Stone Town (Zanzibar)

Many of us associate the name Zanzibar with crystal clear water and nice beaches 🏖️ - some even speak of paradise. But Zanzibar is big … very big. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, 25–50 km (16–31 mi) off the coast 🌊 of the African mainland, and consists of many small islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, informally referred to as Zanzibar) and Pemba Island. I spent a few days in Stone Town - the historic centre and World Heritage Site in Zanzibar City (the capital) located on the island of Unguja.
I arrived there with the start of the low season. 🌦️ It is supposed to be much quieter during that time than during high season ☀️ as many restaurants and party locations are closed - and I could really feel it. I didn’t mind it though because it was also much more relaxed and cheaper that way. 😌
In addition, it was Ramadan for the next 30 days. Europeans 🇪🇺 are quick to think it just is a yearly Muslim custom to stop eating and drinking from dawn till sunset but actually it’s much more than that. It’s a month of fasting, prayer 🙏, reflection and community. Hence changing ones behaviour to refrain from stealing, betraying or lying and to be kind to one another - at least during this time - plays an equally important role as fastening. Have you tried to be kind to others while you were hungry? 🤔 It’s not an easy task - that’s for sure! 😅
The reason for fasting that was explained to me by a local was striking: it is about equality. Rich and less affluent people alike shall experience what it is like to have not enough food 🍲 or water - the normality for some of their poorest fellow human beings. This should also help to foster a greater understanding for one another, I guess. Also for me as a tourist🧳, it meant that I would experience some of the restrictions that Ramadan put on the Zanzibarian population. And it prompted me to think once again of the luxurious life many of us Westerners have - and that we don’t even realize it most of the time. 😒
While many of the few places (that were still open) served food and drinks before 6.30 pm,
some allowed only take aways 🥡 - such as the popular “Lukmaan” restaurant with traditional Swahili food. Other more touristy places like the “Cape Town Fish Market” served western-style food to eat-in but did not serve alcohol 🚫 before 6.30 pm. And the pretty nice “Mama Mia” ice cream shop 🍧 required its guests to eat their ice cream inside the shop. So everyone had his own approach but essentially you would never see anyone eating on the street - out of respect 🫡 for the people who took Ramadan seriously.
Overall, I liked Stone town - it is nice but also expensive 💸 Don’t get me wrong. You can rent an apartment there for only 400 EUR a month and buy your food on the very extensive and diverse local market. But you can also easily pay European prices if you go to the touristy places for lunch and dinner or attend one of the tours there - snorkelling 🤿, diving, visiting the tortoises 🐢 on prison island, … I didn’t feel compelled to either of these options. All I wanted was to rest because I was already so full of impressions from the past 5 months - adding new ones would not make a difference anymore. So, I didn’t do much in Stonetown apart from walking 🚶 around and seeing the city (as well as testing the restaurants). The history in this part of the country is seemingly identical to what I have already encountered on Lamu in Kenya 🇰🇪 From the 9th century Swahili merchants participated in a wide trade network spanning across the Indian Ocean. In the 15th century the Portuguese 🇵🇹 colonised the east African Coast including Zanzibar. And later in the 17th century the British 🇬🇧 and Omani 🇴🇲 forces worked together to rule the region. The history gets interesting in the 1960s when Zanzibar first was promoted from a British protectorate to an independent country within the Commonwealth. Only to be merged - as a result of a revolution that took place just a month later - with Tanganyika (former name of the Tanzanian mainland) in 1964. That’s why today Zanzibar is still a semi-autonomous region within Tanzania. 🤓
Walking in the touristy parts near the coast, was a bit annoying though because every couple of minutes somebody tries to sell you something 🙄 … a tour, souvenirs, a taxi ride for now or an airport transfer for tomorrow … the conversations always followed the same pattern: somebody would shout from afar “Yes!” or “Hello Mr.?” before they come closer, introduce themselves and ask for your name, your nationality and if you are well. Unless you are absolutely rude and just completely ignore them it requires some creativity to answer all advances with corresponding excuses. If you haven’t developed the skill of friendly but firmly saying “No” in your life yet, then you will certainly learn it here. 😅Read more