Arjen Westra’s African Weblog

Just back from exploring East Africa, Tanzania. For the second time in a few weeks I visited Spice Island Zanzibar. Poetry: The starting point of Livingstones Travels. But also politics: although not in the open. A lot of poverty, people are not happy because a lot of tourism money is going into the pockets of freshly elected local politicians. Ok, thats is nothing new. What struck me was the mountains of garbage, left by hotels and lodges just outside Stonetown, the capital on the west coast of this beautiful island. Also: tension under the surface. Wandering through the old town, one can feel an atmosphere of mystery. The media have after elections and everything seems quiet now. But people are not happy with their new chosen president. On the coffee corners in the narrow alleys, they talk secretly about the nearby future, their new president who took an island and added some other Zanzibar places to his possessions since he came into power November last year… ‘Give it one year and the situation will explode…’ a friend told me while we were enjoying a coffee on Jaws Corner at the heart of Stone Town.  Meanwhile tourists pass: laughing and joking with the local guys who would like to make some money out of them…