By Bob Van Leer

  (ZANZIBAR, TANZANIA, East Africa, Feb. 11, 1995) - Our ship docked in Zanzibar at 11:00 a.m. today. This is the fabled spice island, from which the Sultan of Oman once ruled the coast of east Africa before being ousted in a 1964 revolution.

  A surprise to us is the control the Omani Arabs of the Persian Gulf once had over east Africa. In the 18th century the Omanis controlled the east African coast from Somalia on the north, to Mozambique on the south, a distance of roughly a thousand miles. The Arabs stayed on the coast and never made significant at-tempts to penetrate the interior. The Omanis were gradually moved out but still ruled in Zanzibar until 1963.

  The spice trade has moved elsewhere and Zanzibar has a somewhat run down look.

  There is very little new construction. Zanzibar is now in an uneasy union with the former British colony of Tanganyika, on the mainland 25 miles away, to form the country of Tanzania. Newspaper reports indicate there is a real possibility of split-up.

  Zanzibar is actually two main islands, Zanzibar and Pemba, plus several smaller ones. The main island is 85 kilometers long and about 640 square miles in area. The current population is approximately 700,000. Zanzibar town has a population of about 100,000. A cab took us on a tour of the main town and we stopped and walked around. The market area is an assault on the senses - smells of spice and fish and melons, sounds of Swahili and other foreign languages and an incredible display of colors of dress and produce in the blazing sun. The town is only 6 degrees south of the equator.

  I needed a haircut and looked for a barber shop. The first one found was out of business temporarily. Power is rationed on the island and this was a time when the power was off. The second barbershop was in business. The barber didn't use power - a pair of scissors and a comb were all he needed.

VISIT MUSEUM

  We stopped at a museum. Like so much of the town, it was run down. One f the most interesting things there were a couple of giant tortoises. I had thought they lived only on the Galapagos, but the tortoises are native to this region. One was large enough for kids to ride on and my driver said it was 60 years old.

  The other was the skeleton of the extinct dodo bird, from the island of Mauritius. We'd heard of them forever, of course, but I'd never seen any part of a real dodo before. The size of the bird was on the order of a goose.

  We passed the Africa House Hotel, where there is a daily ceremony. Our ship sailed before the ceremony was underway so were not able to join in. Zanzibar has a large expatriate colony from around the world, including the U. S. At sunset the expatriates gather at the second floor bar of the hotel and toast the sunset. The last time we were here we were able to join the party. The trip here seems unreal because I wouldn't really have expected to visit Zanzibar in our lifetime but we here now here for the second time.

  North of the main town is the Dr. David Livingstone house where Livingstone planned his 1866 expedition. It is now the office of a tourist corporation.

  Interesting to us is the use of farm tractors in this region as general use towing vehicles, as well as for farming. Tractors on Zanzibar drive down the streets towing cargo boxes. At the airports we passed through in Kenya, farm tractors were used for general towing of cargo and airplanes.

  Tomorrow will be a day at sea. Our next port of call is Anjouan in the Comoro Islands, 472 miles south of Zanzibar.