Around the World in 128 Days - Zanzibar, Tanzania Day 2 - Palace Ruins and a Spice Farm.

 

Travel Day 97 - April 9, 2024 -7,514 Steps

Today's post has lots and lots of photos as well as videos, you have been warned. The reason for that is I have endeavored to give readers a better picture of what Zanzibar seemed to us to be. I don't know if the feeling of what we experienced today comes through, but that is what I was trying to do.

Trying obtain enough fuel to get me through today's activities, both ashore and all the editing and writing that needs be done to write the blog.

It takes a person who is one with his craft and with the sea to do this.

Small boats, big sea and they likely do it every day.

Simon, our guide for the day turned out to be one of the top two guides we have had during the entire cruise.

Simon's kofia, which he said was completely hand made and was worn only on when meeting important persons. Otherwise he would wear an everyday embroidered bargashia which isn't handmade and doesn't have pinholes. Also the manner in which either is worn is of significance.

No heavy rain like yesterday, but light rain at times during the day. The heat and humidity are way up on the scale of discomfort to be sure.

Where the boats we see every time we look out from the verandah are built.

The tide was definitely out when we were there.

Our first stop of the day, Maruhubi Palace built in 1882 to house Sultan Barghash's concubines. 

Simon is standing on the edge of one of the numerous water pits. Maybe the Sultan or his advisors were prescient as a large fire occurred a few years after the palace was finished. Unfortunately the fire destroyed most of the palace and today it is just ruins.

You certainly have to use your imagination to visualize what it once looked like.

Try as I might, I can't imagine the nubile young concubines lounging on the stone benches or cavorting in pool behind it.

Though I could imagine his highness, The Sultan resting his weary body on one of the benches after visiting the Palace.

Photo by Linda showing how the columns were constructed. The builders probably figured the Sultan would be looking at the architecture during his visits. 

The rainy climate plays havoc with many of the structures on Zanzibar

Speaking of rainy climate, I was having a problem with my camera lens fogging up until I realized that if I held it against my body, my body heat would warm the lens and stop the foggy from happening.. It worked like a charm.

When we were inside one of the chambers of the palace I thought I saw an ethereal spirit, perhaps a ghost of a concubine flit across in front of me. I'm sure I was just imagining things, but it did have a striking resemblance to my lovely wife. One's imagination can at times be most interesting.. 

Linda can never pass up the opportunity to take a photo of a squatty potty, especially one used by concubines.

It's a red throated curve bill. And it was a long, long way off as this is at my maximum 2000 mm zoom on the camera.

It was a very nice modern bus and drive was as good as the guide.

Our second stop. We had been two several spice farms on the cruise already, so weren't expecting much from this one. We were sure wrong.

Typical farm road? 

Linda's nice white shoes before setting off down the wet, muddy paths through the farm. And when we returned to the ship they were still white on top, though the soles were somewhat spotted. I watched her navigate carefully all during the visit, including much detouring when necessary. She did great!

It looks like grass and smells like lemon.

Lemon grass it is. We've grown lemongrass, but never the right way and we also didn't harvest it right. Unlikely we'll grow it again, but if we do, we will tend to it a lot more.

Moorea tree.

The pod with those little red seeds.

Lipstick

Just dip your finger and paint, it sure looks easy.

And the red mark on the forehead women wear.

I very tiny, incredibly fiery hot pepper. 

Chickens were running loose around the property. This one's chick was playing peek-a-boo.

Pepper corns. Green, red, white or black, depends when you pick them. The white pepper is so mild because the outer covering has been removed.

What could this one be?

I'm sure you now recognize it as nutmeg, though I'll admit neither of us did before Simon told us that was what it was. Neither of the other two visits to spice farms had showed us this..

Linda doing her Eve impression.

This one is easy because of the long dark beans. I do think we we will be using vanilla beans at times rather than just vanilla extract in the future.

We would have never guessed this one, cardamom.

So much flavor for something so tiny.

Another, you'd never guess it. The extract from these leaves is the essence in Chanel No. 5.

Chickens were everywhere it seemed.

All those chickens had Linda smiling at their antics.

Climbing up a palm tree.

It was as fresh as fresh can be.

Everyone on our excursion got a palm frond and flower crown.

When you think you are taking a selfie, but you are actually taking a video.

The spice farm toilet. But the photo begs the question, how do you flush it.

Use the water container and dipper of course.

Sales area.

And below are just a few of the over 200 scenes we photographed on the trip back to the ship.

House where Livingstone of the famous Stanley and Livingstone stayed at in Zanzibar which is currently the home the Jane Goodall Institute.

Just because we saw the ship in the distance didn't mean we were going to back shortly. Since sometimes traffic in Zanzibar moves and sometimes it doesn't.

I never tired of looking at the colorful way many of the women dress.

Who needs a delivery van when you have a motor bike.

Then again, who needs a motorbike when you have a hand cart.

Arriving passenger ferry.

They do this on all the Dhows.

And as we departed Zanzibar this evening an honest to goodness real like dragon appeared in the sky..

Below is a number of photos of all the different kinds of boats we saw from our verandah looking back towards shore.

Zanzibar: crowded, noisy, dirty, natural and beautiful, but always full of Life. We could come back again.

And yes, if you've actually read this post to this point, this and the previous post were way to long in getting posted and also too long to read and with far to many photos and videos, but how else could I try to give a sense to what the Zanzibar Linda and I visited was really like.