we spent an amazing 4-5 days in stone town, zanzibar! zanzibar is a semi-autonomous archipelago off the coast of tanzania. for much of the last 500 years it was under the influence of the sultanate of oman – it was even the capital of the entire sultanate for a few decades in the 1800s. it remains almost 100% muslim. in the 1960s, it merged with the mainland colony of tangyanika, and the names combined to form the new country of tanzania. it was also the childhood home of freddy mercury of the band queen, and produces much of the world’s spices. though part of tanzania, it retains its own immigration policy and other laws.
the capital, stone town, is a maze of alleyways that one can wander for days! we stayed in a relatively inexpensive boutique hotel called the shaba. it was close to the beachside park hyatt, which ended up being a cooler place to hang out (both literally and figuratively), which they were fine with as long as we bought some refreshments.
the beachfront is where the action is, and the forodhani gardens turn into a street food market at dusk. we found the best restaurant in town – lukmaan swahili restaurant where one can chose any number of east african delicacies from a picture menu.
