Zanzibar Retrospective: Stone Town

In the run up to our Easter Holiday (Vacation) trip to Uganda I wanted to try and complete the remaining Zanzibar Retrospectives so here is Stone Town. We stayed here for three days at the end of our time in Zanzibar.

Dhow Palace Hotel

Our base in the city – complete with it’s own pool built in the centre of the hotel courtyard. We were staying in Room 101 which was an ominous room if you know your literary references – but it was a simple but clean room with air con. wifi and a mosquito net which is all you really needed, plus a small balcony overlooking the pool. Food was rather basic and we only ate breakfast there which was not that great to be honest. The location was absolutely fine and a stones throw from the sea front and the centre of town.

Stone Town Streets

Stone Town is unlike anything else in Tanzania – an old city with a maze of streets. Buildings with ornate doors. Old Forts, Persian Baths, Palaces and Mosques and Churches. The place is aged and a little decrepit – in need of a face lift but intriguing nonetheless.

Stone Town

Sea Front and Forodhani Gardens

The sea front views are superb and a walk along thee front leads to Forodhani Gardens where all manner of goods are sold.

Cocktails in Stone Town

Sultans and Slavery

Zanzibar was a sultanate until the end of the 19th Century. Ruled by Oman the island was sadly a centre of Slavery for East Africa until Britain intervened and forced the Sultan to end it, on the back of reports by David Livingston (explorer) among others. The old slave market was built over and a church erected. There are still memorials to those who suffered.

The Sultan’s Palace was also a place to visit whilst in Stone Town

Stunning Sunsets

The place to go in the evening for a Sundowner is Africa House. We went all three nights in Stone Town and saw some great sunsets – though never caught the sun on the horizon.

Monkeys On The Roof

Today was the first of six practical exams I will invigilate over the next six working days. These two and a half hour exams are mind numbing. So in the silence I contemplated my next blog post. This is written below in the form of a poem conjured in my head at the time. There may be others.

Note the monkey image was taken back in September.

They love to run.
They love to leap. 
From roof to roof.
To tree to roof.
A proverbial herd of elephants.
In fact a troop of monkeys.
Above my head.

Above my head.
As I sit in the silence.
Invigilating.
Contemplating.
No other sound.
But monkeys.
Running, leaping, jumping.

Only in Africa!