Zanzibar

I’m back!  And if you don’t believe that I went to Zanzibar - here’s my visa entry stamp to prove it!
 

Zanzibar is kind of like the Quebec of Tanzania, they kinda think they’re independent, but not really, but you have to go through customs even though you come from the Tanzanian mainland, and they’ll even hassle you on the way out (that in itself is another story!).

I’ve got lots of postings to come, but here’s a quick introduction of things to come:

We left early on Saturday morning on the first ferry out of Dar. The sun was still low on the horizon but the activity on the docks had already started up.

And in case you had any worries about me risking my life on an overcrowded ferry in Africa, this is the Pride of Tanzania III:

With an upgrade from Economy to Premium (lower deck to upper deck and wide, airline first-class seats) costing only an extra $5.00, I splurged, though I spent the first part of the 2-hour ride outside shooting.

There’s a lot to do in Zanzibar and I told myself to try to do too much.  I decided to spend most of my time in Stone Town (the old town in Zanzibar) and wound up also taking a spice tour on Sunday.  Others went swimming with the dolphins, scuba diving and snorkeling.

Here’s Stone Town as seen from the sea:

From everything I read, I figured I wanted to wander the streets and photograph.  Here’s a slightly different view of why I thought it would be appealing.

As you can tell, it’s a maze of streets.  Just start walking around and you quickly become lost, but just as quickly come across countless intersections like this:

A photographer’s dream - except for the commercial streets with all the hawkers.  That too is another story and, now that I’m back, I realize I didn’t take a single photo of those streets.  Gee, I wonder why?