Category: On The Radar

Wow!! What can I say about today!! Today’s journey was all about spices, the creation of Stone Town, and the history of Zanizbar from the perspective of enslavement. It was a full day, so much so that I was literally worn out at the end of the day!

So let’s begin at the Spice Farm…

Words do no justice, the pictures above speak a thousand words!!

I was in second heaven while walking through this farm. Sooooo much goodness in its natural element! I think I take for granted what one can do with spices, there is a wealth of ways to make use of these herbs, roots, and spice. They hold sooooo much value everything from ice cream, masala, medication, a baby wash to ward off spirits from when babies are first born, and in some cases pillow stuffing (Karpak very similar to cotton) and furniture.

More specifically, I would learn that cardamom can be used to help babies go to sleep or as they say “lazy their baby’ and be a mouthwash, or that a small amount of nutmeg can be used as a spice but a large amount is used as a drug, or even that before Black pepper takes on a black color it goes through three other color phases (green, red, white), and lastly the Anatodye is a flower that can be used for henna and to make lipstick. Simply amazing!!!

Following the Spice Farm we would would drive through Zanzibar City or central city to get to Stone Town. Stone Town is considered the old part and oldest city of Zanzibar. It would get its name based on the majority of the buildings in the city being made from limestone and dead coral.

Approximately 36 km from mainland Tanzania, Stone Town was known as the capital of the Zanzibar Sultanate and was a flourishing city that was the center of the spice trade and the slave trade in the 19th century. While not many residents live in Stone Town it still maintains its importance to Zanzibar, particularly for tourism. There is much movement taking place in the city, whether it is music and arts or bustling businesses and markets (see below).

The markets are open every day typically from 6 am to 7 pm. Just seeing all of the fresh seafood, spices, fruits, vegetables….oh my!! The markets were always busy, especially considering that when people came they were typically buying for the day. This makes sense especially if you are not able to preserve or have regular refrigeration.

Part of our time in Stone Town included touring the East African Slave Trade Exhibit, which was another eye-opening experience. While I knew that slavery took place all over the world, I was not as informed about the Arab and Persian involvement particularly in Zanzibar. Stone Town in particular would house one of the largest slave market ports.

It still amazes me how much is being uncovered globally as it relates to slavery. Every country has their own story…

I will say this while many folks want to write out or even white out slavery learning about the operations of enslavement outside of the US is mind blowing. People are still in denial or minimize this multi-year global atrocity. While slavery was abolished in Zanzibar beginning in the late 1890s, freedom was still a complicated process for those who had been enslaved. There were many obstacles faced, including the fact that most likely you were separated from your family and children, any land that may have been acquired was forfeited, and there was also the risk of being declared a vagrant, imprisoned, or sent to hard manual labor. In addition, to this it was also highly unlikely that the enslaved on the plantations were illiterate, which meant many probably did not even realize they were even free.

So much stolen and never recovered fully…..

Taking a shift left….

Before COVID-19 there were over 500,000 tourists who visited Stone Town, since COVID-19 that number has increased to 700,000. Much like many places, tourism is the backbone of the Stone Town, and Zanzibar in general, economy. Some other interesting things to note is the main tourists who come to Zanzibar include French, German, British and Asian residents with very few African American. But according to our guide KP this is slowly increasing.

In finishing out our excursion for the day one thing that I also noticed not just on the Tanzania mainland but definitely in Zanzibar was the doors. These were not just any type of door, but intricately detailed, made of strong wood, and could identify wealth. The larger and more detailed the door, the richer and more significant the person. While many of the details on some of the doors serve as decoration, during the British and Arab invasions they served as weapons to keep the elephants from storming down the doors. Also, not only were their decorations, but the carvings in particular at the top were etched with various symbols that served as a way to ward off bad spirits.

Just admiring the details shows how much work goes into each door. The pride in the craftsmanship is very much evident!!

I have never seen doors like this before, and boy do I wish I could transport some back to the US. Talk about one of a kind!!

And just a little humor to close out the day’s excursion, the bootleg man still exists lol even in Africa…

All in all, let me just say again how amazing this experience has been for me these past 8 days. So much has transpired beyond what I could even imagine. I cannot stress it enough the importance of traveling outside of your neighborhood, city, and state. There is truly a wealth of knowledge waiting for you to discover!

Tomorrow I will close out with some final reflections as I prepare to come back stateside!! As always I look forward to sharing!

See you then!!

~Dr. G