Sansibar

Undoubtedly one of the most beautiful places in the world: the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar, situated in the Indian Ocean.

My extended journey to Africa in the 1980s took me from Egypt all the way down to Zimbabwe, passing through Tanzania along the way. But I hadn’t visited Zanzibar back then, something I often regretted later on.

Just in time for the millennium, I finally made up for it. Not as a photography project, just as a long-awaited holiday.

Nevertheless, to this day the few photographs taken during that time, particularly the one of the three women harvesting kelp, remain among my favourite photos. Although they are simple seaweed farmers – ‘Wakulima wa Mwani’ in Swahili – they radiate incredible dignity.

In an alleyway in Stone Town, however, an almost surreal sight unfolded: people were playing on a luxurious, high-gloss pool table, whilst the houses around them were slowly crumbling in the tropical climate.

On enquiry, I learnt that it had been manufactured in a neighbouring workshop and that the craftsmen had indulged themselves to a game before delivering it to a hotel.