Arriving in Stone Town

The crossing took 90 minutes. By the time we arrived on the island, the rain had stopped, the sun was shining, and the temperature was soaring! Getting through immigration involved a lot of pushing and shoving. Mark got into an altercation with a very rude Frenchman who hadn’t filled in the correct landing form. He was holding everyone up and complaining that he was being pushed from behind. He blamed Mark for shoving him. It wasn’t our fault! I told him in no uncertain terms to calm down!!

Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous province that united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, 25 to 50 km off the coast of the African mainland, and consists of many small islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar) and Pemba Island. The capital is Zanzibar City, located on the island of Unguja. Its historic centre, Stone Town, is a World Heritage Site.
Zanzibar's main industries are spices, raffia, and tourism. In particular, the islands produce cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and black pepper. For this reason, the Zanzibar Archipelago, together with Tanzania's Mafia Island, are sometimes referred to locally as the ‘Spice Islands’. Tourism in Zanzibar is a more recent activity, driven by government promotion that caused an increase from 19,000 tourists in 1985 to 376,000 in 2016. Obviously, Covid caused a dip in these numbers, but they are starting to recover now.

Once we got through immigration, we met up with Laban and our local guide, Dullah. Miraculously, all of our luggage made it to the island! We loaded all of it into a couple of taxis with Laban, who took it to our hotel. We walked there with Dullah, who pointed out some of Stone Town’s old buildings. Our first impressions were very good. Much of the architecture is Arabic in style, very reminiscent of Morocco. It was only a 15-minute walk to our hotel, but we spotted several places to revisit, including the Freddie Mercury Museum.

Stone Town is a city of prominent historical and artistic importance in East Africa. Its architecture, mostly dating back to the 19th century, reflects the diverse influences underlying the Swahili culture, giving a unique mixture of Arab, Persian, Indian and European elements. For this reason, the town was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000. Due to its heritage, Stone Town is also a major visitor attraction in Tanzania, and a large part of its economy depends on tourism-related activities. The heart of Stone Town mostly consists of a maze of narrow alleys lined by houses, shops, bazaars, and mosques. Since most streets are too narrow for cars, the town is crowded with bicycles and motorbikes. The seafront has wider streets and larger, more regularly placed buildings.

At the hotel, we were given our keys and then left to our own devices. We had a free afternoon with the option to meet Laban at 7pm to go to the street food market. Dullah was offering optional excursions, such as a snorkelling trip to Prison Island or a city walking tour. We decided just to wander around on our own. We went to the Beach House for a posh lunch. Mark had a huge paella topped with a whole lobster tail. I had a Zanzibar chicken curry, which was delicious! After lunch, we walked around for a while, but Mark wasn’t feeling great, so we didn’t stay out too long. We won’t miss out as we’re coming back to Stone Town for three nights after our time on the east coast.Read more