Kenya & Tanzania
Safari is a Swahili word meaning journey. A safari in Africa has been on my travel bucket list for a long time and where better to do that than in Kenya and Tanzania? The two countries in East Africa, bordering the Indian Ocean, are among the best places in the world for wildlife viewing and Tanzania in particular is almost synonymous with safari. Everyone has seen the images of the endless savannahs of the Serengeti and the annual migration of millions of wildebeest, zebras and gazelles.
Itinerary
Nairobi – Amboseli National Park – Arusha – Tarangire National Park – Lake Manyara National Park – Ngorongoro Conservation Area – Serengeti National Park – Ndutu Region – Zanzibar
Arriving in Nairobi
Kenya and Tanzania are close to the equator (which means the days are about the same length all year round) and they have a tropical climate. The ‘long rainy season’ takes place from March/April to May/June, while the ‘short rainy season’ takes place from October to November/December. Our safari takes place exactly between the short and long rainy seasons.
On Saturday evening we arrive at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport near Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. The queue for passport control is excruciatingly slow. It’s almost an hour later when my Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) is checked and the customs officer stamps my passport. In twenty minutes we are taken to our hotel, on the south side of Nairobi.
The borders of Kenya were determined during the Berlin Conference in 1885, where the colonial rulers divided the African continent as if it were theirs. The coastal strip of present-day Kenya had been colonized in the centuries before by Arabs, Portuguese and Germans. In 1890 the area came into British hands and the East African Protectorate was formed. In 1963 Kenya became an independent monarchy, still under the authority of the British head of state, but a year later the independent Republic of Kenya was proclaimed.
Kenya has approximately 53 million inhabitants who belong to one of forty different tribes. In addition to the language of their tribe, everyone in this part of East Africa speaks Swahili. In addition to Swahili, English is also an official language, a remnant from the colonial period.
After a short night and too little sleep, we have breakfast at the hotel. At 8AM we are picked up by Dominic, our driver/guide for the coming days and a member of the Maasai tribe. We drive in an indestructible Toyota Landcruiser with a roof that can be lifted, so that you can stand in the car and look at the game and take pictures.
Most of our safari will take place in neighbouring Tanzania, but we will spend the first two days in the south-east of Kenya, in Amboseli National Park. This nature reserve is about a 3.5-hour drive from Nairobi. We drive out of the city via a toll road that was built by China as part of their New Silk Road strategy. The ‘highway’ that then takes us towards the south-east is a two-lane road with a surprisingly large amount of traffic, even though it is Sunday and, according to Dominic, a lot quieter on the road than during the week. The fact that in Kenya (just like in Tanzania) traffic drives on the left, also indicates that you are in a former British colony.
We drive through a wide landscape with low vegetation and here and there some trees. Every now and then we pass a herd of goats, sometimes with and sometimes without a goatherd and every now and then some cows cross the road. The small villages we drive through look poor. Along the road are small, primitive buildings made of wood and corrugated iron. Many of them are tiny shops, some have a sign with the text ‘café’, ‘garage’ or even ‘hotel’, but they seem to me much too small for that.
Amboseli National Park
After a 4.5 hour drive (including a coffee stop) we arrive at Amboseli National Park. This nature reserve is eight thousand square kilometres in size and is known as the ‘Home of the African Elephant’; the park has the largest concentration of African elephants in the world, reportedly around 1,600. Amboseli has been a national park since 1974 and has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1991.
Soon after we enter the park we see our first giraffes. They are Maasai giraffes, the males of which can grow up to six metres tall. A little further on we see zebras, gazelles and a solitary grazing wildebeest. Five giraffes in a row stand out photogenic against the blue sky and the zebras along the side of the road also have no problem posing. A little later we also see our first elephants: two adults with a young one. A group of baboons is walking away in front of us.
Sun and clouds alternate at around 28 degrees. Unfortunately, these clouds block the view of Mount Kilimanjaro, which cannot be seen during this first game drive. Around 1PM we arrive at our lodge, in the middle of Amboseli National Park. Here we have lunch and until 4PM we have time to relax, with a view over the savannah.
At the end of the afternoon we make another game drive. Besides the many wild animals to see, the landscape of Amboseli is also very beautiful. The nature reserve consists largely of grasslands, swamps and Lake Amboseli. We see velvet monkeys and elephants, one of which seems to be taking a bath in a piece of swampland. At Lake Amboseli we see many water birds, including flamingos, a large white pelican with a yellow-blue beak, and jacanas (which are also called ‘Jesus birds’ because they seem to walk on the water). A few hippos in the water show very little of themselves.
We also visit Noomotio Observation Point (aka Observation Hill), where you have a magnificent 360 degree view of Amboseli (but unfortunately still not of Mount Kilimanjaro). Here and there we see zebras, elephants, wildebeests and gazelles. We also see a group of waterbucks, a large antelope species: a male with horns and about four females. A little later we come across golden crested cranes, large grey and white birds with a kind of mohawk hairstyle. The birds are found all over Africa and are the national bird of Kenya’s neighbouring country Uganda. Towards the end of the game drive we see an African eagle. All in all it is a beautiful day. It’s only the first day of our safari, but we have already seen a lot of wildlife.
The next morning we have to get up early again: at 5AM the alarm goes off and it is still pitch dark when we start our game drive. While we drive across the savannah of Amboseli the sun rises and it slowly becomes light. And today is cloudless and so Mount Kilimanjaro slowly but surely looms. Kilimanjaro is on the other side of the border in Tanzania, but can be seen beautifully from Amboseli. The mountain is 5,896 meters high and is therefore the highest mountain in Africa. Kilimanjaro (often affectionately called ‘Kili’) was once covered with a ten thousand year old glacier. That glacier has now completely disappeared and only on top of the mountain, along the crater rim, is still some snow.
We hope to see lions this morning, but they are not there at the moment. At least not where we are. We do see a lot of elephants. Groups of elephants graze everywhere on the vast savannah, many with young elephants. It’s very special to see the herds of elephants grazing so calmly in the otherwise deathly quiet surroundings. We can get very close, and they often come close to the car. They are used to onlookers and are not aggressive towards people. Herds of elephants with the (slightly hazy) Kili in the background form a photogenic picture.
As the bright red sun rises above the horizon and Mount Kilimanjaro becomes increasingly visible, we see not only a lot of elephants but also Grant’s gazelles, ibises and other birds, a hare, another golden crested crane and a warthog. It’s funny to see how different animals react to us, human spectators. Elephants just calmly go about their business and don’t care about anything, zebras look up and then go about their business again, giraffes stare back, and warthogs start running.
Around half past eight we are back at the lodge and it is time for breakfast. Then we have time to relax with a view of Amboseli. At 4PM we go on another game drive. This time we see zebras, impalas, giraffes, a secretary bird, Thomson gazelles (smaller than Grant’s gazelles and with a distinctive black stripe on their sides), elephants, baboons, a hiding hippo, water buffalos, and a hiding hyena. Unfortunately, we don’t see any felines in Amboseli; nature simply cannot be controlled.
Crossing the border into Tanzania
The next morning we leave at 8AM. We first drive through Amboseli and see elephants, giraffes and an impala. After a long bumpy ride on a bad road we leave Amboseli National Park on the west side. Around 11AM we arrive at the Namanga border crossing. We say goodbye to Dominic and are welcomed by someone from the Tanzanian tour operator. We first report to the Kenyan customs and then to their Tanzanian colleagues in the next office. After the customs formalities we are allowed to cross the border.
Tanzania is officially called the United Republic of Tanzania. The word ‘united’ refers to the merger (in 1964) of the countries Tanganyika and Zanzibar; the name Tanzania is literally a combination of the two. Tanzania covers one million square kilometers (about twice the size of California) and has over 65 million inhabitants, ten percent of whom live in Dar es Salaam, the largest city in the country. I learned in school that Dar es Salaam is the capital of Tanzania, but that turns out not to be the case: Dodoma has been the official capital of Tanzania since 1973. Like in neighboring Kenya, Swahili is the official language in Tanzania, and English is the second official language.
Like Kenya, Tanzania is also the result of a colonial past. When East Africa was divided by the colonial rulers in 1885, the colony of German East Africa was formed, which included present-day Tanzania, plus Rwanda and Burundi. The Sultanate of Zanzibar became part of the British protectorate that also included Kenya in 1890. After the First World War, most of German East Africa became a British protectorate, called Tanganyika (present-day Rwanda and Burundi fell into Belgian hands). In 1961, Tanganyika became an independent country under the authority of the British Crown, and a year later the independent Republic of Tanganyika was proclaimed. In 1964, the union with Zanzibar was formed, with both countries retaining an autonomous status. And that is still the case today.
From the border crossing, it is another 2.5 hours’ drive to our lodge. For a change, the route is on a well-paved road. The area is mountainous and much greener than on the Kenyan side of the border. Here too, we pass small villages with tiny shops and houses made of wood and corrugated iron along the road. The soil in the north of Tanzania is very fertile and, unlike on the Kenyan side of the border, the land is used much more for agriculture, including grain and banana plantations.
Arusha
At half past one, we arrive at our lodge, just outside Arusha, the third largest city in Tanzania, and on the south side of Mount Meru, the second highest mountain in Africa. A lot of coffee is grown in the area, so we visit a coffee plantation near the lodge in the afternoon. The plantation is situated against the mountain slopes at about 1,400 metres above sea level. We are guided around the plantation where the coffee plants grow in the shade of banana trees. They also have an avocado tree, a macadamia tree, lemongrass and a papaya tree. After the tour, we see how the organically grown coffee beans are processed: first dried, then peeled, roasted in a clay pot on an open fire and then crushed. Of course, we also get to drink the coffee.
It’s Wednesday morning when we meet our driver/guide for the coming days: Max. Tanzania has no fewer than 120 different tribes and Max belongs to the Meru tribe, which mainly lives in the area around the mountain of the same name. We are on our way to Tarangire National Park and first drive through Arusha, where the streets are very busy. We pass a market for vegetables and fruit, and another market with piles of clothes and shoes. Tuk-tuks and motorbike taxis are everywhere. Outside Arusha the hustle and bustle has disappeared and we drive through a landscape with rolling hills. Here and there herds of goats, cows and donkeys are grazing, accompanied by a Maasai in traditional clothing and always with a stick in his hand. The surroundings look very different from the south of Kenya, much greener and hillier.
Tarangire National Park
After a coffee stop on the way, we arrive at the entrance of Tarangire National Park around half past twelve. Here we have lunch and half an hour later we drive into the nature reserve. Tarangire National Park consists of vast grasslands and swamp areas. After the Serengeti, Tarangire has the largest concentration of wildlife in Tanzania.
The landscape is very green, with lots of vegetation and, despite it being the dry season, quite high grass. This makes spotting animals a challenge, but we do see giraffes (which of course tower high above the grass) and elephants (two that are eating next to the road, a herd of females with young ones crossing the road, and a little further on a male alone). We also see velvet monkeys and from a distance a few ostriches.
Where a few cars are standing still, two lions appear to be lying in the grass: a female that stays out of sight for a long time in the grass in the shade of a bush, and a male that does show itself, walks back and forth, and occasionally growls at the cars. After about twenty minutes (I now count at least twelve cars with safari goers) the female gets up and walks less than two meters past our car. A little later the male that was lying in the grass further away realizes that the female is gone. He looks around and then follows her scent trail. Very impressive to see wild lions so close.
The landscape of Tarangire is very scenic, green and varied. The nature reserve is located at an altitude of 900 to 1,100 meters and the differences in altitude ensure that in some places you have a beautiful wide view over endless savannah. Tarangire is not only known for its large concentration of wildlife, but also for the majestic baobab trees that grow here. Baobabs have a typical shape, with enormous thick trunks in which they store water, and a relatively compact canopy. Baobabs can become up to two thousand years old.
Towards the end of the afternoon we arrive at the ‘tented camp’ where we will stay. The accommodation consists of a large tent with a bed and a bathroom and above that a thatched roof, situated against a hill with a beautiful view over Lake Burungi.
The next day (Thursday) we spend the whole day in Tarangire National Park. The game drive takes us through a beautiful green area, full of acacias and baobabs, but the vegetation makes spotting animals difficult. Or they are simply not where we are, because in terms of wildlife today we are a bit disappointing. You can’t control nature. Nevertheless, we do see many elephants, impalas, ostriches, a few giraffes and dikdiks. We also encounter a large colony of baboons that, like us, seem to be on their way somewhere down the road. And we pass a group of mongoose, who all have to save a baby mongoose that is sitting on the road. Mongoose are small predators that have the exceptional characteristic of being able to survive a bite from the poisonous cobra.
The driver/guides inform each other over the radio when something special is to be seen somewhere, and so, just after lunch, we sit among twenty other off-road vehicles looking at a tree where a half-eaten warthog lies on a low branch. It’s the prey of a leopard, which must be lying somewhere in the grass near the tree. We wait patiently, but after an hour and a half the leopard still hasn’t shown itself and we give up.
Lake Manyara National Park
On Friday morning we leave Tarangire National Park and head for Lake Manyara, about an hour and a half drive away. The drive takes us on local dirt roads through an area that is mainly used for agriculture; grain, rice, sesame seeds and sunflowers (for oil) are grown here. Every now and then we pass groups of goats and cows. We see people working in the fields (all the work seems to be done by hand) and drive through small villages with small houses made of brick with a corrugated iron roof and probably only one room inside. I get the impression that the people here are very poor, a big contrast to the rich west and a bit sad to see.
The drive takes us through a part of what is known as the Great Rift Valley. In a process of millions of years, the African plate is splitting into two separate plates: the Nubian plate and the Somali plate. In this process, the eastern Somali plate has subsided relative to the Nubian plate, creating a ‘valley’. From our position it looks like we are looking at mountains, but in reality it is the higher part of the rift. Eventually the rift will split the African continent in two.
It’s almost a quarter to ten when we drive into Lake Manyara National Park. It is a relatively small park, about three hundred square kilometers, two-thirds of which consists of the water of Lake Manyara. We drive from south to north through the park, through a dense forest with acacia trees, on a dirt road that partly runs along the shore of the shallow Lake Manyara. We see elephants a few times, zebras, impalas, lots of baboons, giraffes a few times, two klipspringers, a lizard, two pelicans, distant hippos and waterbucks. At one point we spot a leopard. He or she hides in the greenery and then runs super fast across the road away from us into the bushes. It goes really fast, I just have time for a quick and unsharp photo of a running leopard.
We have lunch at a picnic area where all the safari vehicles stop. Then we drive on through the green surroundings. At a quarter past two we are at the northern entrance of Lake Manyara National Park. From there it is not far to our lodge in Karatu. There we have time to relax.
Ngorongoro Conservation Area
Like almost every day, we leave our lodge at 8AM on Saturday and half an hour later we arrive at the entrance of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area is on the UNESCO World Heritage List and protects the Ngorongoro Crater, the largest accessible volcanic crater in the world, which was formed about two million years ago. The floor of the crater is 1,700 meters above sea level, is over 260 square kilometers in size and is surrounded by forested slopes that are up to 610 meters high.
From the entrance to the Conservation Area, the road leads over densely vegetated mountain slopes up to the crater rim. At the top of the crater rim is a viewpoint, where you have an amazing view over the crater. After driving over the eastern crater rim, we dive into the crater via an unpaved road. The large grassland and swamps in the Ngorongoro Crater are a paradise for animals. You will find relatively many animals in a relatively small area. The animals here do not migrate either.
When we drive into the crater, we immediately see a large herd of buffalo. They are grazing at a distance, but a little further on there is a large group of zebras and wildebeest, certainly more than a hundred in total. They stand, walk and lie next to and on the narrow track where we are driving. Very impressive to see so many wild animals all around you.
During the game drive we see a large brown-grey bird called a kori bustard, elephants, a solitary grazing eland, a solitary grazing hartebeest, groups of gazelles, warthogs, hyenas, a jackal and golden crested cranes. At Lake Magadi, a shallow lake in the crater, we see a number of largely submerged hippos and a large group of flamingos. One group consists of greater flamingos (which are larger and white with a pink tail), the other are lesser flamingos (which are smaller and pinker in colour).
The vast grassland of the Ngorongoro Crater is a truly magnificent place, surrounded all around by the six-hundred-metre-high rim. After a tip from another driver/guide, Max points out a white rhino. However, it is so far away that you cannot really recognise a rhino without binoculars. After he/she has disappeared behind a herd of wildebeest, we see two slightly less distant black rhinos. By spotting the rhinos we complete the Big Five on this trip. Nice to know: the Big Five (lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo) are not called that because they are the largest, most beautiful or most common animals, but because they were considered by hunters to be the most dangerous species.
Serengeti National Park
After lunch, the long drive (on an unpaved road) to our next destination begins. First, we drive through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Around half past three, we arrive at the point where the Ngorongoro Conservation Area transitions into Serengeti National Park.
The world-famous Serengeti is a protected nature reserve of no less than thirty thousand square kilometers (of which about half falls within Serengeti National Park). Serengeti is a Maasai word and means endless plain. And that is exactly what it is: a seemingly endless savannah. The Serengeti is not entirely flat by the way: the savannah is slightly rolling with a few somewhat higher hills and rock formations called ‘kopjes’. These rock formations are the remains of eroded hills.
The largest migration of wild animals in the world takes place in the Serengeti. More than a million wildebeest, zebras and gazelles migrate in large groups across the savannah in an annual process, following the rain. The process is different every year (depending on the rain), but the animals are usually in the south of the Serengeti in January and February. This is also the time when the wildebeest have young. The animals are also still in the south of the Serengeti in March/April, where it is the rainy season. In May/June they migrate towards the northwest of the Serengeti and in July/August they are in the north of the Serengeti and in the Maasai Mara in Kenya (the animals are of course not bothered by national borders). In September/October the animals are in the Maasai Mara and in November/December they start migrating back to the Serengeti, via the eastern part of the Serengeti to the south.
Our tented camp is quite literally in the proverbial middle of nowhere, with a view over the savannah. After breakfast the next morning with a view of grazing giraffes, we leave for a full day game drive. The morning starts off cool, but it warms up considerably during the day (so far it has been bright sunny and around thirty degrees every day). The first thing we see on the way are giraffes. Giraffes are one of my favorite animals here. They are so elegant, have a beautiful pattern in their fur and a cute face. Fun fact: giraffes need very little sleep; they only sleep about 30-45 minutes a day and do so in short naps of five minutes at a time. The rest of the time they graze and eat the leaves of the acacia trees.
As everywhere during this safari, we also see many gazelles in the Serengeti, and also impalas, zebras, a hyena, and a group of four lionesses that are resting under a tree, but run away as soon as we come near. A little later we see a group of topi, one of the larger antelope species, which are darker than gazelles. At one point we find ourselves in the middle of a huge herd of buffalo. The herd consists of males, females and young ones and they all look at us in the same way as we look at them.
During the game drive we cover large distances. The Serengeti is extremely vast, some parts are almost empty grasslands, other parts are a bit more overgrown. In some parts we see a lot of wildlife, other parts seem deserted (seem, because the grass offers animals the opportunity to hide). And everywhere grow acacia trees, which are typical for this part of Africa (we also saw them in other parks). They stand out photogenic against the blue sky in the middle of the vast landscape. It’s a very impressive experience to be in the world famous Serengeti.
By the end of the morning, after we have come across a group of hartebeest and a Thomson’s gazelle, and after radio communication between the driver/guides, we meet a group of lions on a rock high enough for them to be safe from all the curious tourists. Mama lion keeps a view from above of the off-road vehicles that gather around the rock, while the cubs lie a bit further away on another rock. Two male lions are sleeping under a tree a little further away (it’s the middle of the day, time for lions to take a nap). We can get very close while they continue to sleep peacefully. A little later we see another set of two sleeping male lions.
After we have encountered another large group of zebras (the zebras take the term ‘zebra crossing’ very literally), two crocodiles and some elephants, we come across a large group of hippos floating in the water. The pool where they are stinks terribly, because the hippos also do their business in the water in which they are submerged. Fun fact: despite their robust appearance, hippos have very sensitive skin; they burn easily, which is why they spend most of their time in the water.
Towards the end of the afternoon we are back at the tented camp. It’s time for a drink and dinner with a view. The next morning (Monday) we leave our tented camp. We soon see some giraffes, a group of elephants, two (of course running) warthogs, zebras, gazelles, wildebeests, two jackals, hyenas and a male lion in the grass.
It’s a quarter past nine in the morning when we spot a lioness in the grass. A little further on, a group of buffalo approaches. The buffalo are too big for the lioness, but a young buffalo is a prey that she can handle. However, her wind comes from the side where the lioness is, so the buffalo can smell her. She starts the attack and the buffalo start running. A few seconds later, however, the buffalo turn around and the roles are suddenly reversed: now it is the lioness who has to run. The buffalo know that together they are strong and the lioness takes off.
It’s 10AM when we (partly thanks to the mutual contact between the guides) are treated to a magnificent leopard, lying on a thick branch in a tree. A little later he/she walks from one branch to the other to lie down there again. The leopard is not bothered by our presence, which allows us to take beautiful photos of this impressive animal. It’s breathtaking to see, in my opinion the highlight of the safari.
A little later we pass a group of elephants, two of which are playing with each other. Around noon we see a group of three cheetahs under a tree. They are the first (and only) cheetahs that we see on this safari. They are relaxing, but sit up for a moment when there is a gazelle nearby and the cheetahs consider it making it their lunch. Cheetahs are the fastest land animals in the world; they can reach a speed of up to a hundred kilometres per hour, although they can only maintain that speed during very short sprints. After the leopard, this is also a beautiful picture. I think we have now seen all the land animals that we could see on this safari. Very impressive to be so close to wild animals in their natural habitat, many are only a few metres away from us.
Ndutu Region
After seeing another large herd of migrating wildebeest and zebra, we leave Serengeti National Park and drive to the Ndutu Region. Ndutu is adjacent to the Serengeti, but is formally part of the Ngorongoro Region. Around 1PM we arrive at our lodge, with a view of Lake Masek. After lunch we have some time to relax, before at half past three we go on our last game drive. We drive along the shore of Lake Masek, see dikdiks (the smallest antelope species, pet-sized), a few flamingos, an impala, a few hippos, giraffes, zebras, wildebeests, more giraffes and a group of sleeping lionesses with cubs.
The marabu we encounter, which is over one metre tall, is probably the ugliest bird I have ever seen. The leopard sleeping in a tree is more beautiful. He/she has hung his/her prey, a young wildebeest, in another tree a little further away. The two groups of sleeping lions with cubs also have their prey nearby: a largely eaten baby wildebeest. We also see a caracal (a feline) from a distance, but it disappears too quickly into the bush to be able to take a sharp photo. Back at the tented camp, our safari comes to an end.
Zanzibar
On Tuesday morning we leave at 7AM for the long drive back to Arusha. The first 2.5 hours are on a dirt road through the Serengeti and Ngorongoro regions, after that it is another 2.5 hours on a paved road to Arusha. At noon we stop in Arusha for lunch and then we are taken to the small airport of Arusha for our flight to Zanzibar. We say goodbye to driver/guide Max and leave shortly after 5PM (a little later than planned) with a modest propeller plane to the island off the coast of Tanzania.
A little over an hour later we land at Abeid Amani Karume International Airport, after which we are taken to our resort on the east coast of Zanzibar. It’s already dark and it’s an hour’s drive, although the journey takes an hour and a half because of the heavy traffic and a road closure, forcing the driver to squeeze through narrow back streets. Shortly after a quarter past eight we arrive at our resort, where we are assigned a cottage with a view over the Indian Ocean. After our safari we will unwind the last days of this trip here.
I always thought that Zanzibar was one island, but it turns out to be an archipelago, consisting of two large islands (Unguja, aka Zanzibar, and Pemba, a four-hour boat ride from Ungaja) and a number of smaller ones. It feels very different from the mainland of Tanzania. Zanzibar is a mix of Africa and the Middle East, with mostly veiled women and numerous mosques. It’s also very hot on Zanzibar, well above thirty degrees, and in contrast to the dry heat on the mainland of Tanzania, the heat on Zanzibar is more tropical and humid.
From the eighth century CE, Zanzibar was an important link in the international spice trade. Even today, there are still plantations on the island where cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon are grown. Zanzibar was initially colonized by Portugal, but in 1698 Zanzibar came under Omani rule. The Sultan of Oman (who moved to Stone Town on Zanzibar in 1840, whereby the Sultanate of Oman changed into the Sultanate of Zanzibar) became rich through the trade, not only in spices, but also in slaves. In the nineteenth century, Zanzibar was an important hub in the East African slave trade. In 1890, Zanzibar became part of the British protectorate in East Africa. In 1963, the archipelago became independent and a year later, together with Tanganyika, it formed the new country of Tanzania.
For the next morning (Wednesday), we have booked a taxi bus that will take us to Zanzibar City. On the way, the poverty is striking. In the countryside of Zanzibar, people live in small primitive houses with corrugated iron roofs (and sometimes also corrugated iron walls). Grain is grown there and we see many banana trees. It’s a big contrast with the resorts along the coast where the tourists (including us) stay. In Zanzibar City, the streets are a cheerful chaos with cars, vans, tuktuks, motorbikes and scooters and the occasional cyclist. We are dropped off at the Darajani Market (aka Darajani Bazaar aka Darajani Souk). From there we explore Stone Town, the old part of Zanzibar City, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Darajani is a busy local market where vegetables, fruit, meat and fish are sold. Hygiene doesn’t seem to be an issue. Of course you can also buy spices, the spice sellers are very focused on the visiting tourists. We drink coffee at Zanzibar Coffee House and then walk through the narrow streets of Stone Town, with old heritage houses from the British colonial period, with plastered facades and wooden doors and shutters, in terms of architecture and a mix of European and Middle Eastern. Many of them were once beautiful stately buildings, but are now outdated and dilapidated. The most beautiful (restored) buildings now serve as hotels or restaurants aimed at tourists.
We visit the location of the former slave market of Stone Town, where the British built an Anglican church in a mix of European and Middle Eastern architecture. Here you can also find a slave monument and the former dungeons where the slaves were held. We also walk past the Old Fort, of which little remains except for the high outer walls and the large round towers on the corners. Within the walls of the fort there are shops, a café and an open lawn.
There is a promenade along the water of the Indian Ocean and at the pier are the Fordodhani Gardens, a park where trees offer shade from the burning sun. Boats bob on the water and on land men are constantly trying to get you onto one of those boats. There are also lots of street cats. After having lunch at one of the food stalls at the Fordodhani Gardens, we continue our walk through the narrow streets of Stone Town, past Freddy Mecrury’s childhood home (now a museum dedicated to the British singer) and the snow-white High Court Building (which is being renovated). At the latter is also the Portuguese Arch, a small freestanding gate that gives access to a small park (but the rest of its history remains unclear to us).
After exploring Stone Town, the same driver takes us back to our resort on the east coast. Time to relax. We also relax at the resort on Thursday and Friday morning. Then it is time to go to the airport. Our journey is over. From Zanzibar we fly back home via Nairobi. It has been an amazing, unforgettable experience.
