Very often my wife uses the term "Zanzibar" as a byword for something very unfamiliar, distant and incomprehensible. He still does it out of habit to this day, even though he shouldn't take it as "the end of the world" anymore. How far is Zanzibar? :)))

It is the largest of the islands located in the Zanzibar archipelago. It is part of the Zanzibar Autonomous Region, which includes both the islands of the Zanzibar Archipelago and other smaller islands adjacent to them. It is located in the Indian Ocean, about 30 km from the east coast of Tanzania. In 1964, Zanzibar (today's Zanzibar Autonomous Region) and Tanganyika, which until then were British colonies, were united into a common state, under the name of the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar. Later that year, the name was changed to Tanzania and is made up of the first syllables of the two united countries. Although part of Tanzania, as an autonomous region, Zanzibar has its own parliament, ministries and a president who is the vice president of the united country of Tanzania.

So, after several weeks of our African journey, which passed through the mainland of Tanzania, the peaks of Kilimanjaro and several national parks in Kenya, it is time for the last part of our adventure - the island of Zanzibar. We have prepared a preliminary plan for the days we will be on the island.

The plane from Nairobi lands at Zanzibar airport just after 8pm, the flight is about an hour and a half. Waiting for us is a smiling middle-aged Zanzibari man wearing a kanzu (white robe) and a kufiya on his head. Despite the rushing wind through the open windows of the car, cooling is not felt, the temperature is above 30 degrees. In seconds we are covered in sweat from the humidity.

Zanzibar is one of the places on the coast of the Indian Ocean that developed thanks to the monsoon trade - from October to April in the direction from India to East Africa and from June to September in the opposite direction. For centuries, sailors loaded their dhows (African single-sail boats) with timber, coconut oil, turtle shells, ivory, and monsoon winds blew their sails to the Arabian Peninsula and India, where they then returned back with spices, incense, silk, dates.

In turn, in the 1st millennium, travelers and traders from the Arabian Peninsula and India began to visit the East African coast. The coast of today's Tanzania, as well as the islands of the Zanzibar archipelago, became part of the Swahili Coast area and the so-called Swahili civilization.

Attracted by the fertile lands and fish-filled waters, many Arabs stayed and settled in Zanzibar, marrying local women. This spillover between cultures is immediately visible – the faces of the locals are a mixture of Arabic and African features, and the language intertwines different Arabic dialects and African idioms. The very name of the Swahili civilization is the modified Arabic word for the plural of the word shore, coast - Swahili.
Islam penetrated Zanzibar as early as the 8th-9th century, currently almost the entire local population professes Islam.

Again we are lucky to come across a talkative greeter😊. As we travel to the hotel, in good English he delves into the history of Zanzibar over the centuries, telling us about the periods during which Zanzibar was a Portuguese colony, then part of the Sultanate of Oman, a German and British colony. Of course, he doesn't fail to mention that Freddie Mercury was born in Zanzibar, and we plan to go to his house the very next day. It's one of the things I've been dreaming about since we decided to come to Zanzibar.

As we move smoothly down the road and I even begin to drift slightly to the chants of the muezzin calling for evening prayer from the nearby mosque, suddenly the car starts to shake and bounce. We turn into some ruts and pits, the "streets" are very narrow, in places I feel like we are passing right by people's houses (which are actually huts). All three of us start to look around a little worried about where exactly the driver is taking us and whether he has gotten lost in the dungeon, but he cheerfully continues to drive forward and tell us about Zanzibar. Just at the moment when we are already convinced that we have been driven somewhere, where perhaps no one will find us again, we stop in front of a huge gate.

We have arrived, we are not lost and we have not been kidnapped😊. Hakuna Matata!
Rose, the German manager of the hotel, welcomes us. With her, we clarified in advance through emails the reservations and the organization of the marriage in Zanzibar. And she is one of the talkative ones, treats us to a fruit cocktail and gives us the keys to the rooms.
The "rooms" are actually self-contained bungalows with a spacious African-style room and bathroom - lots of wood, colorful walls, patterned curtains. You can feel the aroma of tropical flowers that are scattered all over the room and bathroom. Our bungalow is on a sort of stilt right on the beach, with a terrace with a real tree running through the middle.

And so, amidst the white beach and the endless Indian Ocean, we fall asleep and are ready for the next day's exploits😊.

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