Zanzibar, January 2019

At some point in the mid nineteenth century, Said bin Sultan, Sultan of Muscat and Oman moved to Zanzibar, where he continued to rule both Oman and Zanzibar. After his death, one of his sons became Sultan of Oman (without Zanzibar) while another became Sultan of Zanzibar. He (the latter) became rich and powerful by trading in ivory and slaves. Great Britain made efforts to stop the slave trade and in 1873 forced the Sultan to sign a treaty ending the slave trade and freeing all slaves in Zanzibar. A little later, in 1890 Britain declared Zanzibar to be a protectorate of Britain and this status continued until 1963, when Britain terminated the protectorate. After that, Zanzibar merged with mainland Tanganyika and the resulting country was named Tanzania.

Our impression of Zanzibar was very favorable. Our hotel was located on the beach, on the edge of Stone Town. Stone Town is the historical capital of Zanzibar, complete with Sultan's palace, which we visited since the Sultan was out of town. Much of Stone Town is a rabbit warren of streets inaccessible by car. We wandered through them without feeling in danger. Our main annoyance was trying to fend off the young men trying to sell us stuff. The hotel beach was nothing special, but there were some gorgeous beaches on the island and even one of the most gorgeous on a small island just off Stone Town.

While we in Stone Town, a cheerful teenage boy named Richard came up to us and offered to show us around. We tried to brush him off, but he wouldn't take no for an answer, so we walked around together. At some point, we asked him where we might buy a beer and he showed us a very pleasant spot near the water. We invited him to have a beer with us, which he accepted, but then started with his hard-luck story - no mother, no father, no siblings, no home, no job - just sleeping on the beach and taking odd jobs for little pay. By the time we parted at our hotel, he was telling us we must agree to support him, an offer which we declined.

Our stay was not entirely pleasant - we were visited by the dreaded Sultan's revenge. It is unclear what triggered it - we both got sick on the same day, but had eaten mostly different food. We drank bottled water but were not too fastidious about using tap water to clean our teeth. It knocked me out for a day and a night, which limited our touristing around. Fortunately, for the most part lying on the beach was just what the doctor ordered, so we were happy to do that.

Finally, on January 30 our vacation was over. Louise and I ended up taking different flights - she flying back through Entebbe to take advantage of round trip fare, and I returning through Qatar. As on the trip out, it was mostly too long, boring and uncomfortable. However, I did have a little excitement when I reached the US. For some reason, I was routed through Chicago rather than New York. When I arrived in Chicago, the temperature was below zero and they had had a significant snowstorm. I looked up at the Departures board and saw with a sinking heart that most of the outbound flights had been cancelled. Sure enough, my flight to Austin was one of them and I discussed with an agent the best way for me to proceed - standby on a later flight to Austin, or standby on an even later flight to Dallas, with the certainty of a flight from Dallas to Austin. I was thinking that the congestion of stranded passengers would subside only slowly, so I picked the Dallas flight and, mirabile dictu, I got a seat and was back in Austin by 10 p.m. And, to my amazement, my checked bag had actually arrived on an earlier flight, so I was able to Uber back home where I was greeted by a trio of lovely ladies: Louise, Antonia and Mary!

The Hotel Tembo, where we stayed	The hotel beach	Boats for hire	Richard
Looking out from our hotel	The hotel logo	Louise with our Stone Town guide	Old fort
Old fort	Looking down from the Sultan's palace	The spice market	Our guide near the slave market
In the slave quarters	Memorial to the slaves		Muslim girls in Stone Town
Wild beast in Stone Town	Towel elephant in our hotel room	Towel swans	Big heart

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