A travel vlog by Nate and Kara Buchanan exploring Stone Town, Zanzibar. They debate whether to stay in Stone Town or move to the beach, evaluate a potential hotel (checking for AC, private bathroom, and Wi‑Fi), visit local cafés (Zanzibar Coffee House), sample street food and ice cream (including a spiced "masala" flavor), tour sights like the fort and the House of Wonders, and try local dishes such as a tamarind-flavored broth with falafel before deciding to remain in Stone Town.
This may be our last day in Stone Town. We're not exactly sure yet. We're planning on splitting up our time here as four days in Stone Town and four days on the other side of the island where the beaches are. But we're really liking Stone Town and we kind of don't want to leave. So right now we're gonna go walk around another area of town and see if it's somewhere that we want to stay the rest of the week.
Instead of the beaches, really, we're going to look at a nicer hotel that has air conditioning, a private bathroom, and hopefully good WI fi. And if all three of those things are true, it would make it very tempting to stay here. Y.
This is very nice.
This is nice. Had ac. Had a private bathroom. The WI fi was questionable.
I feel like it's questionable everywhere. Here we are on an island.
How you feeling?
We'll talk about it.
I think we need to discuss more over coffee.
We decided we needed to eat some lunch before having coffee, and we read a blog about this place that had really good food. It's a little expensive for these little tiny falafels, but it looks really good. And I got this tiny little bruschetta as my meal.
Zanzibar Coffee House. It's not the best value very much.
Pretty good, though.
That is strong. I forgot what real coffee tastes like. How long has it been?
It's like two weeks since we've had real coffee.
This entire French press was only $3, and the coffee is fantastic.
Show them what it comes with. One bite of the cookie, you get a little cookie.
We have emerged from the coffee shop, and we still don't know what we want to do.
We're going on a walk.
Walk.
I think we have a slight problem.
Let's go. Best ice cream place in Zanzibar.
Masala.
Can I try the masala? Masala Kara.
How many new ice creams did you try?
I tried four new ones, and I got the same as yesterday. Chocolate and peanut butter. Nate got a new one, though.
Masala. Which I only associate with Indian food, but it's cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger.
Delish.
It sounds really weird to have it all in ice cream, but it's fancy. Sometimes it pays to say nice things.
It is official. This is my favorite ice cream in the whole world.
We found the owner, and we told him how much we enjoyed his ice cream, and he gave us free free ice cream.
He said, tomorrow you come for.
Italy.
So now we have to stay in Stonetown. Did that make our Decision.
I think it made our decision.
Two free scoops of ice cream. Made our decision to stay in stone.
Glad we don't have to think about it anymore.
Now to walk on the beach.
Going under.
Yes, sir.
I don't think we can. We can't get further under there. We have to go back up.
The old dispensary house was super cool on the inside, but it was like, so empty.
I'm just confused at why. Why now we are heading back to hopefully book a new place to stay.
Tonight we're officially staying in Stonetown.
We are heading back out into the city. There's some old fort that we want to explore and also someplace called the house of wonders.
Then we're going to eat. But we're gonna get something different tonight.
You're not gonna get pizza.
We're definitely gonna still get the dessert pizza. We're gonna get something else for dinner.
It's a world heritage site. Look at that.
It's like a market in here.
Such an interesting place.
We made it on top of the fort. I think this will hold me.
Next up, we're going to that building, the house of wonders.
There's a boat inside the house.
I don't know. That doesn't look like a proper cell. It's the car used by the first president of Zanzibar. That's a boat hanging from the ceiling. That's an even bigger boat. Smaller boat. That's a pile of rocks. Kara. Zanzibar's first elevator.
I have to build a big house. Coolest door in Zanzibar. A real life treasure chest.
Oh, it opens. Oh, no. Buried treasure.
It's hidden underneath.
Let's break it open. Duh.
Thank you.
The house of wonders was a bit of a stretch. I can't remember what it's called, but we're gonna try the soup tonight. I think it has falafel.
Egg, some kind of soup.
But try.
So what all goes in it?
I think I want one with no meat.
Yeah, no meat.
No meat.
Oh, it's already bored.
No meat. Yes. I don't know. No meat.
Thank you very much.
Tamarind sauce. We said we were gonna try something new tonight, so we just got one to see how it was. And if it's bad, we'll go get a pizza. It's supposed to be a local specialty.
Wow.
It's like super salty. I did put salt in it. Maybe I just got a super salty bite. I have no idea what that is. I need to bite it. It was something else. I'm gonna try on the waffle.
A falafel with the weird broth is really good. I think I'm a fan. Normally we don't both try things on the camera, but it was just so weird. I wanted to see Nate's reaction too.
Nailed the salty.
It's delicious.
I don't know how to describe it. Can you describe the broth test? Just the broth. It's, like, thick and creamy. You'd think it'd be, like, cheesy or potatoey, but it's not.
What I'm tasting.
We'll have to look it up.
Yeah, on the same page. There. I'm gonna get my own book.
Do it.
Best part of the day. Dessert, pizza.
Crab number two. You catch it? Yeah. You got it.
It's huge.
You got it. You did so good on the last one.
No way.
Here, I'll catch him.
It's so fast.
Oh, Nate. No.
He's gonna throw it on me.
No, he's gonna throw it on me. No.
Just look at it.
It's a special.
You made me go through all that for nothing?
Care has this weird thing for cannons.
I think they're awesome.
Due to the spot on this camera that won't go away and just wanting a new camera, this is happening.
Slowly.
