ZANZIBAR, TANZANIA PART II

We had many adventures on Zanzibar. The first adventure began on the second day of our visit to the island, it was pouring down rain, but we decided to venture out on a private tour of a spice plantation. Zanzibar is known as the Spice Island. The Sultan of Oman brought both the spice trade and the infamous slave trade to Zanzibar in 1873. All of the spice plantations are located in the interior of the island.

We really enjoyed our trip to the Kizimbani Spice Farm, a 200 acre research farm run by the Tanzanian government to study aromatics. Our guide was Babuu, a native of Zanzibar, who knew every different spice and fruit tree grown on the farm and all of their medicinal and gourmet food uses. An awesome man and an amazing place. He even gives cooking lessons using the locally grown product. Did you know that "spinach" can be made out of a number of different spice and herb leaves? We enjoyed a wonderful lunch at the farm of vegetable curry and Zanzibar rice filled with many of those spices and aromatics. So yummy!

The land is so fertile, that you can stick in a cutting of anything or throw in a few seeds and within 3-6 months a full grown plant ready to harvest is there. We have never seen such lush farmland. Growing everywhere were spices - nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, licorice, tamarind, mace, tumeric, pepper and others interpersed with fruits of all varieites - papaya, many types of bananas, dorian, 24 varities of mango, breadfruit, oranges, giant grapefruit, lemone, limes, and staples like taro root and rice. We purchased many spices at the farm to bring back to Ali, our Salt Investment compound chef. That is our gift to all of our employees.

The amazing thing about Zanzibar, is that no one there should ever starve. Just walking down any street or road, the fruit and greens are everywhere and the sea is ripe with fabulous seafood. And the Zanzibarians love to fish.

Eddie, the Imani Beach Villa's boat guy, took us snorkeling and to Prison Island to walk among and feed the giant land tortoises at the sanctuary there. Another day, one of the drivers arranged by the Imani took us on a trip to the east side of the island, where the broad, white sand beaches are with many kite surfers and sun worshippers. On our way there, we took a walking tour of the Jozani Natural Forest Reserve and viewed the rare Red Colobus Monkeys, endemic to Zanzibar. We also visited the mangrove swamps and the small sea turtle preserve where we fed the turtles seaweed and watched them swim. Another day we drove to the north end of the island where we saw the larger, expensive resorts and visited a small, local reptile farm. There we especially enjoyed our up-close encounters with their resident python.

The countryside is lined with lush fruit, lumber and spice trees of every variety. Bicycles, scooters and uniformed school children are everywhere. There are fruit and vegetable stands along the roadside. The country homes are built of mud sandwiched in between strips of wood with thatched roofs. The people are friendly and welcoming. Zanzibar loves its tourist trade and is a very safe place to be.

Pictures: Banana blossom; Ann and the python; John, Babuu and helper at the spice farm, Red Colobus Monkey; Our guide in the mangrove swamps; Zanzibar school girls; typical Zanzibar roadside.