You Are In Africa Now

With beauty and history in abundance, Zanzibar’s Stone Town is an atmospheric gem.

- Iain Akerman

For a relatively compact and labyrinthine urban environment, Stone Town packs a hefty historical punch.

The past is everywhere. In the large and elaborate wooden doors that used to denote social position and wealth; in the 17th century fort that dominates the area of town opposite the Forodhani Gardens; in the House Of Wonders, built by Sultan Barghash Bin Said in 1883; and in the former residence of slave trader Tippu Tip.

The latter was known to David Livingstone, the famous British explorer, missionary and anti-slavery campaigner, who lived in Zanzibar for parts of the 19th century prior to his death in Zambia in 1873. Livingstone’s name, which represents all sorts of often contradictory imagery and emotions, pops up everywhere in Stone Town, as does that of singer Freddie mercury, who was born here in 1946.

There’s even a restaurant on the beach called Livingstone, just along from the Park Hyatt Zanzibar and situated in the old British Consulate building. It has direct access to the sea and a bar that looks like it has been lifted wholesale from the late 1800s. It’s virtually empty when we visit, the showers of early may having kept tourists at bay.

Even the Park Hyatt has history. Partly housed in a 19th century seafront mansion known as mambo msiige, it sits on the most westerly point of Shangani beach. In many ways it encapsulates the diversity and turbulence of Zanzibar’s past.

Built by Sheikh Salim Bin Bushir Bin Salim Al Harthi, a wealthy Swahili tradesman who later became embroiled in a failed coup in 1859, the mansion was confiscated and given to the Universities Mission Of Central Africa for ten years, before being taken over by the British Agency in 1875. For his part, Sheikh Salim was executed in 1889.