Kendwa Beach

Since we had a few extra days before heading up country to Arusha to link up with our safari, we decided to go to the beach. We are now at the north end of Zanzibar Island, at Kendwa. After spending one night in a dubious establishment we found a much nicer hotel, locally owned, right on the beach. The Kendwa Breezes Beach Resort Hotel, although somewhat grandly named, is quite new, and small but very nice. The resort hotel chains have not yet discovered this place, but it's probably only a matter of time. The beach is gorgeous white sand, and goes on for miles.

On the way here, we stopped at a spice farm. They grow a whole range of spices here, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves, of course, but also cardamom, turmeric (a root), vanilla, ginger, peppercorns and lemongrass. It was fascinating to see how these familiar ingredients grow, and how they are prepared.

The seafood and fish curries served in the hotel restaurant are beyond delicious, and are flavoured using most of these spices.

This morning I went snorkelling for a couple of hours. The reef, about 500 meters off the beach, is teeming with fabulous fish and beautiful corals. The fish are quite amazing, with brilliant jewel-like colours, or opalsecent and luminous.

This may be the last posting for a while, as the propect for internet connections in the Serengetti (which is where the lions are, if you were wondering) is uncertain at best.

Sauti za Busara

The music festival we attended is called Sauti za Busara, which means "Sounds of Wisdom" in Swahili. It was a strange mix of contemporary and traditional music, mostly East African, but also featuring African musicians from as far away as France and Britain.

There were also a number of dancers, mostly traditional in traditional costumes, but some modern. There was much variety, too much to describe, but on the last night we saw the Moreira Project, a jazz ensemble with players from South Africa, Botswana and Mozambique. This memorable band was followed by Comrade Fatso and Chabvondoka, a sort of gentle hip-hop group from Zimbabwe. Comrade Fatso has some interesting political lyrics, when they could be made out. The music of Zanzibar itself seems to be influenced heavily by Arabic music as well as modern rock (to my untutored ear).

Stone Town

(Unfortunately,, I have tried to post phots to this blog four times, but habe been unsuccessful due to technical difficulties)
Zanzibar’s Stone Town has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. It has been in existence as a trading centre since the first century, when Bantu speaking Africans began to trade with Arab mariners.It grew to be a powerful city-state in the 12th to 15th centuries, selling gold, slaves, ivory and wood. The dhow was a sturdy sailing ship, some of which were quite large, and could carry cargoes all over the Indian Ocean. With the trade came Arabic and Islam. The Portuguese conquered the island in the early 16th century, but the Omani Arabs routed them a few decades later.The island became such an important economic centre that the Sultan of Oman moved his court here in 1840. The increasing British presence in East Africa in the later 1800’s and the end of the slave trade lead to the weakening of Omani rule. The Sultanate was partitioned in 1862 and Zanzibar became a British Protectorate under the rule of the Omani sultans. This arrangement continued until Zanzibar gained independence in 1963. The Sultanate was overthrown one month later, and Zanzibar entered into a union with Tanganyika (on the mainland) to become part of the United Republic of Tanzania.Stone Town is very much a medieval city. Most buildings are 3-5 stories, and are built of coral rock and lime. In older buildings, mangrove wood (very durable and resistant to rot) was used as joists between floors. Since mangrove trunks are usually 3-3.5 meters in length room size was limited to this dimension even in the grandest houses.The entrances to many buildings are very ornately carved, and the doors usually have brass studding on them, in the South Asian fashion.The narrow streets and alleyways twist and meander according to the whim of whoever had decided to build the next building. Some of them are only 2-3meters wide. There are no sidewalks, and cars, motorcycles, bicycles and pedestrians all coexist in the same narrow roadways, not always happily. Street lighting is haphazard, but we haven’t heard of anyone having any problems at night so far.The streets are very lively, but you can’t walk a block without someone trying to sell you tourist knickknacks or mass produced clichéd tourist paintings i.e. a Masai carrying a spear, animals, etc. The same paintings are in every souvenir shop. The street folks are very friendly, though, and are very good humoured as long as you turn down their wares with a smile.

Monkeys and Butterflies
Not far outside Zanzibar Town is a preserve where the Red Colobus monkeys are protected. We went there and saw the monkeys in the wild. They take little notice of humans, probably because the park tour guides keep visitors in line and stop the humans from doing anything to the monkeys other than take pictures.
We also went to a butterfly preserve, which is a community economic development program. Local farmers collect butterfly pupas to sell to the preserve, which provides the farmers with a source of income so they don’t have to cut down the forest to get firewood to sell. The adult butterflies emerge from the pupas and are placed in a large netted enclosure planted with the local vegetation suitable for butterfly habitat. Tourists pay admission to enter the enclosure to see the butterflies (very beautiful). The income generated from the admissions to the preserve pays the farmers.

Slave Trade
The most disgraceful part of Zanzibar’s history was the slave trade, which went on for centuries. There was a great expansion of this odious trade after the rise of Islam, which forbade the enslavement of Moslems. Slaves were exported all around the Indian Ocean, both to Moslem countries, and to European Christian plantation owners on the islands of Mauritius and Reunion. Large numbers of slaves were also purchased by the Portuguese to take around the Cape of Good Hope to Brasil. It has been estimated that close to 600,000 slaves were sold through Zanzibar between 1830 and 1873, when slavery was officially abolished here. The trade continued illegally until the early 20th century.
We toured the tiny airless underground cells where human beings were held awaiting sale. Many died of suffocation and disease. The ships used to transport them were little better than the cells, and many more died en route. A monument has been erected to commemorate (see photo) this barbarous time.
The Anglican Cathedral was built on the site of the old slave market.
One of the early campaigners against slavery was the Scottish explorer David Livingstone, of “Dr. Livingstone, I presume”. He turned out to be a great friend of the African people, unlike many colonial missionaries.

Sundowners

Sundowners
A time –honoured tradition for expats in Zanzibar is to watch the sun go down over the Zanzibar Channel from the terrace bar of the Africa House. As you can see, it’s spectacular.

The Road to Zanzibar

We arrived in fabulous Zanzibar yesterday.

The ferry from Dar Es Salaam took about two hours and yes, we paid about $10 too much for the tickets because we (I) got taken in by a street-smart tout who got a 'commission' at our expense. Live and learn. (photo taken from the ferry)

Stone Town is the old section of Zanzibar, where our hotel, the Dhow Palace, is located. It's amazing and exotic. We had breakfast in the roof restaraunt this morning, fabulous sweet pineapple and papaya, banana and watermelon. Thanks to Paul, Barb's former boss, who stayed here and recommended it.

Last night we went to Mercury's, a restaraunt named after Freddie Mercury of Queen, who was born here. The restaraunt is right on the ocean. We sat on the deck under the stars and ate fabulous seafood with friends of our friend Paula who are working here. Saturday they are taking us to see the old slave market and cells at the current Anglican Mission where they are working.

What happened to the music festival, you may ask. We did get to the old fort yesterday where it is taking place and saw the opening parade, but didnt manage to hear much music. We'll make up for that this afternoon. This morning, we're off to see monkeys and butterflies at a sanctuary near here.

Yes, we're in Dar!

Yes, we're here in Dar Es Salam!

The flight was a bit of an ordeal, not that anyone need feel sorry for us. After all, as you can see, I got a window seat. We left Toronto at 6 pm Monday, and arrived at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam 6 and 1/2 hours later. It's a huge airport, something like O'Hare in Chicago (if anyone's been there) only better. The Rijks Museum (famous collection of old masters) keeps an exhibit there. There's also a casino and a hotel where you can rent rooms by the hour if you need to freshen up or anything.

After a three hour layover, it was 9 hours to Dar, with a stop at Kilimanjaro Airport to take on passengers and look at the full moon while we waited on the tarmac.

Dar Es Salam is like many third world cities - teeming with rich street life, down at the heels, clogged with traffic and fumes, filthy, and exotic.

We're now sitting in our hotel room sipping gin and tonics to chase away the last of our jet lag. Tonic water is full of quinine, so it will help keep the malaria at bay. It's 3 pm local time on Wednesday. We just bought our ferry tickets for Zanzibar, and we're heading there tomorrow morning. It's about 37 degrees and humid out (how tropical). We'll nap while the cool of the evening approaches, then go out for dinner.