A walk in the town of stone

Aug 31, 2001

Sipping coffee at the Blues Restaurant overlooking the vast Indian Ocean at the Stone Town Harbour in Zanzibar, I marvel over the historic affluence bestowed upon this tiny Island.

By Harry Sagara Sipping coffee at the Blues Restaurant overlooking the vast Indian Ocean at the Stone Town Harbour in Zanzibar, I marvel over the historic affluence bestowed upon this tiny Island. Images of mystery and intrigue rattle through my mind, while the stunning silhouette of a dhow’s tardy sail set against a dawn sky impedes my sight. This gives me the inspiration to saunter around Stone Town in a bid to unravel some of the mysteries here. The town is characterised by a crossword puzzle of narrow winding streets and a maze of alleys. The buildings here have stood the test of time and the people are very warm. Clusters of tourists dot the narrow streets while tunic-clad men and children line the road-sides selling refreshing sugar-cane juice. For some reason, all the women here wear black veils that cover the whole body, and there is an interestingly big number of cats— at least every time I blinked, there was a cat somewhere! A stroll through Stone Town is like flipping page by page through a voluminous history book. Almost every thing here is of historic significance. You easily trace the steps of Dr David Livingstone, James Grant, Henry Morton Stanley and Tippu Tip, the great slave trader. During my sojourn here, I got to visit the House of Wonders, a four storied structure that dominates Stone Town’s skyline. It was reportedly commissioned by Sultan Bargash in the 17th century. With three canons standing right outside it, the house of Wonders has got beautifully carved doors. Apparently, it was the first building in Africa to have electric lighting and an elevator—a true house of wonders! Squatting a few minutes away from this house is the Old Fort that was built in 1698 by the Portuguese. A guide here tells me that the fort was constructed with coral rug-stone and was used for numerous purposes. It was a prison for many years before being converted into a customs house and later a railway shunt for the Bububu railway, which runs directly into the courtyard through the main entrance. Today it houses an open-air theatre where most of the film screenings at the just concluded Festival of the Dhow countries took place. Historically, Zanzibar in general and Stone Town in particular, called most of the shots when it came to influence along the East African coastline due to its being on the main route of the monsoon trade. The large wind-powered vessels popularly known as dhows plied this route all the way from Persia, Oman and other countries, laden with Silk, which was later exchanged for among other things ivory, cloves and slaves at this Zanzibar town. This advent created a cosmopolitan society in stone town and later witnessed the town grow into a latter day testimony of the evolution of Swahili civilisation, a product of many cultural streams. English is supposed to be an official language, but for some reason the average Zanzibari here speaks only Kiswahili. The beauty bestowed upon Stone Town actually turned it into some kind of lounge for a number of European explorers. On some desolate building lies a plaque that reads: “This building was a British consulate from 1841 to 1874. Here at different times lived Burton, Speke, Grant and Kirk. (Dr) David Livingstone lived here and in this house his body rested on its long journey home.” The town was recently declared a world heritage town by the United Nations due to its rich historic and patrimonial values. Ends

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