Meet Jabulile, South African tourist with unique love for Zanzibar

By Anganile Mwakyanjala

 Jabulile Ngwenya is no stranger to travelling around Africa. At first, she did it out of necessity. Her father was a member of the African National Congress (ANC) and a freedom fighter helper, tasked with helping create warehouses for freedom fighters like Jacob Zuma and the like.

Her father inadvertently went into exile himself. They would travel across Southern African countries like Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia, and Tanzania to meet South African freedom fighters in the safe houses, and he would also host them in his safe houses.

Through all these travels, Jabu and her sister accompanied their parents, and that’s how the bug for travel hit her. “I say I have been travelling since my infancy; I took my love for it from my dad,” she reckons. By the time she was ten years old, her dad would let her and her sister travel by themselves to South Africa, coming from the border.

Jabu, shortened for Jabulile, worked as a deputy editor for South Africa Airways inflight magazine “Sawubona”. That job prescription entailed travelling across the world. She had options for places where she could travel across the world, and she most of the time opted to travel within African countries.

“For me, it always felt right to choose an African country. I know some will want to travel to Europe, which I did, but I love travelling to other African countries more,” she adds.

That was the start of her career as an African traveller. Morogoro has been one of the bases for South African freedom fighters, but unfortunately, Jabu has never been there. She has been to Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar, and she says she will choose Zanzibar over the exotic island of Mauritius or Cape Town.

Her preference for Zanzibar over the renowned Mauritius or the affluent Cape Town was hard to process until she broke it down for me. Jabu says Mauritius is what she calls sanitised—a well-manicured island made for tourists—but Zanzibar has a personality of its own. “It’s an island that is lively and accommodates tourists, but is not designed to suit the tourists with a facade image. Africa as a collective has a personality. I don’t know who said it; I think it’s Will Smith. He said God visits everywhere in the world, but he lives in Africa. I think it’s the people, from our music, our art, and our lifestyle, and Zanzibar embodies that,” she says.

Jabu lived in Mauritius for three months, and one thing that didn’t sit right with her was the fact that the place was always so robotic, like it was built just for tourists. There was no sense of the indigenous people and their natural way of life. “But if you go anywhere in Africa, you will feel the energy of the people when you meet them,” she adds.

Jabu first visited Zanzibar in 2022 and decided to do a three-month trip there, for as long as her visa was still valid. She never felt alone when she got there for the first time. “I tend to travel alone a lot, but when I got to Zanzibar, everyone was very welcoming and helpful,” she says.

She did all the tourist things that tourists would normally do, like the beaches, prison island, the walk through the Fred Mercury Museum, and the spice farm visits, and after the three months were up, she left.

She came back again this year, 2023, and this time around she felt more inclined to just mingle with the locals, and she lived like an ordinary Zanzibari. So she rented an affordable lodge and explored the island. Unlike the last time around, when she used private taxis to move around the island, this time around she opted for bodaboda (the motorcycles) that carry passages at an affordable rate and even used daladala (the public buses) to get to Stone Town.

She also ate at the local restaurants. Contrary to his previous notion, she had amazing food at a cheap price. That is one of the reasons Jabu believes Zanzibar stands out. It’s a really authentic African community that accommodates tourists flawlessly.

“On the contrary, Cape Town is built for foreign tourists, so life is very expensive, and unlike the sun-kissed Zanzibar beaches, Cape Town is so cold, so are its waters,” she says.

Most South Africans would prefer Zanzibar to most places when they want to leave the country and go out. “Cape Town is more expensive in December than going to Asia or Europe, and the flights to Cape Town are not cheap either,” she says. She says Mauritius is incredibly expensive if you compare it with Zanzibar. “That’s why people go to Zanzibar because it’s affordable,” she says.

During her second visit to Zanzibar, Jabu learned about the island’s food culture, which goes beyond the Darajani Market, where they sell spices to tourists. She would buy ingredients, fish, and spices and go cook herself. She had a local teacher teach her how to cook the Zanzibar delicacy, from the goat meat to the sardine. What amazes her the most is the coconut milk cooked in the rice, which creates an amazing aroma and taste.

Jabu stayed in the village, and they accepted her as a family, helped her with her daily itinerary, and even helped her bargain the local prices for all the commodities she wanted to buy or the services she needed. “When I integrated with the locals, I was told the right prices for a bajaj (three-wheeled motorcycles). Initially, I paid Sh5000, but I learned that I should just pay Sh2000,” she says.

As a woman who travels solo, Jabulile was often asked about her safety while travelling to Zanzibar. She told them she felt very safe alone on the island. She would comfortably walk alone at night in Stone Town, and she remembers one time she was lost and a man approached her and led her to where she was seeking to be. She also made friends at the hotel, and the four lads invited her to go clubbing. “There were four guys and me, but at no point did I feel unsafe, and none were hitting on me. I was once sick in Nugwi, and the manager went his way to bring a doctor to the hotel and even paid for my treatment,” she explains.

From the warm smiles of the people, the politeness of their tones, and the welcoming embrace, Zanzibar has carved a niche in its tourism attraction by just being themselves, and that has been noticed by tourists. That too has played a role in bringing them back; no wonder Zanzibar keeps getting votes as the best island to visit in Africa.