Zanzibar
Stone Town is a very Arab area and Zanzibar was once the home of the many Sultans of Oman. It has an amazing fruit and fish market and sells all kinds of tourist tat from paintings, jewellery, wooden giraffes and elephants, in the narrow lanes. It is famous for its ornate doors. Stone Town in Zanzibar is like any pirate town and was a major centre in the slave trade. We stayed in a former palace very beautiful. I went on a city tour and it was very sad to hear of the horror stories re the slaves and the slave trade. It was unbelievable! The old slave market has now got a big church built over it and a stunning memorial to the slaves. The slaves were held in a small cellar where those near the narrow slit which was called a window got fresh air while those near the door got the food. They were packed into the cellars like sardines and it was thought that, as only the strong could survive, the dead would have been no use anyway. A lot of the information is repressed here due to the strong links with Oman. The Sultan of Oman used to have Zanzibar as his home and he had 99 concubines ranging from age 9 to 21. Maximum number of concubines was 99 plus one wife who produced heirs! At 21 they were killed ( if not already dead as they were not allowed to get pregnant or ill and that would be another reason to kill them) and used as fertilizer for the mangrove trees!! What a history. Stone town has great restaurants and we were dancing on the beach rather like I did in Jamaica. The group were fabulous fun and I made some lovely friends.
We then moved to a lovely little fishing village, Negwari, and stayed at a beach hotel. Our hotel was on the beach and every morning we would see the Dhows arrive back from their night fishing at sunrise and we would see them leaving at sunset. It was an amazing sight very picturesque as the red evening or morning sun would light up the white sails. Some fishermen went out during the day and would come back in the evening and cook their catch on the boat and we would see the large fish being dragged through the sand to the fish market. On the beach the Masai would sell us trinkets while we were given henna tattoos as we read our books (Paradise!). We found a small place that sold rum so we established a cocktail hour rum and coke!!