Zanzibar.
Every bit as exotic as it's name.
Yesterday was Eid, the end of Ramadan and all the alleyways and rabbit warren lanes of Stonetown were alive with Zanzibaris in their very finest heading for family feasts. Zanzibar formal dress seems to be crisp white robes (kanzus) and embroidered pill box hats (kafiyas, I think) for men and boys; kitenge cloth and Malaysian- style headscarves for the women and girls. An air of post- fast jolity in the air, as viewed from the second floor balcony of our hotel room.
Zanzibaris are a real mix of Africa and Middle East. Nothing like the Bantu homogeneity of Zim and Zambia. They seem a dignified and friendly lot and the hustlers and touts not as bothersome as predicted.
Sally booked us into the Emerson and Spice a 3 story boutique hotel converted from a series of old Omani shops. It's in Stonetown the old part of Zanzibar that has a pleasant seedy charm in it's twisting laneways and mildewed, crumbling, previously-white Omani buildings. As photogenic a place as you could hope to visit.
Life seems impressively leisurely with the traffic pretty light - wobbling bicycles, beeping scooters and Daladalas, the Zanzibari version of Bemos.
Tomorrow we leave this truly memorable place.
Some highlights:
*dinner at The Monsoon Restaurant - an atmospheric converted merchant's house with seating on cushions on the floor, fine Zanzibari seafood and rice and a local band playing Taaraab music, a Omani African style with some bizarre instruments and an absolutely extraordinary drummer(playing a little drum he cradled in his lap).
*visit to a spice farm - slightly tedious presentation by a self-styled cool dude guide, but some genuinely interesting stuff about trees you wouldnt expect to harbour spices or fruit : cardamoms, peppers, coffee(did you know that Arabica is a fruit of a reasonably substantial tree and that Robusta is a berry found in a bush? If you did you are a smartarse),curry, cloves, vanilla, jackfruit, custard apple, etc.
*a trip to the Jozani Forest in search of Kirk's red colobus monkey - a comical f***up with our van arriving 30 minutes before the close of the park, no guides (even though they are compulsory), and then, right at the park gate a family of monkeys surrounded by a howling, jabbering mob of Indians (a Mumbai call centre on holiday?). The colobus monkeys who ignored the mob, looked more eccentric than beautiful - reddish fur on their backs and ugly little wizened faces with a hairstyles like they had stuck their fingers in an electrical socket. Give this one miss, is our advice.
*dinner on the rooftop at Emmerson Spice looking out over the rusty red tin roofs and stained coral stone buildings of Spice Town - 5 courses of seriously cutting edge tapas-style Swahili cuisine for 40,000 shillings ($25). Cold Kilmanjaro larger and strawberry daiquiris extra (but not much extra).
* the slave markets at the Anglican Cathedral - more stupor-Inducing (and compulsory) guide spiel, but some remarkable and moving stone sculptures of 6 slaves by a Swedish sculptor.
*walking the laneways of Stonetown with Sally in serious shopping mode.
We will be damned sorry to leave this place.