Photos

90% of the circa 1 million population of Zanzibar are Islamic and the local ladies are rarely seen during the days. The exception is just before sun set, every day of the week when the fisherman are pulling up their nets for the day. The ladies, dressed in beautiful colourful clothes, as you can see, gather on the beach in the shade of the rocks waiting for each boat to come towards shore. It seems just as much a social event as a practical exercise, since the old and young are together waiting, chatting, sometimes singing, sometimes chatting to the tourists and when a boat comes towards the shore, they all run like a race and even in to the sea fully clothed, bidding for the fisherman to fill their bucket full of small whitebait-like fish. Only a handful of women are successful each time, but the show continues for each boat every evening.

I loved seeing this daily life go on, even though tourists are coming more and more each year, Zanzibar remains relatively untouched and under developed and I hope their way of life remains for as long as it can.