Zanzibar

Steve and I spent four and a half days in Zanzibar and had a fantastic time. A "semi-autonomous" island off the coast of Tanzania, it sits in the warm and aqua blue Indian Ocean. It is a fascinating, sunbaked, poor, gorgeous place.

As a Kenyan living in Zanzibar told us, the island is 99.9999 percent Muslim, which you notice just by walking down the street. Almost every female over the age of about 4 is covered from head-to-toe in a bui-bui. Some women- maybe about 1 in 10, cover their faces completely (it's 90-degrees and humid!). We heard calls to prayer in the streets and came upon mosques every few blocks.

We spent the first day in the capital, called Stone Town, which is a World Heritage site. It is a small, two-century old city that used to bustle with slave and spice traders, and now moves with fishermen, artists, and any number of local vendors and shoppers. The Swahili architecture is beautiful but like so many poor cities around the world, the buildings- including grand historical sites like their former palace- are shabby and faded. We spent the entire day just meandering around, buying art at unbelievable prices (photos below), checking out the spice markets, and sampling delicious vegetarian dishes.

The narrow alleyways that ultimately lead to the ocean can't accommodate cars, so every few minutes we had to hop into shop doorways to let bikes and motorbikes wheel past. The doorways themselves are unlike anything I've seen- not only are they intricate works of art, but they are so numerous that they create a unifying theme for the city.

These are a few photos from Stone Town.

Buying art from two local artists willing to bargain and show us their painting techniques.  

We bought this one and a few others from different artists.

I love the wall in the back ground.

Beautiful 

Fruit market. Next door, the meat market- only Steve could stomach a walk through that one.

Grains and spices are EVERYwhere. The spices smell amazing.

Stone Town has several beautiful hotels overlooking the ocean.

A mix of ancient and modern.

Chatting with a local fellow. Most people guessed we were German. Really?!

After a hot day in Stone Town, we took a super nice (smoothly paved, wide) road up north to a serene white sand beach for a few days of sleeping and diving. The poverty we passed along the way was pretty severe. It's not a crowded type of poverty- there's plenty of open space, palm trees, and cattle grazing in green fields- but it's definitely rural poverty. The houses and shops are made of basic concrete and tin, or were constructed with mud and branches. Children don't wear shoes, teenagers pedal rickety bicycles or ride carts pulled by donkeys, and under every shady spot, groups of men sit umemployed.

And finally, the beach! The sun in East Africa is so strong, and I haven't seen it stronger than in Zanzibar. We spent a lot of time lounging in the shade but also ventured out onto the beaches and boats so that we could enjoy some amazing diving. On four one-hour dives, we saw a huge array of exotic fish that swam right up to us, and explored some colorful corals. I saw my first seahorse and was proud to spot a black and neon orange eel for the group. We saw two big sea turtles (the size of medium sized dogs but much heavier) and several sting rays. Steve has been on 60+ dives, so as a novice (10 dives now) I feel very comfortable diving with him.

A one-hour flight from Nairobi- we're coming back soon!