4th to 10th
April 2011
Zanzibar, Tanzania
Stone Town
“Forty camels, I want forty camels…”
“Yees, big man, deerty only, deerty bes price”…
The sun was beating down and the pavement in the slave market
was sweltering as a prelude to this afternoon’s storm…if we didn’t settle soon
I would fall over and the Zanzibar princess would be re-classified as damaged
goods! Stuff it, let’s do what Aussies
are best at, we’ll meet in the middle, thirty-five camels for me and he gets
his princess to sell into the fleshpots of the Near East. But the blighter wouldn’t budge…
“deerty camels maximum price if no have papers…”
Papers, papers….this place is swamped with certificates that no
one ever actually reads, or uses…grrr….so, in true Aussie fashion I said “stuff
it” and walked back to the Swahili hotel to freshen the princess up for another
crack at 40 camels tomorrow….there is a limit!
What would you have done?
So what do you want to know about Stone Town?
Freddie Mercury born and grew up here. His stage-name “Mercury” taken
from the NASA Mercury program aiming to get first Yank in space – one of the 16
earth track/control stations located on Zanzibar!
David Livingstone stayed here, alive, on his way into Ujiji on
his second expedition and was escorted back, dead, awaiting a London-bound ship
to Westminster Abbey after succumbing to malaria in western Zambia.
The whips used to test the courage of slaves while tied to the
whipping post in the market was the tail of a stingray…very rough and nasty!
Why was it that whilst the Brits were exporting
convicts to Australia throughout 1778 – 1874 they were importing slaves from
Africa?
Zanzibar was the quarantine detention point for the whole of
British East Africa…Chenngu Island (aka Prison Is.) the site of Zanzibar’s
first prison, became the quarantine station before it ever housed a prisoner. We took a wooden dhow across. The water is clear, the beaches pure white,
thanks to the parrot fish digesting coral and converting it into fine white
sand. Another fascinating thing about
this island is the Giant Land Turtle Conservatory. For US$ 4 you have entry onto the island and
the penned turtle area where you can walk freely amongst the many turtles and
can feed them and stroke their necks. One
was 185 years old (it must have been hiding).
There were a few around 125yo and many younger turtles.
Stone Town is a ramshackle maze of alleyways and dilapidated
buildings with a photo opportunity at every turn and a very friendly, happy
population. The town is well known for
its beautifully carved doors, its seafood, spices, restaurants and tourism. With a high muslim population, we often heard
the call for prayer from the nearby mosques.
There were many women and girls in full clothing and veils, whilst boys
and men wore long robes and the fez.
Matemwe, East coast of Zanzibar.
We took off for 2 nights to the east coast to the village of
Matemwe with the intention of doing a couple of reef dives. Before arriving at the village we drove past a
huge area of old coral, which extends to about 5 kms back from the coast. Long ago did the island (tectonic plates)
rise or did the sea level drop? We never
found out the answer, but the coral was widespread and about 5m above sea
level. There were even coral overhangs
onto the beach nearby.....so much for rising sea levels here. We stayed at Seles Bungalows on the beach where the sand
is white and the water turquoise. The
local people are growing crops (rice, pineapples, bananas, maize) and
fishing (for octopus, king fish, tuna and shellfish). There is very little meat available on this
island.
Mnembe reef is a half hour boat trip out from Matemwe in a large
wooden dhow (motorized). You can snorkel
or scuba. The water is warm, the
visibility fantastic and the viewing was great – we took 2 dives to 20m. There were soft and hard coral and schools of
yellow and white fish, angelfish, clownfish, groper, lionfish, a trigger fish,
parrot fish, small moray eels, sea cucumbers and more.
We farewelled the east coast and returned for one night in Stone
Town again, dinner at The House of Spices, and took the ferry the next
afternoon to Dar es Salaam to catch the flight to Jo’Burg.
