Spice Tour

One of the classic tourist activities on Zanzibar is to do a spice tour. On the way back to Stone Town from Kendwa, I stopped at one of the spice plantations on the island for a tour. I wandered through the plantation with one of the local farmers who pointed out various spices and fruits, made us guess which each was and then explained the uses for each. Even though I guessed wrong on most of the plants, it was a fun way to spend the afternoon.

I took pictures of several of the spices and fruits we saw:

Cinnamon root, leaves and bark...
Vanilla plant...
Jack fruit...
A fruit that's similar to jack fruit (I forgot the name)...
Saffron...
Cloves...
Lemongrass...
I hate to admit it, but I forgot what this one is too...
Cassava...
Grapefruit (on the left side of the picture)...
Coconut (with one of the boys climbing the tree to pick some for us to have some fresh coconut to eat and drink)...
Peppercorn vine...
Throughout the afternoon, we were followed around by three young boys who picked leaves from the various trees and made bags, necklaces, bracelets, rings and crowns for us to carry and wear. I know we looked ridiculous, but the boys were adorable and it was a lot of fun.

Snorkeling off Mnemba Island

On my third day in Kendwa, I went snorkeling off the coast of Mnemba Island, a small, private island off the northeast coast of Zanzibar. It took about two hours by boat to reach the island.As we approached the island, it was really unbelievable - white sand beaches and turquoise blue waters so clear you could see the coral and the fish from the surface.
After a couple hours of snorkeling, we climbed back onto the boat for a delicious lunch of fresh fish, chapati, mango, pineapple and bananas. It may have been the best fish I've had in my life, and some of the best mango, too.
On our way back to Kendwa, the captain of the boat caught an octopus to "feed to his cat". (It sounded strange, but I didn't ask questions.)

Kendwa

After about three days in Stone Town, I went north to Kendwa, with is just southwest of the northernmost tip of the island. There, I spent about five days at the beach - laying in the sun, sea kayaking, walking on the beach, snorkeling, relaxing and watching beautiful sunsets. It was a true vacation.

Baobab candies

I picked up a small plastic bag of mysterious, bright pink balls at the market today that turned out to be candies made from baobab tree seeds. Such a good treat!

Jozani Forest

In the south central area of Zanzibar is the Jozani Forest, the largest mature forest on the island and the only place in the world inhabited by red colobus monkeys. The forest covers approximately 3 percent of the entire island and contains a mangrove swamp, a natural forest and the remnants of a mahogany plantatation.
As I mentioned before, the Jozani Forest is home to the red colobus monkeys, an endangered species of monkey found only on Zanzibar island and only in this forest.

Dolphins and stormy seas

What began as a sunny day with plans to snorkel with dolphins off the southern coast of Zanzibar quickly turned into the worst experience I had on the island. Not long into our boat trip, the weather turned the ocean from clear, calm and inviting to dark, rough and dangerous. Although we still spotted several dolphins, we cut the trip short and returned to shore where we weathered out the storm in a small shelter while eating fresh fish and chapati.
(I'm sure it's clear just from the length this post and its lack of detail that, while probably still worth mentioning, the day really wasn't a good experience.)

Buildings in Zanzibar

I saw this display in one of the museums in Stone Town and thought it was worth noting. I know the quality of the picture isn't very good, but notice the graph on the left that shows almost two-thirds of the buildings in Stone Town are deteriorating and only approximately an eighth are in good condition. On the right is a map of the city that gives a visual of these statistics. Even though you can't make out individual buildings in the photo, you can still notice that the majority of the map is red or brown, showing buildings that are deteriorating or in poor condition, and very little is yellow, indicating buildings that are in good condition.
It's really an unfortunate situation. Stone Town is home to some incredibly interesting architecture and amazing buildings, but the majority of the town is in shambles. So many of the buildings are crumbling, and even though there are efforts to repair some of them, I'm afraid it's going to take a lot to be able to repair everything that needs it.