This past week I’ve been in Zanzibar. If you don’t know where that is, Google it. The pictures that appear are most likely to be breathtaking beach pictures. It’s worth the search.

Zanzibar is an island off the east coast of mainland Tanzania, in the Indian Ocean. The population is approximately 1 million people. It was a main point for trade in the past from the Middle East and India to East Africa.  90% of the population is Muslim and they speak Swahili everywhere. In the past few days I’ve fallen in love with the place, the people, the architecture and the food.

On Tuesday I set off in a dhow (a wooden boat) to Prison Island, about 30minutes from the Stonetown (Capital of Zanzibar) port. Locally, the island is known as Changuu. Near the turn of the 20^th Century, the island was home to, can you guess, a prison. However, after being sold to the British, it was used as a quarantine area for travellers that might be sick with yellow fever. The prison has now been converted into a small hotel that many would only dream of staying at, as one night costs $$$.

The island also hosts the only family of giant tortoises outside of the Seychelles. As a gift, the Seychelles gave 4 tortoises to Zanzibar in 1919, and the species has been multiplying ever since. They were huge and some, over a hundred years old.

I walked around the island with my helpful dhow captain and then we set off to snorkel. As a mediocre swimmer, I was not overly excited about jumping off a boat into the middle of the ocean. However, I did it (holding a rope attached to the boat). I got my snorkel mask set and for the first time in my life I saw the bottom floor of an ocean. It was amazing. Unfortunately, I didn’t see any large fish, but I did see small ones and beautiful coral.

The pictures speak for themselves. I’ll write more about my time in Zanzibar, especially the food, but for now, here are some ocean pictures.

Giant Tortoise, Changuu Island, Zanzibar. Note the dent on the shell from former “racing” days.

They may be slow, but the Giant Tortoise,  (Geochelone gigantea), has seen history that we can only imagine.  These tortoises can live to be one hundred years old.  During the 1930′s to 40′s, these beautiful creatures were used for “sport”  in races.  Imagine sitting on the backs of these giant tortoises and hitting them with sticks to make them move beyond their capacity.  They were often hit so hard that their shells would break.  You can still see some of the tortoises with damaged shells today.

Luckily, Changuu island, or Prison island as it is also known, has provided a safe haven.  The former private island is owned by the government of Zanzibar. As a  private island it was a detention centre for non compliant slaves, then a prison was built there in 1893.  It was never actually used as a prison, but as a quarantine area for the region. The Zanzibar government, in conjunction with the World Society for the Protection of Animals, provide a protected sanctuary  for the tortoises.  The number of tortoises in residence has varied over the years.  All tortoises have microchips inserted for identity and protection.

“I’m coming. Wait for me!”

You can get up close and personal with the tortoises at the sanctuary.  They will be your best friend at feeding time, which you are allowed to participate in.  Tourism is now the mainstay of the island.  While on the island take your lead from the tortoises.  Slow and easy does it.

“You distract him, and I will go get us some real food.”

At the end of my Zanzibar trip I spent two days in Stone Town (a.k.a. Old Town, Zanzibar Town) exploring the city and taking a half-day trip to Changuu Island (Prison Island) to visit the giant land tortoises.

To get to Stone Town from Kendwa I booked a $10/person shuttle ride through one of the tourist info huts on the beach. A taxi from Kendwa to Stone Town costs between $40 and $50. The shuttle van meets you at your hotel and leaves each day at 10am so as long as that time works the shuttle is the best option.

I spent the first day in Stone Town just walking around the ancient city, drinking iced coffee and shopping. There are a lot of little shops among the winding streets of the old town that sell jewellery, clothing, paintings and other souvenirs. If you’re on a budget you might want to save your souvenir shopping for the Masai Craft and Curio Market in Arusha. I found it very hard to bargain with shop owners in Stone Town.

On my second day in Stone Town I had booked a snorkeling trip to Changuu Island. It was still low season for tourism in Tanzania and when I booked the $15 half day trip I didn’t know if anyone else would be joining me. It turns out the only other person in the boat with me was another Canadian girl! Changuu Island is also known as Prison Island but was never really used as a prison but a yellow fever quarantine. I was most interested in the hundred or so giant land tortoises (originally from the Seychelles) that are protected on the island. Our boat driver actually showed us around the island picked up the younger tortoises and let us hold them.

One of the oldest tortoises was 185 years old and still thinks the 45 year old tortoise might be interested in him. He’s basically the Hugh Hefner of his world.

After visiting the turtles we found a spot to snorkel but ended up being stung repeatedly by tiny jelly fish so we had to move on to a new location. We did a bit more snorkeling but didn’t see much. I was a little disappointed with my snorkeling experience in Zanzibar but I enjoyed just being in the water and hanging out with a fellow Canuck!

Later that afternoon I decided I needed to see the site of the old slave market. I thought about skipping this part of Stone Town, but I’m glad I went.

For about 5000 Tanzanian shillings you get entrance to the site and a tour guide (you should tip him afterwards). I usually prefer to walk around historical sites on my own and take everything in, but my guide was very knowledgeable and sweet and I appreciated what he had to say. First I was shown what basically looks like a stone chamber in a basement that could fit maybe 15 people (and even then it would be uncomfortable), but it actually held around 75 slaves waiting to be auctioned off above ground.

When we went outside my guide showed me the memorial statues next to the church that was built over the former slave market site. The statues depict slaves who were waiting to be auctioned off and the chains around their necks are some of the original chains used to keep slaves shackled together by their necks.

I left the former slave market feeling glad that I went and learned more about the history of the slave trade in Zanzibar and I’ll admit feeling a little depressed about it, but then this sign cheered me up.

At then end of my last day in Zanzibar I went to the night food market at Forodhani Gardens in Stone Town. It was a great way to end the trip and was the best food I’d had on Zanzibar. Amazing seafood, Nutella pancakes and sugar cane juice for super cheap! I wished I’d gone on my very first night. Yum!

I had an amazing time in Zanzibar and really could have spent more time there! If only to eat more seafood!

Going to the bank was an adventure in itself since there are no road or street signs. We turned down a street and just kind of hoped for the best; we tried asking locals what street we were on but the language barrier is still present. We past a food market that seems to go on forever, dodged cars and pedestrians and then made a right turn down a street which seemed like a real street (everything that we had passed at that point was just little alley ways). Half way down the street, not knowing where we were we finally tried to ask for directions again. This time the guy we flagged down actually spoke English and told us that there was a bank about two blocks further. We thanked him, moved on and found it in about a minute of talking with him.

Once we were all ready to go we decided to continue down this street since it seemed to us that it would lead us back to the main stretch (where the ferry harbour is). We got to the end of the road and discovered that we were at a T in the road and that these were just back alleys not actual streets. Being the adventure types that we are, we decided to go to the right and continue on. The alley reminded me tremendously of Venice since it has a European pedestrian/ Vespa side street feel to it. While we were venturing, we came across a lot of little corner stores, souvenir shops, schools, apartments and other lovely looking buildings. I was really glad that we decided to make a full circuit instead of turning back and taking the long way to the hotel. We made it back onto the main road and made our way back to the hotel, just in time for our excursion.

We were given snorkeling equipment, fruit, and towels; then they sent us down to the beach where we got picked up in a canapé boat. It took about 20 minutes to make our way across the water to Changuu (Prison) Island which wasn’t too bad of a trek. When we got up the island a little ways we were directed to the Tortoise Sanctuary. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but the second our tour guide told us we could go right up to them and touch them I was in heaven! I didn’t think we would be allowed to touch them but I basically just petted a bunch of them and held the babies for an hour. This is my all-time favorite animal interaction experience, and I think the only thing that could top this would be to work there or at another animal sanctuary.

It was sad to leave them, but it was time to go for a tour of the Island “prison”. This island was supposed to be a prison but during its construction the plague broke out and it became a quarantine area. People who had the plague were brought here to help stop the spread of the plague. This venue is now a restaurant and a hotel was built right beside it. Its a very beautiful location but there’s just something about knowing about all of the disease and illness that was brought here and buried. The only real good thing about this island with that history is that by making it a tourist destination, it will always be commemorated.

After the tour, it was time to go snorkeling so we took off towards the boat. I’ve never been snorkeling but I have always been around water so I wasn’t worried about anything. That is, until I put on my gear, jumped in, stuck my head in the water and had some kind of vertigo issue. I wasn’t so much scared of the vertigo itself as I was shocked at myself for having this little episode. Then to top it off I couldn’t get my breathing under control so that freaked me out more! After about 5 minutes of slowly pushing myself to take deep breaths and to stop freaking out I got the hang of it. It was such a cool experience and I’m so glad that I did it because some of the fish, animals and coral that I got to see were amazing. My only regret is that I didn’t bring an underwater camera… but at the same time that gives me an excuse to do it again!

We were in the water for about an hour before we decided to have a beach break and suntan. We got to relax and catch some sleep for about an hour in the sun before we had to start heading back. I was excited to get back to Stone Town so that we could have a real big lunch, I definitely worked up a big appetite after all of our activities.

When we got back to town we headed to a nearby restaurant and had some vegetarian birindi. And after we all ate we all decided to head back to the hotel for the most amazing nap ever. It was really hard to get up but knowing that I could just grab a coffee gave me enough motivation to get out of bed. I got myself a cappuccino to wake up and then we all headed over to the Mercury for happy hour for a few drinks. Afterwards we decided to head over to the Farodony Gardens where the fish market was to see what that was all about. We had already been warned by numerous individuals to not eat there since many of the vendors sell their left over fish from days before; which is not a good thing since it could make you very sick (obviously). So with that in mind, we kept our distance but got to see everything that they were selling; and honestly it was hard not to at least try one skewer of shrimp or calamari! After the market we were starving again and decided to try out a new restaurant at the Grand Palace Hotel, which was located on their rooftop. What we didn’t foresee was that they were a Muslim owned hotel and therefore didn’t sell alcohol. It was a bit of a bummer since it was our last dinner but we dealt with it and ordered our food.

The Grand Palace Hotel was literally a block or two away from our hotel so it was a nice little stroll back to Zenji. I do wish that we had a full week here to really explore the whole island, especially considering that I kept hearing about how amazing the North was; but I guess that will have to wait for when I can travel to Zanzibar again. Sad to think that tomorrow is our last day in Africa!

The island was once used by an Arab slave trader to contain the disobedient slaves brought from the African mainland. To prevent their escape before shipping them to the Arabian purchasers, or for auctioning in Zanzibar’s slave market, the slaves were dumped on Changuu, from where they were unlikely to attempt escape.

After the abolition of slavery, in 1873, the island was bought by general Lloyd Mathews, commander of the sultan’s army, who built a house here. In 1893 a prison was built on the island, but it was used instead as a quarantine station for the whole east African region. In the 1920s passengers arriving from India had to spend between one and two weeks on Changuu before proceeding to Zanzibar Town.

You can still see the quarantine station, and the house built by General Mathews which is now used as a restaurant. A path leads right round the island (about an hour’s easy stroll, for residents of the lodge only), also passing some old pits where coral has been dug out to make building stone. Some of these pits fill with water at high tide, and in colonial days they were kept clean and used as swimming pools.

The Giant Tortoises (Geochelone gigantea) are Changuu Islands most famous inhabitants, and are to be found nowhere else in East Africa. Four tortoises were brought from the island of Aldabra in the Seychelles in the 18th century, as a gift from the Seychelles governor to his opposite number in Zanzibar. They started to breed, and by 1955 there were 200, but after independence the numbers began to drop, partly because people started to steal them to sell abroad, either as exotic pets, or as food for ‘exotic restaurants’. The numbers dropped to 100 in 1988, then 50 in 1990, until by late 1996 there were only seven left. In the same year a group of 80 hatchlings were moved to Zanzibar for protection – and 40 of them disappeared. Today the tortoises are protected in a large sanctuary compound provided by the Zanzibar government with help from the World Society for the Protection of Animals. In 2000 there were 17 adults, 50 juveniles and 90 hatchlings, all individually identified and protected by microchips injected under the skin. Since then, many more have been brought in, mostly juveniles.

Giant tortoises face dangers at every stage of their biological growth. Apart from poachers who want them alive, other hunters kill them to use the shells and claws for medicine or saleable souvenirs. Eggs and hatchlings face constant danger from crabs, birds and other predators. Tortoises have been living in the Indian Ocean islands, and probably Aldabra, for over 100 million years but their numbers have fallen to such critically low levels that they are now classified as endangered. The adult tortoises of Prison Island are already producing the next generations.

The island also known as Changuu is about 15mins from old town. We took an organised tour of four people and they provided us with a masks and fins for snorkelling. However, there is an entrance fee of US$4. It was actually possible to take an organised trip where we could do island hopping; in the small islands surrounding Zanzibar but we turned down the offer it was too much expensive for us.

The mega tortoises

The main attraction in this small island is snorkelling, swimming, sunbathing and getting to feed giant tortoises imported from Aldabra in the Seychelles in the late 19th century. They weigh hundreds of kilos and some of them are hundreds of years old. The place is also historical as it was a slaves quarantine used by the Arabs before the British built the slave market in Santa Monica. The island is beautiful with a small white sand beach, clear waters and very old beautifully coloured houses with walls that are intertwined with the roots of banyan trees. It has also beautiful coral, a small restaurant where we enjoyed fish and French fries for lunch and a pool, but it is only for the guests staying in the island. It was a good place for us to escape the old town.

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