Aaaaah– The Tourist Life.

The last few days of my program in Zanzibar have been a mix of relaxing and intense. We were all torn between taking the time to enjoy Zanzibar and everything it has to offer and writing our final essays or exams, and finishing off our BIG presentations that we have been doing research for since Uganda.

In my last few days, I got a chance to study marine biology, specifically about coral reefs and their importance in the underwater ecosystem. There is a ton of conflict between different stake holders in the area with regard to the coral.  Fishermen use harmful fishing methods like dynamiting the coral in order to catch copious amounts of fish in one seating. But at the same time, the coral (that thousands of creatures find their homes in) is being seriously negatively affected. Its pretty sad because there is more biodiversity than you can even imagine (or see while snorkeling) under the water, living in the coral. 

The coral reefs like warm water which is why we don’t find off the coast of Canada. But because of our unsustainable actions that has led to climate change, the ocean water is getting warmer and this creates a good habitat for microorganisms that are a disease to the coral, and in that way, we all have a hand in its destruction through increasing global temperatures.

Miranda going for a snorkel

Anyways, after learning about the coral, we were given the chance to snorkel in Zanzibar’s aquamarine waters so all 38 of us took little dow boats out to an island and enjoyed the underwater world for a few hours. We looked for coral damage and natural predators of the coral. I thought it was a pretty cool application of my lecture.

The second “touristy” thing we got to do was go on a “Spice Tour”. Zanzibar is also known as “spice island” because they grow tons and tons of different spices. But for the most part, the spices are used up within the country, rather than sent aboard. The spice farm was lushhhhhhhhhh and smellllled gooood everywhere! I am pretty in love with spices (you should see my spice cupboard in my apt) so I was loving life as we walked through the trees and smelled leaves and roots and bark to try and identify what spice we were smelling. You kinda forget that our dried spices come for real growing plants/roots/bark… makes you wonder how the first spice makers ever thought of grinding up a random part of a plant and using it in their food…

I saw ginger in its plant form (we eat the root), and turmeric root (which leaves a dark yellow smear where ever you touch it to. I saw cloves and cardamom before they are dried out, and a cinnamon tree whose bark we use for making cinnamon sticks. I spent a few mins just smelling the tree and it was yummmay.

I saw lemon grass and iodine plants and aloe vera. I saw a pepper corn tree, an almond tree, and a pineapple growing in the ground. I gotta say it was pretty amazing because it was so relatable to me and my every day life!

Fresh Cloves

Cardomom

Mmm lichee

tourist apparell

Then we entered tourist mode again at the end of the tour, where we watched a man climb a coconut tree (while singing) and then had coconut water in young coconuts while wearing hats and frog necklaces made out of palm leaves. OVERALL: good times being a tourist in Zanzibar. We deserved it after so much academic engagement hahah.