The Spice Island

In the Indian Ocean, just twenty miles off the coast of Africa, lies the archipelago of Zanzibar.

Welcome to Zanzibar!

The largest island in the archipelago, Unguja, has been used for centuries by the Persians, the Portuguese, and later the Arabs as a stopover along the ocean trade routes. For over 200 years the islands were ruled by the Sultans of Oman. In the early 1900’s, the British took control of Zanzibar and ruled the country until its independence in 1963. In 1964, Zanzibar joined the country of Tanganyika and created the Republic of Tanzania (Tanganyika and Zanzibar Independent Association).

The largest city in Zanzibar is Zanzibar Town. The area of Zanzibar Town near the port, Stone Town, is centuries old – the oldest city in East Africa.

Although it’s called Stone Town, the buildings aren’t made entirely of stone – dried coral from nearby reefs was also used.

It’s fascinating to walk the streets of Stone Town. The architecture, with its Arabic and Eastern influences, makes Zanzibar feel so far from the rest of Tanzania.

The Beit el-Ajaib (House of Wonders) was built by one of the Omani sultans in 1883 as a ceremonial palace. At the time it was built, it was the largest residence in East Africa. It was also the first house in East Africa with electricity and the first with an elevator.

Stone Town is also home to a massive fort. The fort was built around 1700 by the Omanis for defense from the Portuguese.

The Arabs influenced more than just the architecture of Zanzibar. When they settled here, they brought spice plants with them for the highly lucrative spice trade. They built large plantations on the island growing dozens of different spices. These plantations earned Zanzibar its nickname – The Spice Islands.

The Tanzanian government nationalized the spice plantations in 1964. Since nationalization, only vanilla, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg are farmed for export. However, dozens of other spices are still grown and sold locally. 

During my visit, I took a tour of one of the plantations. It was so interesting to see the actual plants spices come from – I’ve only ever seen them in tiny bottles and tins!

Vanilla “beans” grow on a vine.

Lemongrass – one of my favorite smells!

Zanzibar was once the world’s leading producer of cloves – which are native to Indonesia. Cloves are the buds of this tree and can only be harvested by hand.

A clove tree – it wasn’t budding season when I was there.

The nutmeg tree is the source of two different spices: nutmeg and mace. Nutmeg comes from the seed inside the fruit, mace is the red coating around the seed.

Black, white, green and red peppercorns all come from the same plant – the color differences are from the timing of when they are picked and how they are processed (with or without skin) after harvesting.

Tumeric comes from a root – after boiling and drying, the yellow spice is produced.

I was the most fascinated by cinnamon. I had no idea that cinnamon comes from the dried bark of a tree. Thin slices of the bark are cut off, rolled and dried. The tree is able to regenerate its bark every 3 months! I  want to know who the first person was who decided to eat bark? How many trees did he or she try before finding the one that tastes good?

The plantations don’t just grow spices:

Pineapple Bush

Almond Tree

At the end of the tour, one of the workers climbed up a huge palm tree to get fresh coconuts! It’s incredible how easily he can shimmy up that tree!

I was even treated to some coconut juice (from a young coconut) and the meat which comes from more mature coconuts!

In addition to spices, Zanzibar is known for its beautiful beaches. Unfortunately, I visited during the rainy season. Sadly, my beach experience was wetter than usual!

But the rain didn’t stop me from enjoying the beauty of Zanzibar and its captivating mix of cultures!

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