Zanzibar

While visiting in Dar Es Salaam with our good friends Elder and Sister Burgener, we took a day trip to the Island Country of Zanzibar. The two hour and a half boat ride over was beautiful and the weather could not have been better. Because we were limited to only a few hours on the island we hired a guide to take us around. That turned out to be a really good move on our part. We knew that we wanted to see the Slave Market Memorial but we were not sure what else to see. After the Slave Memorial he took us to the Zanzibar Museum and then to an incredible beach-side restaurant that had freshly harvested seafood at very reasonable rates. With the time that we had left we walked through the narrow streets of the old town. Old Town reminded us of the streets of Venice. The ride home was a bit rough and the crew came around and gave everyone little plastic bags labeled Sea Sickness Bag. To that we laughed but within a half hour some of us were not laughing anymore. Let us just say that the great fresh sea food lunch that we had enjoyed only an hour earlier, was now trying to return to the Indian Ocean.

This is the scene that greeted us as we docked in Zanzibar.

These boats were docked or beached at a lagoon just in front of our restaurant.

This is a memorial at the site of the last active slave market in Africa.

This Cathedral was built at the site of the former Slave Market. 95% of Zanzibar citizens are Muslim and only 3% are Christian. So this is one of only a couple Christian churches in the entire country. Our guide pointed out that the white tower from a nearby mosque, built so close to the cathedral is symbolic of the good relations between religious groups in Zanzibar. Notice too the juxtaposition of the old cathedral with a new satellite disc.

This is typical of the narrow streets in the Old Town district.