Oct. 17
We traveled for ten hours by bus to DarEsSalaam, the capital of Tanzania, to pick up Tim's teaching materials and to check in at the American Embassy. It was nice being on U.S. soil for that brief time. There is much to be said for the good old US of A.
Since we were this close, we took a ferry across to the island of Zanzibar. According to Zanzibar.net, "The Assyrians, Sumerians, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Indians, Chinese, Persians, Portuguese, Omani Arabs, Dutch and English have all been here at one time or another". Presently, the majority of residents are conservative Muslim and so the women tending the stores or working at the banks or standing in line at the ferry or walking along the streets always were clothed in conservative dress, often in black overdress and head covering. Individual style was expressed through various colors, fabrics, trimmings - even on the basic black you could usually see something of a woman's style preferences. Interactions with people in the town were friendly.
The reality of vast socioeconomic differences was apparent just by glancing out at the water. Next to a few elaborate yachts we saw hand hewn wooden boats, called n'garawas, that are used by the locals and have been for generations. A n'garawa is canoe shaped, and made from mango wood. It has an outrigger on each side, a sail, and poles to navigate in more shallow waters. It's a beautiful sight on a morning and evening to see a fleet of garawas sailing out and in with the tides. Other than a little bit of water that seeps in now and then, the boats are very seaworthy and the men are very skilled in the art of sailing them.
Tim arranged with a local fisherman to take us for a mini cruise in his n'garawa. I sat nestled down in the middle, bailed a bit (if I know anything about sailing it's where the water should be) and recorded the adventure for posterity. Tim assisted in hoisting the sail, tacking, and then took a turn at the rudder which he said was very responsive. For me I was fully satisfied tucked within that mango tree, trailing my hand in the clear blue-green of the Indian Ocean, and trying to imagine myself back when this was the only type of vessel to be found in these waters.
Zanzibar has a checkered past when it comes to sailing vessels. At one time it was a main port for slave ships during the years of Arab slave trading until the British forced an end to that. That occurred in the same year that the anti slavery missionary, Dr. Livingston, died in Africa. His story is pretty interesting one as he was the first European to explore the interior of Africa.
Now a fairly steady stream of tourism is a main source of income encouraged by the beaches, the good dives at the choral reef, the spice farms, and picturesque Arabic Stone Town. North of here off of the waters of present day Somalia, pirating is a serious threat to boats in the area. We were content to sit tight in beautiful Zanzibar.
I'm grateful to have seen this corner of the world.
