Zanzibar (Tanzania) 2022, part 3 (Stone Town, Changuu Island, Nakupenda beach)
While visiting the historic part of the capital of Zanzibar, Stone Town, we also came to the Royal Cemetery.
It is interesting that this memorial cemetery was built in 1925 by the 9th Sultan of Zanzibar, Khalifa bin Harub, who was by far the longest reigning one of all the local sultans (1911-1960). This is where Said bin Sultan al-Busaidi (abbreviated to Seyyid Said), the Sultan of Muscat and Oman, was also buried. He was the one who back in the day moved the capital to Zanzibar and it was one of his sons who was the first Sultan of Zanzibar. There is a plaque here (it can be seen in the photos above and below), which has a carving saying that Seyyid Said died close to the Seychelles on his way back from Oman to Zanzibar and that after six days his body reached the destination where it was buried. The plaque also says that Seyyid Said was “a great ruler and a faithful ally and firm friend of Great Britain.” This type of text at this spot clearly shows how Zanzibar was actually not a truly sovereign state, when they had to ingratiate with the British in this fashion. The plaque also says that it is Seyyid Said who needs to be thanked for instigating and developing the industrial production of cloves.
It was also very interesting to learn about the story of a sister of the first and the second sultans of Zanzibar who were also brothers. She was the youngest, 36th child of Seyyid Said and her name was Sayyida Salme bint Said (1844-1924). While she was still a teenager, she was drawn into the fight about the throne between her two brothers, but eventually it all ended well for her. She lived for a while at one of the estates she had inherited from her parents and then she returned to live in Stone Town. There she met a German merchant with whom she got pregnant. Thus, in August 1866 she eloped from Zanzibar. In 1867, she married that German guy and meanwhile she officially converted to Christianity. She is known under the name of Emily Ruete. While still a child, she secretly learned how to write, which was very unusual for an Arab woman at the time. That turned out to be quite a handy skill, since already in 1870 she remained a widow with three children and major financial problems. Thus she wrote a book “Memoirs of an Arabian Princess from Zanzibar” and this is the first autobiography of an Arab woman, at least that is known of.
The Royal Cemetery in Stone Town practically flanks a former sultan palace that was built at the end of the 19th century on the spot where the previous one was destroyed in the Anglo-Zanzibar War that took place on 27 August 1896. Oh, yes... right on this day. Moreover, the war lasted between 38 and 45 minutes (!!!) and this is the shortest war in written history. In any case, it was precisely during this short period of time that the previous palace was destroyed.
Today, that second palace has been turned into the People’s Palace Museum, but at the time of my visit the museum was closed. According to what I could gather, it was because of the renovation. The need for renovation was, in fact, more than obvious, for the exterior walls had to be strengthened lest the building collapsed.
That’s why I just walked a little in front of the former palace, nowadays a museum, with the group I was a part of.
A hundred or so metres farther away, there is the House of Wonders which is under normal circumstances the biggest and highest building in Stone Town. When I say “under normal circumstances,” I mean that when it is not being renovated or rather reconstructed. Namely, in 2020, during some renovation there was a collapse of a part of the palace and its reconstruction has been going on since then. When this is finished, it will certainly be interesting to see it and visit it. At the time of my visit, all that could be seen was the construction site fencing and because of the treetops nothing more than that.
This is actually a palace for ceremonial purposes built in 1883 by the second Sultan of Zanzibar, Barghash bin Said (1870-1888). Sultan Barghash was a brother of the first Sultan of Zanzibar, Majid bin Said, and a brother of Princess Sayyida Salme aka Emily Ruete, that I have already mentioned above. It was precisely Barghash, the second Sultan of Zanzibar, who brought the first Parsis to Zanzibar since after the mutiny and fight about the throne he was sent to exile to the then Bombay in India. At the time when it was built, the palace was exceptionally modern – it had electricity, waterworks and also the first lift in East Africa.
Since the beginning of the 21st century, the building has been turned into a museum, the House of Wonders Museum, that can also be found in some places under the name of the Zanzibar National Museum of History & Culture since it contains exhibits showing different aspects of the Swahili and Zanzibari cultures.
So, at the time of my visit, none of this could be seen.
The next important structure that you come across right after you leave the site of the House of Wonders is the Old Fort, also called the Portuguese Fort, since the basis for the fortifications was laid down precisely by the Portuguese. From the end of the 17th century, the fort was significantly expanded by the Omani. In addition to serving as the main defence part of the city, the fort also served as a prison, but today this is a place for tourists and local population. Namely, there are numerous souvenir shops, but there is also an amphitheatre since various cultural events are organised here.
After this, the group scattered for a short while in order for each of us to have lunch where we pleased and then we all gathered up again in order to go on an excursion, but this time it was by boats.
Our destination was Changuu Island often called Prison Island or Quarantine Island. The reason for these nicknames is the fact that in the 19th century the island was used for the slaves who dared rebel and later as quarantine for the cases of yellow fever. Also, near the island there used to be a “mine” for the extraction of coral stone used in construction.
The island is small – it is around 800 m long and in its widest section it has 230 m. In the recent times, the island became the property of the state and today this is a tourist resort and a popular place for visits from Stone Town that is a half an hour by boat away.
To start with, you are brought to the main beach.
From the main beach you climb stairs that lead you to a platform from where various structures start.
Some of the buildings that used to be used for the needs of the quarantine have been turned over time into some kind of a private hotel with bungalows on the north shore, but I did not notice that this was accessible to the visitors coming here as a part of an excursion or maybe it just did not work. Be as it may, to start with, we walked past a currently empty pool and further along a path towards a building that housed the prison back in the day. Along the way, it was possible to see some of the regular residents of the island.
There was a house crow (Corvus splendens), a species introduced to East Africa at the end of the 19th century where it then proliferated and turned into a pest. This species constitutes a serious problem on Zanzibar and there is currently a programme that should work on the full eradication of this species of crows by the year 2026.
On Changuu Island I also saw a tiny antelope-like animal that I believe was a member of the Aders’s duiker species (Cephalophus adersi). If I’m right about the identification, then this is certainly a specimen brought here as a part of the protection and recovery programme for this critically endangered species.
There are also many peacocks on the island.
Still, the sightseeing of the most interesting animals on the island was left for later and for the time being we went to that biggest building that used to be a prison in the past.
From the courtyard of this building, the visitor can go out onto a terrace of a kind, for there used to be a small pier here that directly served the building. Today, this is a place to take photos at, since the colour of the ocean is truly beautiful.
Taking into account that there are beautiful beaches in other parts of Zanzibar as well, probably the main reason why the visitors like to come here in particular is the fact that in the 19th century several giant tortoises were transferred here from the Seychelles. These are concretely animals that belong to the endangered Aldabra giant tortoise species. Today, they are kept in a sanctuary that takes up a larger part of Changuu Island.
There are visitor paths within the sanctuary, but the tortoise also use the parts earmarked for humans, in the same way the humans approach them and feed them or have their photos with tortoises taken. I was not interested in feeding them at all, but I did find them beautiful to look at.
Some of these tortoises here are over 100 years old and it is said that one of the resident tortoises is almost 200 years old.
The length of the Aldabra giant tortoise male’s carapace is around 120 cm on an average, while the females are smaller and the length of their carapace goes to around 90 cm.
The tortoise that is apparently the oldest was rather tucked away, but I did locate it and then I wanted to have my photo with it taken. Although I did position my hand as if touching it, I actually did not do it, since I believe humans should not pester them.
After this, the group got together again and thus we were ready to go down to the beach and embark the boats in order to transfer to yet another nice place. To mark the end of my stay on Changuu Island, I enjoyed once more the beautiful view at the main beach.
The next destination was Nakupenda beach. This is in fact a sandbank in the middle of the ocean. When the tide is high, the sandbank is completely immersed in water, but when the tide is low, then a pile of sand pops up from the ocean and this is an exceptionally pretty place to visit. The colours are probably more intense around noon when the Sun reaches its zenith, but it is also probably too hot at the time. We arrived here in the afternoon.
As we were approaching, I could see several people in the north part of the sandbank who looked as if walking on water. This seemed quite odd, so right after we disembarked, I left my things where the group settled and went for a walk to that part of the sandbank. In the meantime, most of the visitor groups had already left the sandbank, so I was here completely alone.
When I reached that part of the sandbank, the sight was exceptionally interesting since, to start with, the waves came from two opposite directions. Second, as I continued further, the water covered the sandbank which could not be then discerned well thanks to the position of the Sun, so it did seem as if I had been in the middle of the ocean and yet able to walk there.
The sight in the opposite direction was exceptionally beautiful as well, but just in a different way.
At some point, I noticed a large number of tiny crabs that had left their dwellings dashing across the sandbank, but as I approached them, they ran away back to the safety of their burrows.
I went back to join the group, some members of which had already gone for a swim meanwhile, and then the local guides served us some wonderful fruits. We stayed at Nakupenda beach for a while yet in order to enjoy the splendid views of the setting Sun.
In the evening, Lela and I went to the Forodhani Park in order to take the advice and recommendation of the girl who was our tour representative and try the “Zanzibar pizza.” It was excellent, but the preparation was very picturesque as well. And the cook was lots of fun and exceptionally skilful.
Of course, I was looking very carefully at how this chef prepared his Zanzibar pizza, so later I tried to make it myself when I was back at home. Well... it did not turn out badly at all.
ZANZIBAR PIZZA
- 120 g all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp of salt
- 2 tbsp of oil
around 100 ml of water
1/2 onion
- 1/2 carrot
- 1/2 green pepper
- 1/2 small tomato
- 100 g of mince meat (any sort you like)
- 1 small piece of processed cheese
- 1 egg
- salt and pepper, and possibly a chilli
Make dough out of flour, salt, oil and water, but the water should be added gradually, lest the dough is too soft and not workable. Kneed it a little to bring it together well and then leave it on the side for at least an hour. This quantity of dough is more than you need for the quantity of filling, but it is easier for me to make this quantity of dough and use it for a couple of Zanzibar pizzas.
The vegetables should be diced and combined with the mean, the spices and the egg. It is also possible to add mango or avocado.
After the dough has rested, a small piece should be spread thinly into a small square and this should be roasted on a stove pan. This piece is used in order to strengthen the base of the Zanzibar pizza. A bigger piece of the dough is spread into a very thin circle and then you put the already prepared dough square in the middle that you spread the processed cheese over. Put the filling onto the square and fold the edges of the soft dough over themselves, so that there is an opening in the middle.
You bake it on a pan, first on one side and then on the other. When it is well baked (the meat must be well done), you cut it into small squares.
Also, as seen in the video, Zanzibar pizza can be made as a sweet dish.