We spent our last day on the island in Stone Town – a fascinating old Arab/African/Indian trading town of labyrinthine streets, ornate doors, jeweled lights and otherwise amazing architeture.

Public buses - check out the wood siding

We skipped most of the museums to spend the afternoon walking around. Finding ourselves at the Anglican Church, we went in to hear about its history as a slave trading post. The church’s alter was laid on the spot where the slave market ‘whipping post’ once stood, a tree where slaves would be whipped to test their resilience. Although the chances that my ancestors came through there are slim, I couldn’t help but stand there, crying, wondering if this might be where we came from…

Slavery memorial

The whipping post was located where this altar now stands

After we finally made it back to Uganda, the final adventure of our Zanzibar trip was a car accident between our taxi driver and the matatu ahead of us...All escaped without serious injury. After the crash, the matatu conductor hopped into our taxi. Instead of calling their insurance companies, the drivers will head back to Entebbe to negotiate a settlement!