The Island of Zanzibar consists of two main islands, Pemba and Unguja with some 50 smaller islands surrounding the archipelago. Unguja is the main and most developed island, and it the one commonly thought of as 'Zanzibar'. The population is about 800,000 people of which 150,000 are found on Pemba. Famous for its spices and historic slave trade, Zanzibar is an exotic island increasingly popular with tourists. Stone Town is the capital and, along with the islands beaches, the main tourist attraction. Dhows, the traditional boats, still sail between the local islands and offer romantic sunset cruises to tourists. We had three days to spend here, which was just enough to explore the main area of Stone Town and enjoy a few meals in local restaurants. Seafood is, unsurprisingly, plentiful and cheap although most types of cuisine are available. There are numerous attractions in Stone Town, one of which is the markets. The main produce is the spices the island is famous for but also includes a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. The fish markets are dotted around and fill with fresh fish from the sea in the early morning. We took a spice tour which took us round one of the islands plantations and taught us how various spices are made, including the visually impressive nutmeg. The people of Unguja were very friendly, although there were the inevitable touts constantly after your business. This lead to at least one occasion when we were overly harsh to someone who struck up a conversation with us! We were also asked by two students to give a talk to their English class. At first we were rather suspicious of their motives, but we were worrying needlessly - the class was genuine and the students were very keen to learn. It was a worthwhile evening and an experience we're both glad to have had.
After a few days wandering the alleyways of Stone Town, we headed to the eastern coast of Zanzibar, to Jambiani. This is one of the slightly quieter...
