Zanzibar and Dar

Well we just got back from our week-long trip to the coast and I suppose its about time that I made another post. It all began with a 10 hour bus trip to Dar es Salaam…much of it through beautiful mountainous countryside that looked something like this…

When we got to Dar we ate some dinner and then scurried off to get dressed up in our Sunday best because we were fortunate enough to be invited to a wedding that night. The couple getting married were the children of some people who we knew from TCDC (our compound in Arusha). It was really nice of them to invite us an interesting to see, though we didn’t stay long because we were all pooped…and because it was a bit awkward since we didn’t really know the bride or groom….

The next day we headed off to Bagamoyo to learn about the East Indian Ocean trade and see the ruins of the coastal village Kaole. They looked something like this…

This picture shows the inside of the Mosque in the center of the village…the doorway faces Mecca. While we were here we also went down to the coast and saw the port that was used most frequently during the slave trade. For those of you who don’t know, the name Bagamoyo translates to “throw down your hearts” and the city is famous (infamous?) for the part it played in the Indian Ocean slave trade. It is uncertain whether the name refers to the slaves essentially giving up hope at this place or the fact that the workers of the trade caravans finally got to rest at this place and throw down their burdens after a long trek from the interior. Later, Bagamoyo became an important seat of power for first the Sultan of Zanzibar, then the German colonizers. In 1888 it was the cite of a famous anti-colonial revolt led by a Shirazi (elite Swahili/Arab) named Bushiri (and as those of you who have read my thesis know, I love me some revolts led by men named Bushiri). Much of the action centered around this historical fort, on which Dan, Vivian, and Mike so cleverly posed for me…

Speak no evil, hear no evil, see no evil is oddly fitting for the history of this place….

When the slave trade finally ended, Bagamoyo ceased to be such an important trading hub and today economy survives mostly on fishing and tourism. It has a fascinating history though and a pretty sweet coastal view, as you can see in this picture…

Oh, and I shouldn’t forget our exciting adventures climbing around in a 500-year-old Baobob tree while we were near the ruins at Kaole. Check it out….

We spent most of the next day wandering around Dar es Salaam. We started off touring around the University campus and then went to the giant market famous for selling carvings made of ebony and soap stone. We ended this day eating some of what quite possible might have been the most delicious Ethiopian food ever…

The next morning we got up bright and early and climbed aboard the boat that took us on our 2 sea cruise to Zanzibar. When we got to Stone Town we had a delightful tour of this city on which we wandered around the streets that looked something like this…

…and saw many exciting historical sights, the likes of which gave us amazing views such as this one from the Sultan’s palace…

I would write more about the Omani Sultans and their fascinating history in Zanzibar, but I’m sure that those of you who actually care already know that history.

The next day was spice tour day. We started off the day with a tour of some more castle ruins. This castle was the home of the 90 concubines of Sultan Baraghesh in the mid 1800s and unfortunately it burned down at some point. I suppose it wasn’t unfortunate for everyone however, because our good friend Frank the Punda made a lovely home for himself in the room that used to house the baths…

For the record, I was the first person to walk into this room that Frank was hanging out in and he scared the crap out of me. For some reason I didn’t really expect to walk around the corner and find a donkey hanging out….I screamed like a little girl.

After visiting Frank, we headed out to the spice farm for our tour. It was really interesting and I learned all kinds of information about spices of which I was completely ignorant….did you know, for example, that cinnamon and menthol come from the same tree? I had no idea. It started pouring down rain during in the middle of the tour and we used banana leaves as umbrella, as my good friends Xander and Cara so aptly demonstrate in this photo…

And the little children who lived near the farm milked money out of us by weaving all sorts of exciting things out of palm leaves. Check out Xander in his sweet crown, bracelet and glasses…

Things only got more exciting when we returned to Stone Town, because that’s when we got free time. Xander, Dan, and Cody thought it would be hilarious if they bought some of these hideous shirts that basically only tourists wear. And they looked ridiculous….but it admittedly did make me laugh, even if I hid my head in shame most of the time I was with them. See for yourself…

After that we headed to the old fort because they were holding an international film festival there and at night they had live bands. Before the bands came out, however, there was a dance contest and my friend Cara definitely entered it…and fell over in the middle of it….it was awesome….unfortunately I have no pictures to document said event because my camera mysteriously stopped working just for the period of time that she was on stage. I think it was fates way of telling us some things are meant to remain memories only in the mind. But I do have a video of one of the bands…

Our final day on Zanzibar was spent roaming through the protected Mangrove forests, watching red monkeys, and playing on the beach….

\

That last picture is all of us mourning the destruction of our sand castle by the encroaching tide.

The next day we hopped on a boat back to Dar (one of the more uncomfortable boat rides of my life….lets just say there were a lot of big waves and more than one person tossed their cookies on that boat…though I wasn’t one of them). Then we traveled 10 hours home to our compound.

And that was my week in Dar and Zanzibar. I’m not gonna lie, it was pretty sweet. Will be back soon with chronicles of some more adventures…