Zanzibar - like Ken, 'we do beach'

TL;DR

• We got some solid beach time in Zanzibar, an island with an interesting history

• We recommend visiting Zanzibar for a short time, not a long time

After a week of driving around in the bush, nothing beats some island time. So the four of us flew to a very popular post Safari destination: Zanzibar.

About Zanzibar

Zanzibar is an archipelago off the coast of mainland Tanzania. Originally its own country, it united with the nation of Tangyika to form Tanzania in the 60s. The name Tanzania is actually a compound of the two states Tan+Zan combined with ia which means 'land of'. Today, most people know Zanzibar as a holiday destination with its miles of beaches all over the island and crystal blue waters. Many Europeans visit every year to escape their winters for some warm weather.

Zanzibar became famous in the middle ages as a key port along most Indian ocean trade routes between Africa, the Middle East, India and the rest of Asia. Spices featured prominently in trade and Zanzibar got the nickname as the 'spice island' as a result. Cloves are still a major cash crop here though tourism is the biggest industry today.

Artists' depiction of Slave trade market

The dark side of all this trade is Zanzibar's history with the slave trade. It was the center of the East Atlantic Slave trade with many slaves taken from their homes on the mainland and sent east. Though this dark period eventually ended, slavery and slavery ancestry remains a controversial topic with locals till today.

Zanzibar is a mix of cultures with influences from East Africa, Persia, India and others combining together in language, architecture and food. You can see this influence in Zanzibar's famous ornate doors that are inspired from Persian and Indian styles.

Oman's influence is likely the largest here since Zanzibar was part of the Omani empire for hundreds of years. In fact, the Sultan of Oman was once based in Zanzibar.

Zanzibar is also the birthplace of Freddy Mercury. A middle class Parsi kid, Freddy spent his early years in Zanzibar and some of his famous songs like Bicycle Race are inspired from this time in his childhood.

The Freddy Mercury museum has a lot of the OG memorabilia!

The Ups and Downs of Zanzibar

We mainly went to Zanzibar to enjoy the beach life and get a flavor of the island that sits at the cross section of so many cultures. Now on the other side of this stay, I would say there are some pros and cons to think about before coming to Zanzibar.

Pros

• People are super friendly! This was a real standout to me. Unlike in most places, I hardly ever noticed local people losing patience, getting into arguments or just being in a bad mood. 'Hakuna Matata' is a verbalized mantra here which we heard from locals time and again in the most sincere way.

• The ocean and beach are very beautiful. White sand and turquoise water was not hard to find. While there was often seaweed, the beaches (and most of the island) is pretty clean.

• No matter your budget, you can live basically on the beach. And unlike some islands, all of Zanzibar's coast has good beach experiences to offer.
  

What's not to like?

Cons

• While the hotels and resorts that dot the island are lovely, they are surrounded by abysmal infrastructure. Poor roads and perennial power/water shortages are commonplace. None of these are deal breakers in and of themselves, but it means its not really easy to leave the touristy area to see where the locals do things in many parts of the island. The fact that the government which is raking tourism money from the island hand over fist but has done so little to develop it is a real shame. Having seen other areas in Tanzania have much better infrastructure (like on the mainland), the level of disparity defies an easy explanation.

• Outside of Stone town there is not much culture/activities readily accessible. Unless you are keen to go out on the water every day (some do, many divers in these parts), you might miss more of a local scene.

• Things are pricey here. From what I hear this is a lot of Africa in general, but I feel it more in Zanzibar. But even if you fork out the money, its not always clear you get the value you would expect even by relaxed standards.

All this to say, I would recommend visiting Zanzibar as part of your safari visit if only for a few days at a nice resort to decompress. If you have more time, maybe there are other parts of the east Africa region that are worth exploring. We were looking forward to 'living like the locals do' but in the end that was not so easily accomplished. Due to some limitations with our travel booking, we ended up spending 2 weeks here and that was a few days longer than we might recommend. Of course we still enjoyed ourselves and caught up on a bunch of trip planning among other things :). A huge caveat: this impression was formed as a complete outsider. I can totally see how someone with more local knowledge or connections could have a very different experience.

Still pretty tho

Our next post will be about our next destination: South Africa. It will be our first time doing mostly driving as our means of travel in a new country! See you then.