TANZANIA - Sugar and Spice and all things nice in Zanzibar

As a grand finale to our trip we decided to spend our last few days on the tropical island of Zanzibar. A short hour's flight from Kilimanjaro and you arrive on a paradise island, golden beaches lined with coconut palm trees and turquoise blue water. We couldn't have had a better last destination!

We spent the first couple of days in the main town - Stone Town. The ancient centre is a maze of narrow lanes with little shops selling all sorts of crafts, beads, khanga material, and of course spices! One of the main attractions on Zanzibar is a spice tour. Being in a prime location in the Indian Ocean, on the trade route between India, Africa and Europe,  Zanzibar developed through trade in mainly slaves and spices. Even today, spices account for a large part of it's economy. It is one of the main producers of cloves, and the government owns every clove tree on the island. Spices, coconut and seafood appear on every menu!

 One of the main attractions on Zanzibar is a spice tour where you learn about how the various spices are grown.

 Omar in the lemongrass

The Queen of spices the cinnamon tree, uses the leaf, bark and root

Cloves - The backbone of the Zanzibar economy

Tikka as in the red colouring used in Tikka masala

Nutmeg surrounded by red mace

Coconut juice

As well as spices, Zanzibar is also home to tropical fruits

Jackfruit

Breakfast fruit platter

Forodhani Gardens by night

The main square in StoneTown comes alive at night, with stalls setting up selling barbequed seafood - prawns, lobster, calamari, fish; spiced tea, sugarcane juice, and for pudding zanzibar  pizza - a pancake with anything from meat to nutella, coconut and mango.

seafood for the bbq

Sugarcane juiced and mixed with lime and ginger for a healthy non-alcoholic night cap!

Mr Nutella - Zanzibar pizza

Well, can't believe it, but that's us, a full 6 months of travel! Touched the ground in 12  countries, tackled 4 different languages. Made many new friends, met family overseas, sampled many different foods, some familiar, some never to be repeated! and ate lots of cakes! Thanks to everyone who shared their recipes, I look forward to trying them out back home, and collecting many more on travels in years to come!!