Zanzibar. Romantic, exotic, and wholly unique. Its very name carries an aura reserved for the most mythical places on earth – storybook places like Shangri La or Atlantis. But Zanzibar is quite real, and quite magical. Ponant invites you to discover it during our luxury small ship expedition.
Imagine islands of white-sand beaches kissed by the warm sea, at once turquoise, cobalt blue, and every indigo shade in between. Raffia palms stand watch at the beach’s edge as canvas-sailed dhows skim the metallic waters. Inland, red colobus monkeys cavort in treetops, astonishing ruins hark back centuries, and market stalls in historic towns overflow with fragrant cloves, nutmeg, cardamom, and cinnamon.
Zanzibar—the archipelago off the coast of Tanzania—excites the senses and the thrills the curious mind. Our small ship cruise reveals its many secrets.
Uncover the Swahili and Mercantile Culture of Kilwa Kisiwani
To understand the roots of Zanzibar’s past, our expedition cruise calls on the remarkable site of Kilwa Kisiwani, the renowned UNESCO World Heritage Site. Though this small island is most notable for what remains of the trading center that thrived here from the 13th to the 16th centuries, it is also home to a community of less than 1,000 people.
This was one of East Africa’s great ports, admired by European explorers when they stumbled on it during the Age of Discovery. Merchants of the Kilwa Sultanate—as it was known—traded gold, silver, pearls, perfumes, and earthenware from Arabia, Persia, and China. So far-reaching was the provenance of the goods that passed through here, it’s been said that all of the Indian Ocean trade passed through the hands of the merchants of Kilwa Kisiwani.
Perusing the ancient site, it’s easy to imagine sailing vessels docked on shore and tradesmen of every ethnicity mingling and haggling under canopies and in hushed corners. Kilwa Kisiwani provides a fascinating glimpse of the mercantile culture that once stretched along the Swahili Coast all the way down to Mozambique. It also helps scholars examine the Swahili culture that thrived here, the center of which was the Great Mosque, one of the earliest remaining mosques on the coast.
Witness the Abundance of Pemba Island
Sugar-white tranquil shores and trees that offer up bananas, coconuts, cloves, and nutmeg blanket Pemba Island, the second largest of the Zanzibar archipelago. Pemba is Swahili for “green,” and you’ll quickly see how this mountainous island of tropical jungles got its name. It’s the ideal habitat for the flying fox, an endemic bat species that feasts on mangoes, figs, and breadfruit. As for the human residents, they primarily make a living off the land, farming rice, coconuts, red beans, cassava, and numerous spices. The sea also provides, as you might discover when you meet the seaweed farmers of Tumbe who wade into the shallow, low-tide waters to reap an endless harvest.
Discover Zanzibar’s Wilderness, History, and Heritage
Informally called Zanzibar, Unguja is the main island. Islanders are especially proud and protective of the Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park, 19 square miles of preserved primeval forest that plays host to the red colobus monkey, the white-throated Sykes monkey, the wide-eyed bush baby, and numerous species of butterflies and birds. Famously, the elusive Zanzibar leopard holds mythical status here. Locals call it “Chui” and believe it holds spiritual powers. It was last captured on film in 2008.
Zanzibar City, the cultural and administrative capital, rests on the Zanzibar Channel that separates the island from mainland Tanzania. The famous Stone Town is its historic center, hailed by UNESCO as a fine example of a Swahili coastal trading town. Over more than a millennium, the distinct cultures of Africa, Arabia, India, and Europe have all converged here in its urban planning and architecture.
Unlike Europe’s many Old Towns, Stone Town’s narrow streets were laid in a winding pattern. There are no neat street grids here. Instead, byways and lanes were laid to connect buildings that were constructed without thought to an overall plan. Nor are there many public squares, as houses throughout the city have their own private courtyards. The result might sound chock-a-block or unorganized, but Stone Town exudes its own unique charm, an eclectic mix of Swahili, Omani, Indian, colonial, and vernacular two-story buildings made of coral stone.
The Spice Islands of Zanzibar are featured on our luxury cruise to Zanzibar, Aldabra & the treasures of the Indian Ocean. We hope to see you on board!