Stone Town, Zanzibar Archipelago, Tanzania
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Stone Town is a bit different than the rest of Tanzania. It is a old city that was ruled both by the Arabs and the Portuguese. It is primarily Muslim and because of Ramadan, we had to be respectful with what we wore and when we ate. The architecture in Stone Town was neat to see. We also did a tour to see the city. We learned about the slave trade that used to take place in Zanzibar until it was abolished in 1876 due in part to the hard work of Dr. Livingstone. We then headed to the spice plantations that Zanzibar is known for. We saw henna trees, cloves, vanilla, pineapples, passionfruit, jack fruit and coconuts. It was interesting to learn about the spices and where they come from. Many of the plants we were not able to recognize at first, but as Jimmy (the Irish bloke on our tour) says "every day is a school day".
The guys at the spice plantation also let us try some of the spiced tea and some of the fresh fruits. One of the guys even climbed a super tall tree to get us a couple of fresh coconuts.
