then it was downstairs to meet our guide. Most of the buildings in Stonetown are built from coral stone held together with mud mortar. Because the area is a world heritage site, the exteriors of the buildings cannot be changed and/or demolished, so the tropical climate has badly deteriorated the exteriors, as seen on the left of the picture. UNESCO provides funds every year to restore some of the buildings, which wind up looking like the building on the right. Unfortunately, funds are limited, so it is taking a long time to do all of the restoration work required.

You can clearly see the coral stone in the structure...

Even some of the restored buildings are in need of a whitewash. The electrical distribution system is pretty haphazard, as well.

Zanzibar is predominantly Muslim, so mosques are common, and the minarets announce the call to prayer regularly. Women generally wear the hijab, even some of the youngest, such as these schoolgirls in their black and white school uniforms. Among adult women, the hijab can be quite colorful, although black outerwear generally indicates that a woman is travelling far from home. Some of the youngest, however, wear what would be considered more conventionally western clothing. Out of respect for the culture, it is generally considered good manners for women tourists to at least cover their legs and shoulders.

Displays of spices are common along the narrow streets, as are groups of men sitting idly by...

The architecture in Stonetown is heavily influenced by both Arabic and Indian culture. If a building was built by a person of Arabic descent, the lintel is typically squared off and imprinted with a passage from the Koran. If built by an Indian, however, the lintel will be arch-shaped, so you can tell the provenance of a building just by looking at the doors. Another interesting aspect of Indian doors is the metal spikes on their face - these are an import from ancient India, where they were added as a defense against elephants and tigers. I guess that explains why you don't typically see them in the US!

We wandered the narrow streets with our guide, seemingly at random, sampling spices and dodging traffic. This eventually lead us to the Anglican Cathedral, which was the site of a major slave market in the mid-19th century. The market was eventually shut down by the Sultan of Zanzibar in 1873 after Dr. David Livingstone carried word of the market back to England 16 years earlier. We didn't stop, though - we had a late start and still had quite a bit of walking ahead of us.

Soon we found ourselves at Creek Road - the border between Stonetown and the newer part of town - and the Stonetown market. The market was quite large, with a profusion of stalls, produce, and dry goods. The main market was contained in three buildings; one for produce, one for meats, and one for fish. The produce market was pretty similar to the market in Arusha, although it was more open and inviting. The meat and fish markets, however, were quite an experience. The smells were almost overwhelming and the profusion of flys and other insects enough to give me a case of the creeps. Needless to say, we hurried through these buildings and didn't stop to take pictures. It was yet another instance where the lack of refrigeration and basic principles of sanitation were no where in evidence. As shocking as this was (and is) to me as a American, though, it is important to keep it in perspective: this is the way a large fraction of the people in the world live. In the absence of modern medicine and vaccines, however, the average citizen of the US or EU would have a have a hard time for a few months while their bodies learned to accomodate the conditions.

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Soon, though, we were out of the market and once again enjoying the displays of street vendors, wandering through hotel lobbies for the architecture, and even discovering the Tanzanian barista champion.

The waterfront area was next, with the National Museum and the Forodhani gardens, which offers views from the seawall and opportunities to sample the local cusine, including banana/chocolate pizza and somosas.

It was getting close to sunset and we had been out over three hours, so we cut through the Old Fort (a local landmark) on the way back to our hotel. The rest of the afternoon and evening were spent relaxing, enjoying our nice hotel room, and ordering room service. It had been a long day that had started in the Serengeti, and we were still recovering from our safari. Tomorrow, though, would be a short drive to Matemwe with a spice tour along the way. From here it would be all relaxation, and we were looking forward to it!