KARIBU: WELCOME TO ZANZIBAR!

For over a thousand years, Zanzibar has been the main shipment center of the spice, silk, and slave trade routes, a crossroads blending African, Indian, Arab, and European cultures

Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous province of the East African country of Tanzania. The capital, Unguja, consists of more than fifty islands, large and small, as well as the islands of Pemba. These islands are also called the Spice Islands. The island of Pemba is the world’s foremost producer of cloves. For over a thousand years, Zanzibar has been the main shipment center of the spice, silk, and slave trade routes, a crossroads blending African, Indian, Arab, and European cultures. It is possible to witness this cultural heritage at every step in the narrow streets of Stone Town, one of the oldest cities in Africa.

MUTE WITNESSES OF MULTICULTURAL HERITAGE: ZANZIBAR DOORS

Stone Town can not be described without mentioning the wooden carved doors unique to Zanzibar. These doors are tangible indicators of multicultural heritage with traces of Indian, Arab, and Swahili culture. The motifs decorating these different doors also carry references to the social, ethnic, religious, and professional status of the owner of the house.

WAHILI LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

One of the symbols of Zanzibar’s cultural heritage is the Swahili language, which is spoken most eloquently on the island of Unguja. This language is one of the main languages of many East African countries such as Kenya and Uganda. We might tell a little secret to those planning a trip to Zanzibar: Learning a few words and phrases of this common language spoken with many accents in different regions of Zanzibar is enough to touch the hearts of friendly Zanzibarians.

HAKUNA MATATA / NO WORRIES

When you set foot at Zanzibar airport, you will first feel a wave of hot steam with the wind rising from the asphalt floor. The second is “Hakuna Matata.” “Hakuna Matata” means “Don’t worry. Take it easy” is a Zanzibar-specific expression. You must have heard this expression as a song lyric or a motto of a cinema film. It is a life motto that depicts the impermanence of worldly life and characterizes the Swahili culture’s approach to daily life. The secret of the carefree life of Zanzibaris in the midst of trouble and poverty lies in this motto. Even if you are here for a short touristic trip, there is no doubt that you will feel “Hakuna Matata” from the first seconds.

POLE POLE KAMA KOBE (SLOW DOWN LIKE A TURTLE!)

A second motto that defines the rhythm of daily life in Zanzibar and has become one of the dynamics of life is hidden in this saying, which can be translated as “Slow down!” or “Take it easy!”: “Pole Pole!”. This expression, which you will hear dozens of times daily while traveling on the street, can also be seen as a written rule everywhere, especially on t-shirt prints.

Life in Zanzibar is on the streets. Both in the countryside and in the center of Stone Town, the streets are very lively. Street vendors lining the roadsides, corner coffee shops, street vendors cooking and selling hot local food on the barbecue, hawkers, people resting and dozing in front of their houses, crowds of children and young people going to school and returning from school with cheerful conversations, draw visitors into it like a vortex.

PRISON ISLAND

Prison Island is one of the first tourist destinations. This historic little island, 5 kilometers off the coast of Unguja Island, is famous for its colony of giant land tortoises. Dozens of giant tortoises, the youngest of which are over a hundred years old, roam freely in the large garden of the museum on the island. The museum on the island, which is now a tourist center, was used as a prison for rebellious slaves until the 1860s. In the 1920s, Prison Island was turned into a quarantine island serving the British colony in East Africa. Now it serves as a museum. The shores of this island are also known as the cleanest beaches in the world.

ZANZIBAR SLAVERY MUSEUM / OLD SLAVE MARKET

The historical slave market is another museum that tourists cannot pass without seeing. There are two slavery museums in Zanzibar, one in Stone Town, the city center, and the other far from the center. In the 18th and 19th centuries, slaves brought from all over the African Continent were put on ships here and sent overseas. The buildings where slaves were collected, sorted out (tortured), and transferred are now open to visitors as museums.

SPICE FARM

Zanzibar is one of the world’s leading spice-exporting countries. From black pepper to cardamom, cloves to cinnamon, vanilla to turmeric, and dozens of other spices that we have only recently heard of in Türkiye and perhaps have not yet met are cultivated. The largest of these spice gardens are open to tourists. Spice garden tours, which provide detailed information about the cultivation and use of spices that we have difficulty recognizing on their branches, are one of the first stops for visitors to the city.

FORADHANI NIGHT MARKET

The Foradhani Night Food Market is one of the city’s symbols of independence. Since Zanzibar’s independence in 1964, every night as the sun sets, a market where local food is made and sold at night in Foradhani Park, the city’s most central gathering place. This oceanfront park is right in the middle of Stone Town’s historic site. At this market, a wide variety of pastries, seafood, juices, and street food from Swahili cuisine are presented with panache on the stalls.