Zanzibar (Tanzania) - Turtles, Tanzanite, The Doors & .... Oman?

Our Driver
(wearing traditional Omani kummah)

              After a very challenging hike up Kilimanjaro we decided to join Travis and Bri for a little R & R on the nearby Tanzanian island of Zanzibar.  It was a short flight from Arusha, you can say your last goodbye to Kilimanjaro from the plane window as you fly towards the Indian Ocean.  Zanzibar is not as wealthy as the region of Arusha, this is already evident as you look down on the island from the plane into the sea of rusty aluminum rooftops covering shanties.  If you have previous mileage in a country like this you know that means that most everything is negotiable and that the foreign price is most likely marked up about thirty to fifty percent.
             When we arrived in the airport we were greeted by a large number of taxi drivers ready to bargain for a drive.  Our resort (called the Hideaway) was on the opposite side of the island and was going to be about an hour and a half drive.  I was able to negotiate to forty dollars for the one day trip down from sixty dollars.  As we started our drive through the city I kept catching feelings of Déjà vu more and more.  I researched the island before arriving and learned that it became under control of the Sultanate of Oman in the late sixteen hundreds and remained this way until the Sultan was deposed in 1964.  Zanzibar then merged with the mainland (which was under a different name at the time) to become modern day Tanzania.  My Déjà vu was due our recent visit to Oman last year and all the striking similarities in Zanzibar.  It is no surprise that a couple hundred years under the control of an Islamic monarch would leave a cultural imprint.  The most obvious details apart from the primary religion being Islam is of course the dress: the men wear the same cap as in Oman referred to as the kummah.  

             We also arrived on the island during the Islamic holiday of Eid Al Fitr which is the breaking of the fast in which most Muslim people dress up in their finest attire and children receive gifts.  One of the big differences in Zanzibar is that contrary to the black abaya that is common in the UAE, there is a vast array of colorful styles of abaya's.  While the traditions of Islam have had an impact on the area, the colorful flavor of Africa has also made its mark.  On our way to the resort we had to stop the car to drive through many colorful parades of Eid celebrations going on in the streets.

Tiki Bar at the Hideaway Resort

             When we made it to the Hideaway I noticed the Arab architecture as well, it was a lovely facility.  We took our golf cart escort down to our villa and unpacked.  I noticed right away that there were a large population of snails roaming about the resort slowly moving with their little martian antennas.  
             The first day Travis and I decided to go snorkeling in the ocean for a couple of hours, the scenery was good in a few places but nothing to write home about.  I decided to educate Travis on that the small occasional pinch sensation he was feeling were baby jellyfish.  It is always funny to gauge someone's reaction after you give them new information, Travis became increasingly aware of the "pinches" after I informed him they were jellyfish.  We swam for a little while longer and walked back down the beach to our resort and had a few beers under the tiki hut looking over the ocean. While there we had a nice conversion with a Danish man who was watching the performance of his wind farm in Denmark from an app on his phone...brave new world.

Monsoon Restaurant 

Monsoon

            The next day we decided to arrange transport to go to Stone Town which was near the airport.  We spent the day walking around looking at crafts, tanzanite and hanging out at a nice beach bar we found.  I've always had a thing for tanzanite and thankfully finally had an excuse to go to Tanzania and get some.  Tanzania is the only place in the world where this can be found, some of the most highly sought after gemstones change from a deep purple to a royal blue when you move them. I looked at a few stores that were selling them and decided to give it a think and come back.  Zanzibar is also know for its beautiful doors (yes not the band sorry, just doors), you can actually do a tour around Stone Town to find about twenty ornately designed double wooden doors.  Before our tour we had lunch at a local Swahili style restaurant called Monsoon, which was an enjoyable experience.  We came back to the resort in the evening to a nice all inclusive dinner with some shisha before hand. 

Old Slave Prisons

Inside the Prison

            On our third day Sarah and I decided to hire a driver to go back to Stone Town and check out the tanzanite again.  One our way we stopped by a historical site, a secret slave chamber that was built to hide slaves after the slave trade was abolished by the British.  The British stopped many ships in an effort to inspect for illegal slave trade but ships would sneak by many times or when captured the traders would untie the slaves and say they were free men.  After the tour we continued our journey towards Stone Town.  I spent a decent amount of time pondering over which little bit of tanzanite to buy.  It was difficult as you are never really sure if it is a rip off or not.  I finally decided on a reasonable level of risk based on the look of the gem and the price.  

The Beach Bar

          Sarah and I went back to the nice beach bar we had found before and had lunch there.  After lunch we decided to take a water taxi to a near by island that went by the name of Prison Island.  It was meant to be a prison but was actually never used as such, it was used to quarantine yellow fever cases and later as a resort location (which is still a resort today).  Our ferry went by the name of Gladiator and was basically a wooden boat with a small boat prop.  It gave us some fantastic views of Zanzibar as we were floating away, I also caught a glimpse of Dhow, a traditional Arabian designed sailboat (we see these in Abu Dhabi too).  While on our way to the island we had to rescue another water taxi: the SS Facebook, who's motor had failed.  I loved the names they used on these water taxis in an effort to attract tourists attention.  

SS Gladiator

Arabic Dhow Sailboat

             After the valiant rescue of the SS Facebook we continued on to Prison Island for another ten minutes.  While there we went to see one of the main inhabitants on the island, the Aldabra giant tortoises.  Four were given as a gift from the British governor of the Seychelles in 1919 which in about twenty five years turned into two hundred.  Sadly between 1955 and 1996 the number went down the seven due to poaching for sale and food.  That is why they were moved to Prison Island for protection.  I am not sure the number now but based on what we saw I would say there at least fifty to a hundred turtles.  We were given pieces of spinach to feed them, it was funny to watch Sarah do it as she was a little creeped out by them.  Although it took a bit of courage for me to pet one of them, we were told they really liked their head being rubbed.  After playing with the turtles we walked around the prison a while and then made our way back to the SS Gladiator.  When we got back to the main island we had our driver take us to an old Hamamni Persian bath which was built for one of the Sultans.  After touring the bathhouse we headed back to the resort.  

Persian Bath

             On our last evening we attending a special show and local dance performance while enjoying local cuisine before heading off to bed.  Zanzibar was a lovely rest from our difficult hike up Kilimanjaro.  It was very interesting to see the similarities between all the cultures that have influenced the island.  It was very different from the cultural experience on the mainland.  Zanzibar is a great place to visit if you are in the area or attempting to climb the big mountain, I thoroughly enjoyed my time there, especially since I finally was able to acquire my Tanzanite!