Day 143, 144, 145: Zanzibar

Day 143: Took a city tour. Learning about Stonestown and the architecture. It is a mix of Arabic, Indian, and African. The language, culture, foods are a mix of Arabic, Indian, and African. The doors represent African Arabic which is square with chains on sides the Indian doors are round at top and sharp points to keep the elephants away. Went to the area the slave trade started with the Middle East. The slaves that were brought to the US were predominately from Sierra Leone in the west. We saw where the slaves lived and they were pretty much sold in the Middle East and Persian Gulf. The Omani’s from Omans (Persian gulf) ruled over Zanzibar and took a lot of the slaves to Oman and Persian Gulf. It was really disheartening to see pictures of the people in chains etc.. Slavery has existed in other parts of the world like Egypt, but that happened a long time ago. The alleyways reminds me a lot of Jerusalem with the high buildings and narrow streets, it’s like a giant maze. Saw a lot of African and Indian woman. Then headed to the Freddie Mercury restaurant and where he was born. Freddie Mercury’s family was Parsi (originally from Iran) and had lived in India, they immigrated to Zanzibar.

Day 144: Today we took a spice tour. Interesting cinnamon is cut from the bark of a tree and stuff they use for vicks is from the root of the same tree. Different color peppers are grown on the same tree, but they are just harvested at different times. Even saw the lipstick tree, what they use to make lipsticks from. Cloves are the biggest spice grown here. Went shopping and ate at some of the local food, like Zanzibar pizza which is omelette with a crepe with egg, veg, cheese, and meat, it was quite tasty and some of the other food. They had samosas, chapattis, falafels, bhajas. Tried the safari lager was okay.

Day 145: Walked around Stonestown, went to an Indian rest. The food was quite tasty with the fresh spices. Shopkeepers were both African and Indian. Thought I sensed tension between the two groups. Found out later the Africans when they got independence they originally kicked out the Indians. Went to dinner and had amazing seafood meal, its amazing what good spices can do to food. Then had a dessert of sweetmeat, which is basically fudge like that has cinnamon and ginger it was quite tasty.