National forest

Visited the National forest in Zanzibar, home to the famous Colobus monkey and a Mangrove forest...

Spice Island...

Today I did a short spice tour and was introduced to the King of Spice Island, the clove tree

The Queen of Spice, Cinnamon

Add some lemon grass...

Jack Fruit

Beach kittens...

And the owner of the beach kittens....incidentally I keep looking to talk photos of the girls, they are seldom seen... at least they are not playing on the beach or in town.

fishing boats...

This morning I talked with one of the fishermen from the Si Whote, the boat in the middle of the photograph, they were just coming in from a night of fishing. He told me that there are about 15 men who live on the boat and they leave the women in town. They are happy now because when they get lost, they can use a cell phone to call for rescue. When I asked who does the rescue he pointed to an equally run down "patrol" boat. 

Queen...the rock group

Freddie Mercury from Queen was born here in Stone Town, there is much dispute about where he was born, so I decided to pay homage at the bar that bears his name....

Ferry....

In truly African style, the ferry loads cars directly off the beach. It is a mad dash of crazy driving, sand and a race to get on the boat. What is missing from the photos are the men yelling and moving cars to put themselves in the best position to take one of the limited spots on the boat....
sure was fun to watch!

a more sobering note

Zanzibar was a stopping point in the East African Slave trade.  This is a memorial outside what used to be the slave market. You can go underground and see the holding "cells." It was an intense and sobering site.