By Bob Van Leer

  (ZANZIBAR, TANZANIA, EAST AFRICA, Nov. 7, 1993) - We are staying tonight in a hotel in the old Arab city of Zanzibar located on the fabled island of the same name. The history of this island reads like a chapter from The Thousand and One Nights. It has firm credentials as an exotic destination. Zanzibar was the last bastion of the African slave trade. The public slave market came to an end on June 6, 1873, but continued unofficially for some time after that. An Anglican church, the United Mission to Central Africa Cathedral, was built on the site of the slave market right after selling was stopped. Our guide said the actual sale area is the space now right in front of the altar. One guide book said nearly 50,000 slaves passed through its market every year. Under intense pressure from the British, the ruling sultan finally outlawed slavery. The market for slaves had been the Arab states. 

  Various nationalities since time began have come to Zanzibar, some to plunder and some to rule. The island reached its peak early in the 19th century under the rule of the Omani Arabs. The sultan introduced the clove tree in 1818 and transferred his court to Zanzibar from Muscat, near the entrance of the Persian Gulf. From the middle of the 19th Century until recent years Zanzibar had a near monopoly on the growing of cloves. At one time it held 80% of the market. Now Zanzibar has dropped to second after Indonesia. Zanzibar has also been known as the Spice Island and other kinds of spices are grown here as well as cloves. It is fascinating to see how these spices actually grow. Clove trees are large (up to 50 feet) with leaves somewhat similar to myrtle trees. It is a tree that has clusters of small flowers. The buds of the flowers are harvested, dried and this is what we think of as cloves, what we use to season and decorate hams. Other parts of the tree are not as high a quality but still smell like cloves and are used to scent soaps and lotions. The crushed leaves smell like cloves. Harvesting is a labor-intensive hand operation.

  Nutmegs grow on a bush and the whole nutmeg we buy is the stone in a fruit that looks very much like an apricot. Cinnamon is the bark of a small tree or shrub. It is peeled but grows back rapidly. Pepper also grows on a shrub. Black, white, and red pepper all come from the same plant. Red pepper is harvested a while little immature. White pepper receives special treatment to remove the black husk. Black pepper is the mature berry ground whole. Another exotic is the kapok tree with the fiber long used for life preservers growing in a fruiting body from a tree. This is a lush island. Another major crop is coconuts. Our guide said there are two million coconut palm trees on Zanzibar that has a population of 700,000.

  Zanzibar is actually two principal islands, the main one and Pemba to the north. The population is 90% Muslim and 480,000 of the population lives on the main island. Bananas are another big crop here with Zanzibar growing 17 varieties. Our guide said varieties range from sizes just 2 - 3 inches long to bananas as big as a man's forearm, but the larger the banana, the fewer per stalk. We arrived in Zanzibar this afternoon on a large hydrofoil called the "fast boat". At cruising speed, hydrofoil boat hulls lift clear of the water and the boat rides on underwater foils operating on principles similar to airplane wings in the air. The crossing of about 50 miles took just 70 minutes. Zanzibar was the staging base for all East Africa explorers in the 19th Century. How long did it take them to reach the mainland in the Arab dhow vessels of the day? Zanzibar is supposed to be part of Tanzania, but paperwork to get here is the same as going to a foreign country.

  Our hotel is a recently-remodeled building just recently opened as a hotel. Our room has an air conditioner that works, the best we have had on this trip. Our room also has a TV set which works. A small flaw is there is no station broadcasting today so all the set gets is static. A block away from our hotel is the New Africa Hotel, which is far from new. The bar on the second floor appears to be the gathering place for European expatriates. It is the only place in town to get a cold beer. This is prized here. The temperature is in the 90s and there was a heavy rain this morning so the humidity is 100%. I read the first news today about Oregon since we left home, this in an English language newspaper published in Dubai on the Persian Gulf. The topic? Sen. Bob Packwood's refusal to give up his diary and the vote in the U. S. Senate to take legal action. What a way for Oregon to get international publicity. On sale in the hotel news stand, a two week old copy of the International Herald-Tribune marked clearly, "Airline copy - not for resale". Tomorrow we will be rising at 6 a.m. to take the "fast boat" back to Dar es Salaam. Our trip is winding down.