Stone Town


























 Day 9 - Nungwi - Stone Town

After breakfast, our visit to Nungwi came to an end as we transferred by road to Stone Town. Before Stone Town, we stopped for a guided walking spice tour, via a spice plantation to see different spice plants, and tasted local fruits as well as coconut juice. We also saw a spice farm worker climbed a talk palm tree, and were solstices to buy  fresh spices directly from the farm. 

We then took a boat to visit the prison island to see the beautiful beaches and giant turtles (including the 198-year-old one that we ran into his mating scene!). “The name Prison Island originated from the initial planning of establishing a prison. It was actually used for a brief time in the 1860s as a prison for rebellious slaves and a coral mine. No prison institutions were actually built on the island but rather became a quarantine station for yellow fever cases.”

After checking in the hotel in Stone Town, I and my roommate walked to Darajani Market to meet for the free walking tour yet wended up canceled the tour for miscommunication. Nevertheless, we toured ourselves in Stone Town which was once a landmark on both the Slave and Spice trade routes. Stone Town is the main city on Zanzibar with architecture, mostly dating back to the 19th century, that reflects the diverse influences underlying the Swahili culture, with a unique mixture of Moorish, Arab, Persian, Indian and European elements and listed as a UNESCO's World Heritage Site. 

We passed by the Palace Museum (Former Sultan's Palace) located on the seafront, to the north of the House of Wonders (Former Sultan's residence, now a museum on Swahili and Zanzibar culture yet under renovation), now hosts belongings to show the daily life of the Zanzibari royal family. We walked in the Old Fort, a heavy stone fortress built in the 17th century by the Omani with a roughly square shape. Its internal courtyard is now a cultural centre with shops, workshops, and a small arena hosting an international film festival. We ran into a band rehearsal then listen to them again in the sea walk boulevard. We also passed by Forodhani Gardens, a small park located in the main seawalk of Stone Town, right in front of the Old Fort and the House of Wonders, that hosts a tourist-oriented market selling grilled seafood and other Zanzibari recipes.

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