Language: Swahili, Arabic and English

Religion: Muslim. The local mosques did a loud speaker call to prayer, or adhan, up to 5x a day (often before sunrise…and VERY loud).

Common phrases heard throughout the day: Jambo (hello), Pole Pole (slowly slowly), Hakuna Matata (no trouble)

Currency: Tanzanian shilling, $1 is ~ 2,318 shillings.

Coming to Zanzibar was initially inspired by a friend at Imire who mentioned that he had volunteered at a sea turtle conservatory on the island. I had heard of Zanzibar but wasn’t exactly sure where it was. I thought seeing sea turtles would be fun, so after some research, I decided to visit the island too.

This was my first experience staying in a hostel, and while I discovered that it is not my favorite, it was really valuable in connecting me with some very nice people who were also traveling through Zanzibar. We ended up mostly exploring the area together! =)

This was the first hostel….bunk beds in the sand, complete with mosquito netting!

Jambiani

I stayed in a small village called Jambiani on the Eastern side of the island for the first part of the trip. The hostels and hotels are along the water front. These are pictures of the little town.

I did a really neat Swahili Cooking Class that consisted of visiting the local market to buy food and then going to a local woman’s home to prepare a meal. Everything was done sitting on the floor and over a fire. We made fresh coconut milk by grating the coconut flesh on a metal tool with teeth that sits on the end of a wooden chair. We then ate the meal together along with the woman’s family. It was definitely a great reminder of the luxury of modern conveniences like running water, electricity, stoves, counter space, etc.

The finished product was spiced pilau rice with coconut vegetables and home made chapati! It was delicious!

Some highlights of my Jambiani stay included taking little boats to other islands in the area to snorkel, swim and eat lots of seafood. I tried octopus for the first time and the lobster was super tasty! I didn’t get any pictures, but they often also cut up a big platter of fresh fruits for us including pineapple, mango, water melon and fresh coconut.

Stone Town

For the last part of my stay here, I moved into Stone Town in Zanzibar City, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The heart of the area consists of a maze of narrow alleys lined by houses, shops and mosques. Freddy Mercury was born here. There are people everywhere trying to sell clothing, foods, necklaces, etc.

Former Slave Market/East African Slave Trade Museum

This was a somber but very well presented view of the East African Slave Trade from 1800 to 1909. East Africans were sold as slaves by Muslim Arabs to the Middle East and other places via the Sahara desert and Indian Ocean. Zanzibar was the center of this slave trade and the museum was a very eye opening and moving memorial.

Other Highlights:

There is a night market on the water front called the Forodhani Gardens where we tried Zanzibar ‘pizza’, soups with falafel and potatoes, savory and sweet crepes and samosas.

We visited Prison Island where multiple Aldabra Giant Tortoises live.

Unexpectedly finding a really cool rooftop restaurant for lunch where we were the only ones there. It over looked the city and we ate a vegetarian curry meal and had lovely views.

No one wore masks here except at the covid testing site (for my flight out), and when I asked, several people here told me that they believed that covid was a problem for the big cities and that if they willed it, they would not become ill.

Next up, hopefully Bosnia! =)