Zanzibar July 3

Zanzibar

Friday, July 3

Stone Town, Jozani Forest, Spice Plantations

The good news is that I now have both electrical power and some free time so I can finally type about the trip. The bad news is that I'm composing this in semidarkness. They get their electrical power only at three preset times of the day because it is from a generator. So it is dark outside now as I await the dinner hour and there is very little light in our room.

In Zanzibar's Stone Town we toured the market place pictured below and saw the stalls of fresh fish, fruits, vegetables, and spices for sale. Fresh baked bread is sold from large baskets on the front of bicycles.

We had our meals in the open air atop two different buildings cooled by the breeze while listening to the call for prayers and evening chanting in the large Muslim community. (See picture below) Women here stay at home and care for the house, garden and children. They also wear dresses, skirts or kangas, never pants. They don't ride bicycles as the men and boys do.

You have to sleep under a mosquito net to protect yourself from malaria. (See picture)

Schools run on two sessions with one in the morning starting at 6:00 a.m. and one in the evening ending at 6:00 p.m. This is kind of like our year round schools but here teachers and students share the facilities every day, only to get a month off in December. We toured the dismal slave caves where slaves were held until being auctioned off in the 1860's. Many died in these caves under overcrowded conditions as they were underground and it often flooded. And we saw where women can now go to get their feet painted in intricate designs with henna, like a tattoo but only lasting for 3 weeks.

Our guide in the Jozani Forest talked to us about the medicinal value of the plants there. Some helped to induce labor, others helped cure ear infections and others helped prevent infections. We were able to see the ground water forest habitat trees, such as mahogany and the coral forest habitat with very small trees and in places where the water table was high there were trees called pananus or walking pine with large, exposed roots.

The highlight of our walk was seeing two family groups of Red Colobus Monkeys. They frolicked around in the trees munching on leaves close enough to us that we could have touched them. Unlike other Colobus Monkeys these cannot digest the sugars in ripe fruits so they eat the leaves of the native trees. The Jozani Forest is the only place in the world where Kirk's Red Colobus Monkeys live.

On our way from town to the north coast we toured two spice and fruit tree plantations. We were able to smell freshly harvested spices to try to identify them and then taste them. They grow spices such as: cinnamon, cloves, lemon grass, nutmeg, turmeric, mace and black pepper. (See picture of nutmeg to the right) We also saw our guide make a rope from a banana tree frond to use to climb the tall African coconut tree. He knocked down some coconuts. We were able to eat them and drink the juice and then watch him make a basket from the fronds.

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The good news is that I now have both electrical power and some free time so I can finally type about the trip. The bad news is that I'm composing this in semidarkness. They get their electrical power only at three preset times of the day because it is from a generator. So it is dark outside now as I await the dinner hour and there is very little light in our room.	In Zanzibar's Stone Town we toured the market place pictured below and saw the stalls of fresh fish, fruits, vegetables, and spices for sale. Fresh baked bread is sold from large baskets on the front of bicycles.
We had our meals in the open air atop two different buildings cooled by the breeze while listening to the call for prayers and evening chanting in the large Muslim community. (See picture below) Women here stay at home and care for the house, garden and children. They also wear dresses, skirts or kangas, never pants. They don't ride bicycles as the men and boys do. You have to sleep under a mosquito net to protect yourself from malaria. (See picture)

Schools run on two sessions with one in the morning starting at 6:00 a.m. and one in the evening ending at 6:00 p.m. This is kind of like our year round schools but here teachers and students share the facilities every day, only to get a month off in December. We toured the dismal slave caves where slaves were held until being auctioned off in the 1860's. Many died in these caves under overcrowded conditions as they were underground and it often flooded. And we saw where women can now go to get their feet painted in intricate designs with henna, like a tattoo but only lasting for 3 weeks.
Our guide in the Jozani Forest talked to us about the medicinal value of the plants there. Some helped to induce labor, others helped cure ear infections and others helped prevent infections. We were able to see the ground water forest habitat trees, such as mahogany and the coral forest habitat with very small trees and in places where the water table was high there were trees called pananus or walking pine with large, exposed roots.	The highlight of our walk was seeing two family groups of Red Colobus Monkeys. They frolicked around in the trees munching on leaves close enough to us that we could have touched them. Unlike other Colobus Monkeys these cannot digest the sugars in ripe fruits so they eat the leaves of the native trees. The Jozani Forest is the only place in the world where Kirk's Red Colobus Monkeys live.

On our way from town to the north coast we toured two spice and fruit tree plantations. We were able to smell freshly harvested spices to try to identify them and then taste them. They grow spices such as: cinnamon, cloves, lemon grass, nutmeg, turmeric, mace and black pepper. (See picture of nutmeg to the right) We also saw our guide make a rope from a banana tree frond to use to climb the tall African coconut tree. He knocked down some coconuts. We were able to eat them and drink the juice and then watch him make a basket from the fronds.