Daniel Young Travels: Stonetown, Zanzibar

This interlude followed our first three safaris in the north of Tanzania.

Emma assisted the pilot on the flight from Serengetti South airstrip through Dar Es Salaam to Stonetown, Zanzibar. Contrary to the warnings of taxi chaos at the Zanzibar airport a magisterial taxi dispatcher assigned a taxi driver without delay. The Mashariki Palace hotel entrance could not be approached by vehicles so we had to walk about a block, past the entrance to a school which would later turn out to be extremely interesting. School observations will be a separate post. [On the day of our departure a visit by the President of Zanzibar prevented parking in the area of our hotel and we had to walk all the way to the Darjana Market to load the taxi. Fortunately, a hotel employee had a wheeled cart.]

Stonetown has a rundown look and a generally relaxed atmosphere with a socially active waterfront/beachfront. Our hotel was a converted palace; our room was palatial and the manager, an Italian women, was extremely helpful. We walked the winding, labyrinthine streets of the old town, getting slightly lost now and then. No difficulty getting directions from the innumerable people around. On the second day we took a snorkeling trip to Chumbe Island which deserves a separate blog post. On the final day we went to the Darjana Market and explored the fish, meat, vegetable, spice and fruit market, making two notable acquisitions, vanilla beans and a fruit we had never seen before named Zaitun.