Day 1 – A SPICY
BEGINNING FOR OUR TOUR…
Although Zanzibar's agricultural reputation
is based principally on the production of cloves, the islands also
produce a prodigious variety of spices, both for domestic consumption
and to a limited extent for export.
In centuries gone by, spices were big business and one of the main
reasons for the pioneering of world trade. In the times before modern
refrigeration, foodstuffs such as meat and fish which could not be
eaten fresh were stored sun-dried, oven-dried or salted. Spices greatly
improved the flavor of these cured goods and were much in demand in
the Middle East and Europe, commanding very high prices.
Almost all of the spices that we know today originate from the East
Indies and Southern China and for many centuries it was the merchants
who plied their trade on the Silk Road from China, across Asia to
Europe who monopolized this trade. Then, in the early 18th century,
along with cloves, spices were brought to Zanzibar by the Arabs in
an attempt to start production and thus eliminate the Far Eastern
monopoly. Although most of the new crops adapted well to Zanzibar's
tropical climate, the other spices never flourished in quite the same
way as the clove industry, but instead remained a low-key affair,
supplying ingredients for local consumption and for limited trade
in the Indian Ocean.
Spice farms on Zanzibar are not generally commercial growing operations,
with single species cultivation, but are more like gardens, with trees,
shrubs and grasses all grown together in the shade of mango and jackfruit
trees.
It can be quite surprising to see the range of different plants from
which spices are obtained an the different methods by which they are
extracted...
08:00 hrs: Departure from Stone Town
by Minibus
We will visit a Spice Farm and do a Spice Tour there, in order to
become
Acquainted with the way different spices grow and what they are used
for.
10:30 hrs: After having gathered some spices on the Spice Farm, learned
about their use,
tasted some tea and fruit, we depart for Uroa by minibus
12:00 hrs: Arrival and welcome at Hotel in Uroa.
After a short refreshment break and depositing our luggage we will
take a guided tour to enter Uroa Village.
13:00 hrs: On the way to the fish auction we will visit a typical
village house
A young man will receive the clients with Zanzibari coffee
(Kahawa) in a typical Zanzibari jug and pour it into small cups for
the clients.
The clients will drink their coffee while visiting the house. After
that our
clients will choose the fish they would like to
have cooked for themselves / cook for themselves and bargain for it
at the
auction.
15:00 hrs: We return to Hotel and start to prepare our lunch. Juices
/ tea / local
sweets / fruit will be served while cooking.
We will enjoy our lunch, spend the
rest of the afternoon at our own leisure. Take a nice walk at the
beach, enjoy a cold drink at Hotel Restaurant, have a cool swim…
In the evening we invite you for a
candle light dinner at Hotel Restaurant, after which you will enjoy
a show of local fire drummers.
Please enjoy the simple, but magic
atmosphere at this little hotel just next to Uroa Village, which is
located at one of the most amazing sand beaches at the Eastern Coast
Day 2 – IN THE FOOTPRINTS
OF ANCIENT SPIRITS
A cave like Kichongwe Cave can only
be described as a place where the energy that flows through and forms
the universe is present in such high density that the spirits of the
ancestors become nearly as vivid a reality as the tall trees growing
from the deepest inside of this cave straight toward the sun; as the
tiny insects and crabs living in the pool in the center of the cave;
as the bizarre stone formations hanging down from the cave walls.
Kichongwe Cave is located 2.9 km from the village in a hidden place
just next to the seashore. It is a round cave, approximately 20 m
in diameter.
Up to this day, the cave is used in traditional local rituals, and
you may find the leftovers of shells, bones and incense used when
feeding the spirits, asking for favors or casting a spell.
We kindly request you to show your
respect for the biodiversity of this cave as well as for the local
people and the spirits they worship in it. The following rules should
therefore be followed when entering the cave:
1. Take off your shoes and use the
locally produced shoes given to you at the cave entrance when entering
the cave.
2. No smoking in the cave!
3. Please keep your voice low.
4. Do not touch any of the objects lying on the cave floor or suspended
on its walls.
5. Do not collect plants or animals from the cave interior.
Please write your name in
our Cave Guest Book before you leave!
The times for this program depend
on the tides. If it is high tide in the morning, the program will
be as follows:
After breakfast we will take a local Dhow and sail to a place in the
sea, where there are lots of wonderfully marine life. This is where
we will be snorkeling. Enjoy the richness of the underwater world!
We come back for lunch at the hotel.
After a rest, between 2 and 3 p.m., we will proceed by car to Kichongwe
Cave. Enjoy this unique experience, which combines the miracle of
nature with the local spirits!
In the late afternoon we return to
Hotel. The following approximately two hours will be at our own leisure,
until dinner will be served.
Tonight dinner will be accompanied by some of Zanzibar’s best
Taarab musicians!
Enjoy! (Optional if you will require it we shall organize
at extra cost)
Day 3 – THE SEA AS
FOOD PROVIDER
Seaweed has long been known in Far Eastern cooking, but in the rest
of the world was despised as sea rubbish. Industrialized countries
use seaweed in pharmaceuticals, textiles, rubber, adhesives and various
foods nowadays.
In recent years it has proved a valuable cash crop for villages on
Zanzibar’s East Coast. Cropping was introduced to the island
nearly twenty years ago and mostly women make a living from it. Rope,
sticks and seedlings are the only outlays needed to start farming.
Today we will visit the seaweed farming women in the sea at low tide.
You will see them bind the seedlings to ropes and sticks and plant
the sticks in the sandy salty ground. The sticks are planted quite
firmly in the ground and rarely get torn out by the water when the
high tide returns.
The rest of the day will be at our
clients’ leisure, including a lovely lunch and a snack dinner
at your Hotel.
At about 5 p.m. get ready for a special
adventure: WE ARE GOING NIGHT FISHING with local fishermen on a Dhow!
(Optional if you will require it we shall organize at extra
cost)
Please follow the special instructions
given to you regarding this special fishing trip!
Day 4 – GETTING BACK
IN TOUCH WITH MOTHER EARTH…
To turn around and laugh!
Laugh the laughter of total happiness that fills you when at last
you come to the realization that all creatures on this earth share
the same basic needs, share that same basic energy that flows through
all of us and everything, are ONE!
This is what you may feel when sitting
on our sailing boat and smoothly gliding across the water of the Indian
Ocean under the immense sky back to your Hotel.
We have visited Michamvi…
We are going to leave at your Hotel
by boat when the high tide comes in (hours to be determined by day).
We cross the water to the “Thumb of Unguja”, where is
the mangrove forest of Michamvi. There we will be amazed about the
variety of birds, which we will be able to observe fishing and going
about their daily activities while smoothly gliding through a natural
sea water channel that encloses part of the mangrove forest like a
little island.
After touring the channel we will
leave our boat at the sea shore and proceed for a walking tour to
the tip of the “Thumb”, through undisturbed nature (about
2 hours).
When we come back, we will have some time at our own leisure, which
we may use for swimming or sunbathing, while our staff will get everything
ready for a lovely barbecue lunch at the beach.
After the lunch we will slowly go
back to our boat and sail back to your Hotel.
Dinner at your hotel. After that you
will enjoy a Kidumbak (a music style mixed between African and Arab,
underlined with typical Zanzibari dancing) night with our musicians
and dancers…
(Optional if you will require it we shall organize at extra
cost)
Day 5 – FOLLOWING
THE ANCIENT SAILORS
For many centuries, boats that sailed
on the Indian Ocean were called dhows. While there were many different
types of dhows, almost all of them used a triangular or lateen sail
arrangement. This made them markedly different than the ships that
evolved on the Mediterranean. These ships had a characteristic square
sail. The dhow was also markedly different than the ships that sailed
on the China Sea. These ships were known as junks.
Unfortunately, there is almost no pictorial evidence of early dhows.
Most of our knowledge of the dhow's early construction comes to us
from the records of Greek and early Roman historians. Added to this,
we can compare some similar hull constructions used in the later Roman
period, after they had opportunity to learn from the Arab sailors.
Along with this we can examine early shipwrecks, and lastly we can
learn from modern day construction of dhows. It seems that dhow making
is considered an art, and this art has been passed down from one generation
to another, preserving, at least in part, the dhow's basic design
and use.
after breakfast we will go and visit
local Dhow markers. We will learn how the local Dhows are made, watch
the carpenter at work and surely ask a lot of questions…
We will return to your Hotel for lunch
and have a rest.
Nowadays we tend to believe that modern
Western medicine with its undoubtedly great achievements is the only
valid method of healing disease.
The truth is that the art of healing is much older than Western medicine,
and that different cultures at different times have used – and
still use – different approaches and methods in order to fight
disease.
Traditional African medicine is – unfortunately – still
among the stepchildren of world medicine. Often we are suspicious
of the ease, with which traditional African medicine men (and women)
mix the use of different herbs with that of the spirits. But if the
spirits are invisible to us, does this really mean that they do not
exist?
At about 3 p.m. we will come back
to Uroa Village, this time for a very special encounter: we are going
to meet two different medicine men. We will learn about the different
herbs used in local medicine, and we will become acquainted with the
principle of spirits involved in the healing methods of our second
medicine man.
A group of African dancers with drums and songs will entertain you
tonight and in this way accompany your dinner. 
Day 6 – BI KIDUDE
– A LEGEND ALREADY DURING HER LIFETIME!
(Optional if you will require
it we shall organize at extra cost)
We would like you to become acquainted
with one of the most fascinating personalities of our region, one
of our greatest artists – singers, drummers, dancers –
who at the same time is also one of our greatest herbalists and knower
of ancient tradition.
We will spend today in the footprints of this amazing woman:
I’ve always had an affinity
for older ladies. I didn’t grow up around either of my grandmothers,
and because of that I have always enjoyed and sought the company and
wisdom of older women. It’s worth noting that age doesn’t
always bring wisdom, but you can definitely learn a lot from those
with life experience. I think there’s a freedom that comes with
age, particularly with women who embrace and celebrate their longevity.
These are women with stories to tell and lessons to impart. Women
who have seen change and the passage of time. Bi
Kidude is such a woman. She’s considered by many to be the
oldest living musical
performer on the world stage.
The exact year of Bi Kidude’s birth is unknown, which helps
to add to her mythical aura. Some web sources say she is 93, others
speculate that she’s at least 100. Either way, her musical
career has lasted for over half a century.
In the 1920’s, she was already singing taarab
music with popular local troupes in her homeland of Zanzibar.
Bi Kidude has always lived the life of a rebel. At age 13, she fled
Zanzibar to escape a forced marriage. According to World
Music Central, she journeyed to the mainland of Tanzania, where
she collected stories and songs,
and explored the land by walking barefoot. “Fleeing a second
unhappy marriage, Bi Kidude boarded a dhow, the ancient sailing vessels
of the Swahili coast and journeyed north to Egypt where she became
a renowned singer in the foremost dance
bands of 1930’s Egypt.” According to National
Geographic, Kidude learned from the best in this period of her
life: “In the 1930s Bi Kidude sang in a taarab ensemble
alongside the legendary Siti Binti Saad, Zanzibar’s first female
taarab singer
and a major recording star in the region. From her, Bi Kidude learned
a wealth of songs and musical lore, before striking out on her own
as the main singer of a touring taarab ensemble.” Her travels
stoked the fires of her rebellion. By the time she returned to Zanzibar
in the 1940’s, she had chosen to shun her traditional veils
and shave her head.
She lived in a clay house where she practiced traditional herbal medicine
and cultural practices, married and divorced, and taught the ancient
ritual of Unyago
to the young girls of her village. Unyago is a female initiation ritual
that can last from a day to three months, and provides education in
the ways of womanhood, ranging from detailed sexual education, avoiding
abuse and oppression, as well as the finer points of clothing, hygiene,
and cooking. Kidude is among the most famous female initiators of
the ancient ritual.
A resurgence of traditional Swahili culture brought renewed interest
in Bi Kidude in the 1980’s. She joined a popular band, Mohammed
Ilyas and his Twinkling Stars, and toured Europe and the Middle East.
The unusual spectacle of an elderly woman drumming and singing and
leading a band brought her no end of attention. And no wonder - she’s
a show stopper!
Throughout the Eighties and Nineties, Bi Kidude’s legend grew.
She recorded her first solo album,
Zanzibar
in 1999. In 2005 she was presented with the prestigious WOMEX
award for her lifetime achievement in world music. In 2006, the
documentary
As Old as My Tongue:
The Myth and Life of Bi Kidude hit the film
festival circuit, and has won tremendous acclaim. The documentary
follows Bi and her entourage for three years, from her home in a township
of historic Stone Town, Zanzibar, to theatrical performances in Paris.
Let the record show, Bi Kidude is not considered a hero by all. She
is considered an outsider to her own culture, because she rebels against
Muslim beliefs and challenges the traditional woman’s role in
society. In the film, she’s seen downing beers, enjoying smoking,
and flirting with men a fraction of her age. In her own words: “I
drink, I smoke, and I sing. I do not need a microphone, I just sing.”
And she dances
with abandon and clearly enjoys living her life.
In the morning, we will walk along
the beach and get acquainted with the different creatures hiding in
the sands and ponds at low tide.
The rest of the morning will be at
our leisure. Then we will have lunch at Kaure Sands Restaurant.
After lunch, during which we will
listen to some of Bi Kidude’s rich music from a CD, we will
meet with local women in order to discover the way of life and problems
women in particular are faced with here in Zanzibar.
In the evening a group of Zanzibari
musicians will perform songs by Bi Kidude while our clients will enjoy
a candle light dinner.
Please enjoy this special Bi Kidude
day!
Day 7 – LEAVING
A WORLD OF WONDERS…
This is your last day… sorry!
Enjoy a lovely breakfast at your hotel, then let us load your luggage
on our vehicle and take a last look at the sea; let’s breathe
deeply and feel the world of wonders, which we have explored during
the past few days.
The simple ways of nature, the contact of a woman’s hands with
the soil and the water, the keen awareness of the spiritual power
that permeates everything in existence, the harmony between Mother
Earth and human creativity… I hope it has replenished your
heart the way it has ours, and left you with the warm awareness that
whatever has been lost still exists.
These tours can also be obtained as single day excursions
excluding some of the activities.
Minimum pax: 2
Meal plan: fb
