Thanks to our awesome field director who happens to have handy connections in Zanzibar I got to spend Christmas in a tropical paradise with the other volunteers for our mid-service conference.
Zanzibar is actually a group of islands including the main island called Unguja and Pemba, a smaller island to the north. Zanzibar is the birthplace of Swahili language and culture. It has many cultural influences from Eastern Africa as well as from the Middle East due to its location. The island was an important part of the slave trade and you can visit caves where slaves were hidden after slavery became illegal but the slave trade continued. Zanzibar is also sometime called "The Spice Island" due to the many spice plantations located in the islands interior.
On Christmas Eve I took the ferry from Dar es Salaam into Stone Town, the capital city of Zanzibar. The trip only takes 2-3 hours depending on the speed of the ferry you are on. Here is the view from the ferry as you are approaching Stone Town:
One of Stone Town's charms is its maze of streets and alleyways that you can wander through for hours. It reminded me a lot of Venice (minus the canals). And I found that as long as I kept heading in the direction of wherever I was trying to go I eventually got there.
Another charm are the beautifully carved wooden doorways that you will see as you are wandering through the streets.
Stay tuned for more stories about Zanzibar...
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