In the remote southeastern corner of Zanzibar, villagers gather by the thousands to celebrate New Years for four days with immense bonfires and feasts—in the middle of July. Men playfully fight each other with banana tree stems in the center of town. Women rhythmically march around the mock melee, singing sexually suggestive songs. A thatched pyramid-like hut is built only to be burned with the resident medicine man inside! Although, he is always given enough time to escape.

The four-day Mwaka Kogwa festival has its roots in ancient Persia and the Zoroastrian New Year. Zanzibar, an Indian Ocean archipelago off the East African coast, has been a cross-cultural hub for centuries, and Zanzibaris have long mixed with Arab, Indian, Portuguese, and even Chinese explorers and traders, incorporating some foreign traditions into their own. Persians, who hail from present-day Iran, first came to the islands over 1300 years ago and brought with them the religion of Zoroaster, which dates to the 11^th century BC or earlier.

Today, even though Zanzibar is predominantly Muslim, islanders celebrate the New Year and, those who claim genetic ties with the Persians are known as the Shirazi. The festivities have many symbolic underpinnings: the banana tree stem pseudo-brawls purge grudges and frustrations to start the New Year afresh; the medicine man’s survival from the burning hut ensures that all of those caught in house fires throughout the coming year will escape with their lives as well. As far as the singing, dancing, and feasting on the beach, well, that carries over nicely across cultural brouhahas worldwide.

Mwaka Kogwa represents one of many different cultural festivals across Zanzibar along with the islands’ dynamic mix of cultures and histories. Also held every July, the Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF) only dates back to 1997, but it has grown into one of the most vibrant festivals in Africa with hundreds of films, musical concerts, and cultural events. Held this year July 14-23, ZIFF is also known as the Tamasha La Nchi Za Jahazi, which translates from the Swahili language to “Festival of the Dhow Countries”.

A dhow is an ancient sailing vessel long used in East African and Arab cultures. Arab sailors established trading routes between the Middle East and what became known as the Swahili coast, which once stretched from present-day Mogadishu, Somalia to Mozambique. Today the islands of Zanzibar have become a cultured traveler’s dream.  Through the labyrinth-like narrow streets of the old Stonetown you will discover Arab architecture, ancient forts, and palaces, and the sad history of the island, once a major slave-trading center. A tour of the spice plantations will bring you back to a time when the spice trade made the island a major economic force, once being home to the Sultan of Oman. Another cultural curiosity like the Zoroastrian New Year includes bullfighting on Pemba Island, just north of the main Zanzibar Island. It is said that Portuguese imperialists first introduced bullfighting to the island hundreds of years ago.

Taarab music plays a central role on the islands, and you can hear taarab and much more at Sauti za Busara (Voices of Wisdom), an emerging Zanzibar music festival held every February (Coming Up: February 9-14, 2007). Last year, Busara enthused crowds with more than 30 groups from East Africa as well as Swaziland, Ghana, Burkina Faso, and the United Kingdom among other nations. Zazibar’s matriarch diva, Bi Kidude, often officially opens the festivities with her weathered, ever-evocative voice.

Alongside such cultural expeditions, nature and marine enthusiasts can explore without bounds, as the coral reefs off of Zanzibar and Pemba rival some of the most famous snorkeling and diving hot spots around the world. When you enter the Jozani Forest, you might catch a glimpse of the rare endemic red colobus monkey and explore other wildlife throughout the island.

As long as you have come this far, take time to cross the Indian Ocean to venture into the Swahili Coast and beyond. It’s a quick flight or ferry ride from Zanzibar to Dar-es-Salaam, which translates to “The Haven of Peace” from Arabic. After sampling the sizzling nightlife of Dar, you can head to Bagamoyo, an old Swahili fishing town that was once the last exit point port for African slaves and today as become a gathering place for artists and beach revelers. The Bagamoyo College of the Arts hosts a theatre and arts festival every year in September (Coming up: September 11-16, 2006).

Saadani Beach

Further up the coast, lies Saadani National Park, a little-known wildlife refuge where elephants sometimes bathe in the Indian Ocean and where you can take a wild boat ride down the Wami River. Other Saadani wildlife include the rare Roosevelt sable, scores of other antelope, cape buffalo, zebra, giraffe, and lion.

Should we continue on to Pangani, Tanga, into Kenya to Malindi, Mombassa, and out to Lamu Island? Zanzibar and the Swahili coast have drawn explorers for centuries, including the likes of Dr. David Livingstone and Sir Richard Francis Burton. Even Mahatma Gandhi and Malcolm X passed through these regions on their world travels. As exotic as it all sounds, Zanzibar awakens the cultural explorer in us all.