Stone Town. Few visitors strolling through the winding alleys of Zanzibar’s Stone Town today would guess that the island was once home to East and Central Africa’s first steam railway.
Long before Kenya and Tanganyika laid tracks, the clatter of carriages and the whistle of a steam locomotive echoed along Unguja’s palm‑fringed coast.
The story began in 1879, when Sultan Barghash bin Said built a seven‑mile line from his palace in Stone Town to Chukwani.
Initially mule‑drawn, the service acquired a steam locomotive from England in 1881, transforming Zanzibar into a pioneer of rail transport on the continent.
But the experiment was short‑lived: the railway was scrapped after the Sultan’s death in 1888, cutting short what could have been a revolution in regional connectivity.
“Zanzibar’s railway was a bold step for its time,” reads a document in a Stone Town museum.
“It showed the Sultan’s vision to modernise the island, but lack of continuity meant the project collapsed before it could transform society,” reads another part.
A second chance came in 1905, when American entrepreneur Arnold Cheney built another seven‑mile stretch from Stone Town to Bububu.
Known locally as the Bububu Railway, the line quickly became part of daily life.
It ferried locals, passengers from steamships, and even freight such as stone and coral blocks.
For many Zanzibaris, it was a reliable, affordable way to travel between town and village, with first‑class coaches offering scenic rides for wealthier travellers.
By 1911, the government had taken over the line, but the glory years did not last.
As roads improved and motor vehicles gained popularity, the railway’s relevance waned.
Passenger services ceased by 1922, and by the late 1920s, the last remnants of the line closed entirely.
Lost opportunities
The closure marked more than the end of a transport service; it was the loss of a historic opportunity.
Zanzibar could have built on its early head start to develop a rail network linking ports, plantations, and rural communities, spurring economic integration decades before independence.
“Had the Bububu line been expanded instead of abandoned, Zanzibar could have become the gateway for rail in East Africa,” argues a transport economist in Dar es Salaam, Mr Muhdin Ahmed.
“It might have changed not just Zanzibar’s economy but also its political weight in the region,” he added.
All that remains
Nearly a century later, little survives of Zanzibar’s railway legacy. A few bridges, embankments, and traces of track beds can still be spotted near Bububu.
The strongest reminders are not in infrastructure but in culture: faded photographs displayed in restaurants such as Mercury’s in Stone Town, where diners glimpse a past when Zanzibar was a regional transport pioneer.
“The railway is more than a transport story, its part of Zanzibar’s cultural identity. It represents innovation, ambition, and the bittersweet lesson of missed opportunities,” notes a curator at one of the museums, Ms Fatma Omar.
Hints of revival
In recent years, President Hussein Ali Mwinyi has spoken of reviving Zanzibar’s rail legacy as part of a modern integrated transport network.
While details remain sketchy, the idea has sparked public imagination.
“Even if a heritage line were restored for tourism, it could be a world‑class attraction,” suggests a British tourist with a keen interest in Zanzibar’s history.
“Imagine steam rides along the Indian Ocean coast, it would be a powerful way to reconnect with history while creating new economic opportunities,” adds the tourist.
For now, Zanzibar’s railway remains a story of innovation cut short, a tale of whistles that once echoed across the island, and a vision of what might have been, had the tracks not fallen silent.
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