by Sylvia

(Rachel’s note: Sylvia was going to post photos from our trip to Zanzibar last week, but she got pretty sick and was not able to sit up/do a blog post until today!)

One week ago, we took a trip to Zanzibar. Zanzibar is an archipelago that is part of the United Republic of Tanzania. We took a 90 minute ferry from mainland TZ to Zanzibar. We spent the night on the biggest island, called Unguja but took several different trips to other islands in the archipelago. About 99% of the population in Zanzibar is Muslim.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We went to a fish market where fishermen were selling fish that they had caught. Some of the fishermen would go out at about 6 pm and would stay out all night. Some of them would go out early in the morning, and come back at around midmorning. The fish was sold wholesale by auction (photo on left) and also directly to individuals (photo on right). I liked the fish on the right because they were so flat!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later, we took a boat to Prison Island named for the prison built on it. However, this prison was never used and was instead used as a quarantine for people with yellow fever coming to visit Zanzibar. First, we stopped and saw giant tortoises. There were about 100 of them just roaming around in this enclosed area which took up about half of the island. They had to be in an enclosure so that no one would steal them, kill them, and take their shells. After that, we went snorkeling. It was really fun! I saw giant sea urchins with spikes about 6 inches long! But then we ran into jellyfish and Lily and I got back on the boat. 😦