august 2016
6°08′S 39°19′E
An astonishing view over azure waters, right outside the door of your shoreside thatched cottage. Go for a tranquil swim into the warm tropical ocean at sunset, as gentle waves caress the milky-white beaches and, more importantly, you. Be fascinated by the intricately acrobatic dances of local performers, as you savour perfectly prepared seafood during balmy nights, all year long. All of this (and more!) behind the locked gates of your European-owned Zanzibar resort.
but once you walk outside the tightly-guarded perimeter of your resort, you start noticing the strange realities of the Tanzanian island. on a backdrop of pristine, luscious tropical habitats, the people of Zanzibar live on a timeline of their own. as explained by our local guide, many are unaware of their own birthdays - though admittedly, it may be a “western thing” to confer such importance to a (pretty much) arbitrary day of the year. the existence of many children is officially reported to the state years after they are born; birth certificates are in many cases issued to children you could comfortably have a conversation with. our guide himself, whether for the purpose of marketing or not, declared he was anywhere between 35 and 40 years of age. one could argue that the fines dished out by the local police are similarly discordant with the age brackets of the recipients - allegedly, lesser criminal acts (i.e. forgetting your driver’s licence at home) are punishable by “stick.” no ambiguities here - it’s a spanking, but administered by the police.
in a similar fashion, electricity isn’t taken for granted. it would not be uncommon for the entirety of a village to flock around the tiny screen of a television set… assuming that power’s available and the reception’s strong enough. while you would not have guessed this judging by the relatively modern infrastructure of Stone Town - Zanzibar’s most populous settlement -, it isn’t particularly hard to imagine as you follow the worn out roads into the jungle.
unfortunately, many of these strange phenomena i have not witnessed myself; my travels around the islands of Zanzibar have not been many, as the world outside the resorts, we had been told, was not particularly outsider-friendly. we complied; but i won’t pretend that the two weeks spent loafing around have been particularly nourishing. there’s something about the servitude (for lack of a better word) of those working in the resorts, coupled with the eerily protected environment of the resorts which makes everything feel like cardboard decorum.
nonetheless, the first impression is something else. truly, there’s nothing quite like the first couple of days of swimming into the warm tropical ocean at sunset, as gentle waves caress the milky-white beaches and, more importantly, you.
august 2016
6°08′S 39°19′E
An astonishing view over azure waters, right outside the door of your shoreside thatched cottage. Go for a tranquil swim into the warm tropical ocean at sunset, as gentle waves caress the milky-white beaches and, more importantly, you. Be fascinated by the intricately acrobatic dances of local performers, as you savour perfectly prepared seafood during balmy nights, all year long. All of this (and more!) behind the locked gates of your European-owned Zanzibar resort.
but once you walk outside the tightly-guarded perimeter of your resort, you start noticing the strange realities of the Tanzanian island. on a backdrop of pristine, luscious tropical habitats, the people of Zanzibar live on a timeline of their own. as explained by our local guide, many are unaware of their own birthdays - though admittedly, it may be a “western thing” to confer such importance to a (pretty much) arbitrary day of the year. the existence of many children is officially reported to the state years after they are born; birth certificates are in many cases issued to children you could comfortably have a conversation with. our guide himself, whether for the purpose of marketing or not, declared he was anywhere between 35 and 40 years of age. one could argue that the fines dished out by the local police are similarly discordant with the age brackets of the recipients - allegedly, lesser criminal acts (i.e. forgetting your driver’s licence at home) are punishable by “stick.” no ambiguities here - it’s a spanking, but administered by the police.
in a similar fashion, electricity isn’t taken for granted. it would not be uncommon for the entirety of a village to flock around the tiny screen of a television set… assuming that power’s available and the reception’s strong enough. while you would not have guessed this judging by the relatively modern infrastructure of Stone Town - Zanzibar’s most populous settlement -, it isn’t particularly hard to imagine as you follow the worn out roads into the jungle.
unfortunately, many of these strange phenomena I have not witnessed myself; my travels around the islands of Zanzibar have not been many, as the world outside the resorts, we had been told, was not particularly outsider-friendly. we complied; but i won’t pretend that the two weeks spent loafing around have been particularly nourishing. there’s something about the servitude (for lack of a better word) of those working in the resorts, coupled with the eerily protected environment of the resorts which makes everything feel like cardboard decorum.
nonetheless, the first impression is something else. truly, there’s nothing quite like the first couple of days of swimming into the warm tropical ocean at sunset, as gentle waves caress the milky-white beaches and, more importantly, you.
