Zanzibar is known as the Spice Island and today spice is still farmed as it has been for centuries. This is a typical government-owned farm that operates much as a sharecropper. The farmer, a government employee, lives here with his family and probably his brother, his brother's family, his cousin, his cousin's family….
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On this small farm, the children were curious. |
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On larger farms, kids ignored the tourists. |
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This is the farmer's field, with multiple crops. The large trees are mango or papaya; the small trees, cinnamon, chocolate, or citrus, and the ever-present banana and plantains. Finally, protected in the shade are the coriander plants.
The coriander sends chutes along the ground, where the flowers bloom and seedpods mature.
After harvest, the seeds are dried in the sun (along with cinnamon bark).
This is a cinnamon tree, where a strip of bark has been removed for us to sample.
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And, the Holy Grail of all that's sacred: a chocolate tree. The flowers bloom on the trunk, producing these large seedpods. Inside are the cocoa seeds used in chocolate production. |
These are black pepper vines. They are parasitic and will eventually kill the host tree.
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This is what the locals call a malaria tree. Pieces of the bark are used to make a tea that is high in quinine. This tree appears to be very popular. |
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Here, nutmeg seeds dry in the sun next to the workhouse/communal kitchen.
This girl is selling insect repellent made from coconut and lemon oil. It smells great and is very effective against mosquitoes.
