Stone Town

Stone town is situated in the old part of Zanzibar City in Tanzania. It is the cultural heart of Zanzibar and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is thus named because of the reddish-coloured coral stone used in the construction of many of its buildings. Its influences architecturally are a combination of East African, Arab, Persian, Indian and European elements. It was at one time the centre of the spice trade and slave trade in the 19th Century. This is an excellent addition to a Tanzania safari.

It is a maze of winding alleys, bustling bazaars, houses, shops, mosques and churches. Many of the houses date back to the 19th Century and are distinguished by their verandahs and finely decorated wooden doors with rich carvings. On the seafront, one will find buildings that were once former Sultans’ palaces and fortifications as well as churches and mosques. 

Some of the major landmarks are the House of Wonders dating back to 1883, a former Sultan’s palace, now a museum of Swahili and Zanzibar culture, the Old Fort, built in the 17th Century, now a cultural centre, the Palace Museum with its memorabilia of a Zanzibari Royal Family, the Forodhani Gardens where each evening after sunset, one can enjoy grilled seafood being sold from the numerous stalls, the Darasani Market which sells everything under the sun and Livingstone’s House where David Livingstone once resided.