Mangapwani

Mangapwani is a town on the Tanzanian island of Unguja, the main island of Zanzibar. It is located on the northwest coast, 25 kilometres (16 mi) north of the Zanzibari capital of Stone Town.

The town's name means "Arabian Shore" in swahili,[1] a name which probably dates from the black-market slavery days of the 1840s to 1880s. The shoreline here contains numerous caves, some of which were used for holding slaves at that time. Among the caves is a popular attraction, the Coral Cavern, which is located two kilometres south of the town. The caves of Mangapwani were discovered by Joseph Thomas Last, a British explorer and missionary in East African in the 1870's. There is also a famous slave chamber still in Mangapwani only 1.9 kilometres (1.2 mi) away, which is about a 3 minute drive.

Impressive and sad place and definitely a must-see when in Zanzibar. Together with the Old Slave Market in Stone Town, it shows under which cruel and inhuman conditions people were traded like goods and kept imprisoned. People should see this to understand what happened there not that long ago.

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The heart of Stone Town mostly consists of a maze of narrow alleys lined by houses, shops, bazaars and mosques. Since most streets are too narrow for cars, the town is crowded with bicycles and motorbikes. The seafront has wider streets and larger, more regularly placed buildings.

A very interesting place to go to. Just at the sea front but invisible from the sea or land till you actually get there, is this construction of an underground chamber where the traders "stored" the slaves awaiting shipment to the offshore markets. This was used after the abolition of slave trade but the trade continued illegally from such like dungeons or chambers. A must see to get the true feel what the slave trade actually was.

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