Time of visit: July 2016

Duration of visit: 2 days

Mode of transportation: by propeller plane flight from Dar es Salaam (sit in the co-pilot seat if you can!)

Review and experience

I visited Zanzibar almost by pure chance - I had come to central Tanzania with a small group for a volunteer project. However, before I could board the return flight on Turkish Airlines, a military coup erupted in Turkey and Istanbul closed its airport. So when life gives me a lemon, I ended up making lemonade and extended my stay in Tanzania with a few days in Zanzibar. 

My initial reaction arriving at Stone Town was, "Wow, this is a totally different side of Tanzania". It's interesting that Tanzania gets half of its name from the tiny island of Zanzibar, and to me that goes to show the historical significance that Zanzibar carried at the time of its union with Tanganyika (main land Tanzania) in the 1960s. Zanzibar is a true melting point of cultures, and perhaps most reminiscent of time I had spent in Singapore. Stone Town's architectural style is stunning - most beautiful of which were the large, intricate doors, featuring distinct Arabic, Indian, and Swahili styles. It was so easy to get lost in the narrow, winding alleyways, and I loved that each turn I made was another pleasant surprise of colors and building styles. From the shore, the European influence on Zanzibar also immediately became clear with the Portuguese old fort and the Anglican church. 

From a purely OUV perspective, I think Zanzibar deserves its 3 inscription Criterion (ii, iii, vi). Criterion ii to me was the most important and valuable one of the 3, given Zanzibar's status as a multi-cultural town both historically and today. Criterion vi is a close second as the history of slavery is not only significant but also unique. As an American, I feel that we often think of slavery as European enslavement of Africans, but Arabs had enslaved similar number of Africans on the eastern side of Africa. Earlier, I had mentioned Zanzibar reminded me of Singapore, but on second thought, Barbados or Trinidad may be a more fitting comparison given their ties to slavery and indebted servitude across Africans and South Asians.  Lastly, Criterion iii was a bit of a weaker tie - I think the Omanis had a large seafaring culture and sphere of influence, and Zanzibar is not the only town - others like Mombasa, Lamu, Comoros have similar historical ties.