Zanzibar. Doesn’t that name sound exotic? The name comes from the Arabic word zanjibār meaning “black coast” which was said to be referring either to the colors of the sands or the skin of its inhabitants. Zanzibar is not a single island, but rather is an archipelago comprised of several islands. The two larger islands are Unguja (where we were) and Pemba. Zanzibar, therefore, sits off the coast of mainland Africa as part of Tanzania. Speaking of the country, Tanzania is pronounced Tan-zan-ia – not Tan-za-nia. I have been mispronouncing the name my whole life. It makes sense how it’s pronounced though, if you realize that the mainland is called Tanganyika and together the areas united in 1964 with the name Tanzania combining the names Tanganyika and Zanzibar. So it makes sense that you’d have equal emphasis on the Tan and the Zan parts of the name.

Anyway, my day in Zanzibar consisted of two parts. The first part was an excursion to Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park. I went solo on this excursion. Afterwards, Ryan joined me on a jaunt into town to wander around and see Stone Town.

Starting bright and early, the excursion to Jozani Forest began with a drive southeast for approximately one hour. The sights along the way were interesting as we could see village/town life playing out before our eyes. I’ll mention that in a moment – first the forest. The park is the largest area of mature woodland remaining on Zanzibar and the only national park in Zanzibar. Our visit to the park was divided into three sections. The first part had us walking through the forest and learning about the different flora and the medicinal benefits that they have for the native people of the area. We saw a tree that was used for teeth and gum health – and our tour guide noted that his grandfather was 105 and had all of his original teeth. Of course, the leaves will turn the teeth red – but they’ll be super strong. Sounds like a bit of a tradeoff to me. We also learned how people will use tamarind trees for asthma, bitter sienna for hernia, and another tree that helped with women’s menstrual woes. In this photo, our tour guide, Abdullah, is describing the uses of the guava tree for us.

The second part of our tour in the forest was all about the monkeys. There are a few different species of monkeys in the forest, with the most prevalent being the red colobus and the Sykes blue monkey. We saw several blue monkeys hanging out in the parking lot area as well as among the trees as we wandered through the forest.

As we were on our way to the “main” area for monkey viewing, Abdullah pointed out the sounds of the fresh water frogs that created a symphony for us as we walked. He encouraged us to move quickly as “rains were coming” – and as he said that I noticed the sky and how the clouds were swiftly moving in as if on cue.

We arrived at a spot where a family of red colobus monkeys were playing in the trees. The youngsters were fun to watch as they climbed over each other and tugged on each others’ tails to cause the other to fall from the trees. Monkeys were leaping and swinging before our eyes.

And then, as if it was an intermission to a show, the monkeys seemed to instantly disappear as rain started to fall. We all took shelter under the trees and awaited our coach to come so we could sit inside while the rains stopped. Abdullah noted that we would all sleep well that night because that rain was said to have great sleeping effects. I can’t confirm whether this was the case, but I can’t deny it either.

The third part of our forest tour was to the mangroves. We walked along the boardwalks, admiring the trees with their unique root system.  A cool thing about the mangroves is that they have special adaptations to take in extra oxygen and to remove salt, which allow them to tolerate conditions that would kill most plants.

On our way back to the port, we passed back through the various towns and I noticed three things in particular. First, there were a lot of tires. I mean, you would constantly see tires stacked on top of each other in front of buildings, loosely lying around, or piled high in building alcoves. It wasn’t clear if they were for sale or being used for something else, but there were so many tires everywhere. Another thing I noticed were beautiful beds along the road. There weren’t a ton – but occasionally you’d come across some stores that were showcasing their craftsmanship with ornately decorated beds out front. I was never able to capture a great photo of them but they were exquisite. Interestingly, the beds would be seemingly out of place, as all the other stores and shops were rundown and dirty. With tires. Lots of tires. One of the photos below shows some nice couches among rubble, which paints the picture nicely.

We also saw several groups of soldiers with weapons walking along the streets. People weren’t fazed by their presence and they just seemed to be ambling around. Somebody asked about them and Abdullah said that they were on a sort of scavenger hunt. The military thinks that it’s essential that soldiers are able to read maps, so they give them GPS coordinates and tell them to find whatever is hidden at the coordinates. At some spots, there will be additional coordinates to find from there. At the end of the scavenger hunt is food that the soldiers will have earned if they were successful. He said he served three years in the military (and that it’s not compulsory). No clue if what he was saying was true or accurate, but I love the thought of a scavenger hunt so I choose to believe it.

 After returning to the port and having a quick lunch with Ryan, we took off for town. We took a shuttle to the front of the port and then walked to Stone Town, the oldest section of the city and a UNESCO World Heritage site. We walked along the waterfront amidst the locals until we reached the gate by the walls of the Old Fort, at which point we walked along Stone Town’s narrow streets. I swear I took a photo of the streets but the photo disappeared from my phone, as sometimes happens sadly. So instead of a good photo of the streets you get a photo of me with an avocado lime drink I bought. You can kinda see Stone Town in the background…

For the record, the drink was refreshing. I’ve never actually had an avocado drink but it was good. Ryan had a passion fruit Fanta, a flavor of Fanta that was new for him. We also had a pineapple Fanta back in the room from my earlier excursion, so Zanzibar was apparently all about trying different drinks.

Another photo I’ll share is one of cats. Everywhere. Seriously, count the cats in the picture below. And they all looked healthy like they could have been house pets – not mangy and gnarly like other places with free roaming cats. It was a kitteh kitteh paradise. Oh, except at one point we passed a guy holding a bag and inside the bag was the sound of a cat yowling. So maybe not a full cat paradise if there are catnappers putting kitties in bags. Weird.

The last tidbit I’ll share is that Ryan got a t-shirt as a souvenir that says Hakuna Matata and Zanzibar. It’s perfect because the phrase, which became popular because of Lion King, of course, means “no worries”. It’s Swahili, a language that originated on the Eastern coast of Africa with official language status in Kenya and Tanzania. It has a heavy influence of Arabic (~35%) and some English, with no lexical tone, making it one of the easier languages for English-speakers to learn.  In addition to learning hakuna matata, we also used Jambo (hello), Mambo (what’s up), and Asante Sana (thank you very much) quite regularly. Picture Ryan walking through the streets saying hi to a zillion people saying “Jambo” and “Mambo” to him. It was great.

And that was Zanzibar, Tanzania. It was a fun stop with friendly people and definitely worth a visit.