Zanzibar

One of the most beautiful places in the world for sure: the Tansanian island of Zanzibar, situated in the Indian Ocean.

My extended trip around Africa in the 1980s took me from Egypt all the way down to Zimbabwe, passing through Tanzania on the way. However, I didn’t visit Zanzibar at the time, which I often regretted later on.

Right on time for the millennium, I finally made up for it.
‘Just’ a holiday trip, which, amongst other things, left me with malaria, but which also led to one of my favourite photographs to this day.

Although the three women in this first photograph are ordinary seaweed farmers – ‘Wakulima wa Mwani’ in Swahili – they radiate an incredible sense of dignity.
The seaweed trade is a key economic sector for the island, but one that is under acute threat from the ongoing warming of the oceans.