Sio Mnigeria tu, wanawake Watanzania walalama wanavyonyanyaswa kila wakifanya utalii wa ndani

MK254

JF-Expert Member
May 11, 2013
31,516
47,752
Baada ya mwanamke Mnaijeria kujitokeza na kulalamika alichokumbana nacho wakati alikwenda kutalii, wanawake wa Tanzania wajitokeza na kusema yale ambayo hukumbana nayo kila wakijaribu kutalii nchi yao, au utalii wa ndani. Dharau, kejeli na matusi, wengine hata hunusurika kubakwa, hutukanwa kisa mavazi ilhali wanawake wazungu hawaambiwi chochote hata wavae vipi...

===========================

Zanzibar has been described as an exotic and idyllic romantic destination, a paradise of Africa and the cradle of Swahili hospitality. Also known as the Spice Island -- its famous Stone Town is a Unesco World Heritage site -- it draws tourists to its white sandy beaches with a promise of a laidback island life and permanent air of fun.

With almost a million annual visitors pre-Covid, official data of January 2022 shows that over 65 percent of all tourists to Zanzibar were female.

Yet despite this, female tourists, especially those traveling solo, experience a fair share of harassment both physical and sexual, verbal abuse on the street and some even robbery.

Nigerian tourist's complaint​

Recent social media claims of sexual assault by 23-year old Nigerian tourist Zainab Olehinde brought forth bad experiences of other travellers to this paradise, and made me relive my own share of bad experiences in Zanzibar, as a local tourist.

As investigations by the Zanzibar Commission for Tourism on Olehinde’s claims are still ongoing, the question of how tourists, male and female, local and foreign, black and white are treated is being asked all round. Not just in the case of Zanzibar, but the whole world. Tourism is the mainstay of many economies around the world, but do visitors get an experience worth their money?


Speaking English​

On a recent visit to Zanzibar, my friends and I decided to find whether the talk about female foreign tourists getting ‘’different’’ treatment was true. We had been having this talk among ourselves for a while and also heard it from mutual friends.

“Let's speak English from now on, pretend we don’t understand Swahili,” suggested Lilian Ndilwa, a close friend and my travelling companion, as we were disembarking from the ferry that brought us to Zanzibar from the Mainland sometime last year.

We are both Tanzanian and were here to headed to the boat party.

The pretence of being non-Swahili speakers was to protect ourselves from the apparent mistreatment meted to local female tourists from the Mainland who are called names for dressing differently from the local Zanzibari women. We wanted to experience international tourist treatment in our homeland, after all, we were paying, local tourists or not.

I was not surprised by Lilian’s remarks as I have been to Zanzibar a couple of times, on my own and with a group of friends – male and female. And each time I had a different experience on the island.

The turtle sanctuary in Zanzibar.

The turtle sanctuary in Zanzibar is a big attraction. PHOTO | POOL
As a solo tourist, I’m normally mistaken for being either a Kenyan or Rwandan and taxi drivers and boda-bodas would whisper among themselves, “Huyu wa Kagame au Kenyatta?” Swahili for ‘’Is she Kagame’s or Kenyatta’s,’’ meaning am I Kenyan or Rwandan and either way, I would be treated courteously just like a foreign tourist throughout my stay on the island.

This however was not the case when I am accompanied by fellow Tanzanians who chose to let it be known that we are from the Mainland.

Local tourist​

And it is not just me. Happy Lyimo, a Tanzanian girl I met in Paje, Zanzibar told me; “It’s always hard to find a hotel, or even get a hotel attendant to attend to you as a local tourist.”

She further confessed that the first time she travelled to Zanzibar as a college student, she had to venture outside her accommodation to find street food because it would take hours before anyone at the establishment would attend to her.

“They assume all women come here to ‘hunt’ for men,’’ she said. Now, this is not unique to Zanzibar. It is a fate suffered by all black women travellers around the world.

“I went to several restaurants actually, near Forodhani where as expected most visitors are white tourists. The restaurant attendants would attend to them, even when I am front of the queue, and I just failed to understand why,” said Lyimo.

And she isn’t the only Mainlander who has had this experience in Zanzibar.

“I remember I went to Zanzibar for work and the company I was working for recommended I stay in a four-star hotel somewhere in Nungwi, very expensive you would say. At the reception, the person attending to me was hesitant to say how much the room costs. I was accompanied by a taxi driver and he asked her why the hesitation, and she said that women [of] my kind, meaning black female tourists, normally fail to pay,” said Sarah William in a phone conversation with The EastAfrican.

She said the comment was so insulting that she stepped outside for a while before she could respond to the hotel receptionist.

Another local tourist, Irene, had it worse. “I was staying at this hotel, in Stone Town close to the waterfront. I got there in the evening without any trouble but the following day during breakfast I asked for scrambled eggs as per the package but to my surprise, the cook fried eggs for other diners who came after me and ignored my order,” said Irene.

It was not lost on her that she was the only black female guest at the hotel. And all other guests were in groups of three or four, while she was alone.

“When I approached the cook and inquired why, he didn’t give me any explanation so I decide to stand at his work station to make sure I got my scrambled eggs. When I eventually walked back to my table with my scrambled eggs, a fly had got into my glass of juice. I politely called one of the waitresses to get me a fresh serving, but she pretended not to hear me or even see me waving to catch her attention,” she said.

Not just locals​

Irene says she didn’t make anything of it and thought the girl had not seen her. “I finished my breakfast and continued reading my book for a little while. But the waitress totally ignored me as she cleared up breakfast tables, skipping mine. I was shocked that she even went round chatting guests and inquiring if they enjoyed their breakfast, and if they needed anything else.’’

But hotels are not the only establishments mistreating local tourists in Zanzibar.

So on my trip I decided to go sightseeing in Stone Town market and the beach. I was wearing an above-the-knee dress, sandals and a floppy beach hat. In the streets, I would notice how some of the local people gave me weird looks. I didn’t understand why. Almost all other tourists were dressed like me.

Irene said they were mocked on the streets too. “I remember I was accompanied by a male friend who was wearing shorts and a T-shirt, just like her. We happened to pass by a street where a group of local women dressed in the black Buibui (traditional full body cover) were seated. They laughed at us and in our hearing said that Mainlanders were used to walking naked and that we weren’t even half-naked,” narrated Irene.

She said what dismayed them even more was that, behind them was a group of white tourists, male and female and all in shorts too. “The women had swimsuits on for tops, and some had T-shirts just like my friend. The women didn’t comment the same about them.”

But sometimes harassment doesn’t only happen to black women.

“Last year in August we sent our project co-ordinator to Zanzibar to research on hotels that we would book for our tourists, and she was to stay there for a whole month. Unfortunately, in her second week she was robbed and almost got sexually assaulted,” said Juliet Samuel, who works with a tour agency.

Ms Samuel added that, the female co-ordinator from Spain who asked that we don’t disclose her name, wrote a final report for the tour agency, and said; “Careful with pickpockets in tourist areas, don’t walk alone at night, don’t go inside a taxi if you don’t know the driver. Go to the police in the town where you were assaulted and file the report.”

She added, “I think it is not the safest place in Tanzania because people are more desperate in terms of gaining money so they risk themselves assaulting and robbing tourists but I never heard about sexual abuse while I was there.”

Although authorities in Zanzibar assure visitors' safety and Stone Town has CCTV cameras on every street corner to ensure both locals' and visitors’ safety, bad treatment of female tourists is a reality.

“Tourists visiting Zanzibar are guaranteed safety as besides police patrols in tourist attractions, including beaches, there is a diplomatic police unit that is tasked with maintaining the safety of people visiting the island and tourist attractions as well,” said Mohammed Nassor Bajuni, an officer of the Zanzibar Tourism Commission.

But most calls by the public in light of Olehinde’s claims are about dignified treatment of local tourists and those of African origin from the rest of the continent regardless of their gender.

“Do a better job of protecting all tourists, be they domestic, regional or international as they all bring revenue to the country. Tourists are not only white people,” commented Joshua Agukoh on the Facebook page of Tanzania police following Olehinde’s assault claims.

The most troubling issue is that women face challenges that male travellers don’t even think about when they leave their countries. With half of all travellers around the word being women, some solo, tourism players have many lessons to learn.


 
Kuna kasumba flani kalikuweko hata huku Kenya haswa hoteli za pwani... Kukiwa na Mzungu kwenye meza moja na muafrica kwa meza nyengine , nyote mkiita waiter mmoja Kwa wakati mmoja, waiter ataenda Kwa meza ya Mzungu Kwanza kabla aje Kwa meza yako... Nilikua nikichukia sana na kumfokea waiter anapokuja Kwa meza .

Lakini baada ya majeshi ya Kenya kwenda Somali 2011 na alshabaab kuingia Kenya kusababisha nchi za ugaibuni kuweka vikwazo didhi ya wananchi wao kuja Kenya, wazungu walififia ikabidi wizara ya utalii ianzishe kampeni Kali ya kuvutia watalii wa ndani wakae mahotelini msimu wa utalii.. Hoteli zilikua zajaa 90% Wakenya, 9% waafrica kutoka nchi nyengine na 1% ndo wazungu/wahindi/wachina , Kwa kifupi watu weusi ndo walikua wanawapa kazi hao mawaiter manake bila hao kwenda hotelini ingesababishwa hoteli zifungwe kabisaa... Ndiposa kuanzia 2012, huo ujinga wa mawaiter kudharau ngozi nyeusi kama yao iliisha, sahii ukiingia hotelini hata kama wewe ndo mtalii mweusi pekee hoteli nzima iliojaa wazungu bado unaheshimika Sawa Sawa na watalii wengine ... Mwanzo kuna waiter mmoja nilimuelezea hii story akaniambia hata inafaa hoteli zote zifundishwe kua watalii wa ndani waheshimiwe zaidi manake wao huja kukaa hotelini hata ikiwa low season ambapo pale kitambo hoteli zengine ilikua zafunga Kwa kukosa wateja, hata alinijulisha kua sikuhizi Watalii kutoka Nairobi hutoa Tip kubwa kuliko Wazungu... Alafu kuna hii element ya Conference Tourism ambayo Kenya inaongoza Africa nzima Kwa sasa, kila kampuni Kenya ikiwa na mkutano au training yoyote, Wana book hoteli na hilo kongamano linafanyika hotelini watu wanakula na Kulala huko Kwa kama wiki moja au mbili unakuta kampuni imelipia bill yote , tena wakishatoka kampuni nyengine nayo inaingia na watu wake, huu mtindo umepatia hoteli nyingi faida kubwa sana, na 80% ya mikutano hii hua waafrica ndio wengi.

Anyway, Tangu 2012 Wakenya walionjeshwa utamu wa kukaa hotelini na siku hizi wameanza kua wengi sana, bado miaka kadhaa Tu itakua hoteli yoyote Kenya ukienda 50% ni Wakenya na 50% nyengine ndo wageni wa nje.
 
Kuna kasumba flani kalikuweko hata huku Kenya haswa hoteli za pwani... Kukiwa na Mzungu kwenye meza moja na muafrica kwa meza nyengine , nyote mkiita waiter mmoja Kwa wakati mmoja, waiter ataenda Kwa meza ya Mzungu Kwanza kabla aje Kwa meza yako... Nilikua nikichukia sana na kumfokea waiter anapokuja Kwa meza .

Lakini baada ya majeshi ya Kenya kwenda Somali 2011 na alshabaab kuingia Kenya kusababisha nchi za ugaibuni kuweka vikwazo didhi ya wananchi wao kuja Kenya, wazungu walififia ikabidi wizara ya utalii ianzishe kampeni Kali ya kuvutia watalii wa ndani wakae mahotelini msimu wa utalii.. Hoteli zilikua zajaa 90% Wakenya, 9% waafrica kutoka nchi nyengine na 1% ndo wazungu/wahindi/wachina , Kwa kifupi watu weusi ndo walikua wanawapa kazi hao mawaiter manake bila hao kwenda hotelini ingesababishwa hoteli zifungwe kabisaa... Ndiposa kuanzia 2012, huo ujinga wa mawaiter kudharau ngozi nyeusi kama yao iliisha, sahii ukiingia hotelini hata kama wewe ndo mtalii mweusi pekee hoteli nzima iliojaa wazungu bado unaheshimika Sawa Sawa na watalii wengine ... Mwanzo kuna waiter mmoja nilimuelezea hii story akaniambia hata inafaa hoteli zote zifundishwe kua watalii wa ndani waheshimiwe zaidi manake wao huja kukaa hotelini hata ikiwa low season ambapo pale kitambo hoteli zengine ilikua zafunga Kwa kukosa wateja, hata alinijulisha kua sikuhizi Watalii kutoka Nairobi hutoa Tip kubwa kuliko Wazungu... Alafu kuna hii element ya Conference Tourism ambayo Kenya inaongoza Africa nzima Kwa sasa, kila kampuni Kenya ikiwa na mkutano au training yoyote, Wana book hoteli na hilo kongamano linafanyika hotelini watu wanakula na Kulala huko Kwa kama wiki moja au mbili unakuta kampuni imelipia bill yote , tena wakishatoka kampuni nyengine nayo inaingia na watu wake, huu mtindo umepatia hoteli nyingi faida kubwa sana, na 80% ya mikutano hii hua waafrica ndio wengi.

Anyway, Tangu 2012 Wakenya walionjeshwa utamu wa kukaa hotelini na siku hizi wameanza kua wengi sana, bado miaka kadhaa Tu itakua hoteli yoyote Kenya ukienda 50% ni Wakenya na 50% nyengine ndo wageni wa nje.

Umenena vyema, hakuna kitu kitamu kama utalii wa ndani, kwanza pale mnakusanyika pamoja na kusafiri makundi.
 
Umeonaa enhee? As if huko Kunyaland is any different! Huko Mtalii amebakwa na bodaboda!
Wakenya hua hatuna unafiq wa aina hii wa kueneza kampeni za roho chafu, hii ni Tabia yenu pekee, we are just returning a favor
 
Wakenya hua hatuna unafiq wa aina hii wa kueneza kampeni za roho chafu, hii ni Tabia yenu pekee, we are just returning a favor

Halafu kwetu hatuna sera za kutetea ujinga kama huo, mtalii alipobakwa tulikemea sote na hatua zikachukuliwa fasta na huyo dereva alikamatwa, hatukumkingia kifua au kuanza kulialia kwamba tunaonewa au kuhujumiwa, ila kwa hawa hebu fuatilia majibu yao kuhusu hicho walichokifanya, wanalialia na kulaumu Kenya, mara wanamtukana huyo mhanga hawaeleweki.
 
Halafu kwetu hatuna sera za kutetea ujinga kama huo, mtalii alipobakwa tulikemea sote na hatua zikachukuliwa fasta na huyo dereva alikamatwa, hatukumkingia kifua au kuanza kulialia kwamba tunaonewa au kuhujumiwa, ila kwa hawa hebu fuatilia majibu yao kuhusu hicho walichokifanya, wanalialia na kulaumu Kenya, mara wanamtukana huyo mhanga hawaeleweki.
Huku kwetu ilikua national news, top story Kwa kila chombo cha habari, hii ilikua hata kabla ijulikane kwamba alikua raia wa kigeni na baada ya Hilo kujulikana hata wizara ya Mambo ya nje ilihusika na serekali ikatuma top forensic detectives kusaka na kushika wahusika mara moja na kupelekwa kotini.

Na kuhusu matamshi ya watz kuhusu hio taarifa, Akiili za kamati ya roho chafu hizo, si maajabu ukaskia wakiwalaumu hao watanzania wasichana walio chapisha hii story Kwa kuwaaibisha nchi Yao ya Amani ya Jumiua ya muungano... blah blah blah
 
Baada ya mwanamke Mnaijeria kujitokeza na kulalamika alichokumbana nacho wakati alikwenda kutalii, wanawake wa Tanzania wajitokeza na kusema yale ambayo hukumbana nayo kila wakijaribu kutalii nchi yao, au utalii wa ndani. Dharau, kejeli na matusi, wengine hata hunusurika kubakwa, hutukanwa kisa mavazi ilhali wanawake wazungu hawaambiwi chochote hata wavae vipi...

===========================

Zanzibar has been described as an exotic and idyllic romantic destination, a paradise of Africa and the cradle of Swahili hospitality. Also known as the Spice Island -- its famous Stone Town is a Unesco World Heritage site -- it draws tourists to its white sandy beaches with a promise of a laidback island life and permanent air of fun.

With almost a million annual visitors pre-Covid, official data of January 2022 shows that over 65 percent of all tourists to Zanzibar were female.

Yet despite this, female tourists, especially those traveling solo, experience a fair share of harassment both physical and sexual, verbal abuse on the street and some even robbery.

Nigerian tourist's complaint​

Recent social media claims of sexual assault by 23-year old Nigerian tourist Zainab Olehinde brought forth bad experiences of other travellers to this paradise, and made me relive my own share of bad experiences in Zanzibar, as a local tourist.

As investigations by the Zanzibar Commission for Tourism on Olehinde’s claims are still ongoing, the question of how tourists, male and female, local and foreign, black and white are treated is being asked all round. Not just in the case of Zanzibar, but the whole world. Tourism is the mainstay of many economies around the world, but do visitors get an experience worth their money?


Speaking English​

On a recent visit to Zanzibar, my friends and I decided to find whether the talk about female foreign tourists getting ‘’different’’ treatment was true. We had been having this talk among ourselves for a while and also heard it from mutual friends.

“Let's speak English from now on, pretend we don’t understand Swahili,” suggested Lilian Ndilwa, a close friend and my travelling companion, as we were disembarking from the ferry that brought us to Zanzibar from the Mainland sometime last year.

We are both Tanzanian and were here to headed to the boat party.

The pretence of being non-Swahili speakers was to protect ourselves from the apparent mistreatment meted to local female tourists from the Mainland who are called names for dressing differently from the local Zanzibari women. We wanted to experience international tourist treatment in our homeland, after all, we were paying, local tourists or not.

I was not surprised by Lilian’s remarks as I have been to Zanzibar a couple of times, on my own and with a group of friends – male and female. And each time I had a different experience on the island.

The turtle sanctuary in Zanzibar.

The turtle sanctuary in Zanzibar is a big attraction. PHOTO | POOL
As a solo tourist, I’m normally mistaken for being either a Kenyan or Rwandan and taxi drivers and boda-bodas would whisper among themselves, “Huyu wa Kagame au Kenyatta?” Swahili for ‘’Is she Kagame’s or Kenyatta’s,’’ meaning am I Kenyan or Rwandan and either way, I would be treated courteously just like a foreign tourist throughout my stay on the island.

This however was not the case when I am accompanied by fellow Tanzanians who chose to let it be known that we are from the Mainland.

Local tourist​

And it is not just me. Happy Lyimo, a Tanzanian girl I met in Paje, Zanzibar told me; “It’s always hard to find a hotel, or even get a hotel attendant to attend to you as a local tourist.”

She further confessed that the first time she travelled to Zanzibar as a college student, she had to venture outside her accommodation to find street food because it would take hours before anyone at the establishment would attend to her.

“They assume all women come here to ‘hunt’ for men,’’ she said. Now, this is not unique to Zanzibar. It is a fate suffered by all black women travellers around the world.

“I went to several restaurants actually, near Forodhani where as expected most visitors are white tourists. The restaurant attendants would attend to them, even when I am front of the queue, and I just failed to understand why,” said Lyimo.

And she isn’t the only Mainlander who has had this experience in Zanzibar.

“I remember I went to Zanzibar for work and the company I was working for recommended I stay in a four-star hotel somewhere in Nungwi, very expensive you would say. At the reception, the person attending to me was hesitant to say how much the room costs. I was accompanied by a taxi driver and he asked her why the hesitation, and she said that women [of] my kind, meaning black female tourists, normally fail to pay,” said Sarah William in a phone conversation with The EastAfrican.

She said the comment was so insulting that she stepped outside for a while before she could respond to the hotel receptionist.

Another local tourist, Irene, had it worse. “I was staying at this hotel, in Stone Town close to the waterfront. I got there in the evening without any trouble but the following day during breakfast I asked for scrambled eggs as per the package but to my surprise, the cook fried eggs for other diners who came after me and ignored my order,” said Irene.

It was not lost on her that she was the only black female guest at the hotel. And all other guests were in groups of three or four, while she was alone.

“When I approached the cook and inquired why, he didn’t give me any explanation so I decide to stand at his work station to make sure I got my scrambled eggs. When I eventually walked back to my table with my scrambled eggs, a fly had got into my glass of juice. I politely called one of the waitresses to get me a fresh serving, but she pretended not to hear me or even see me waving to catch her attention,” she said.

Not just locals​

Irene says she didn’t make anything of it and thought the girl had not seen her. “I finished my breakfast and continued reading my book for a little while. But the waitress totally ignored me as she cleared up breakfast tables, skipping mine. I was shocked that she even went round chatting guests and inquiring if they enjoyed their breakfast, and if they needed anything else.’’

But hotels are not the only establishments mistreating local tourists in Zanzibar.

So on my trip I decided to go sightseeing in Stone Town market and the beach. I was wearing an above-the-knee dress, sandals and a floppy beach hat. In the streets, I would notice how some of the local people gave me weird looks. I didn’t understand why. Almost all other tourists were dressed like me.

Irene said they were mocked on the streets too. “I remember I was accompanied by a male friend who was wearing shorts and a T-shirt, just like her. We happened to pass by a street where a group of local women dressed in the black Buibui (traditional full body cover) were seated. They laughed at us and in our hearing said that Mainlanders were used to walking naked and that we weren’t even half-naked,” narrated Irene.

She said what dismayed them even more was that, behind them was a group of white tourists, male and female and all in shorts too. “The women had swimsuits on for tops, and some had T-shirts just like my friend. The women didn’t comment the same about them.”

But sometimes harassment doesn’t only happen to black women.

“Last year in August we sent our project co-ordinator to Zanzibar to research on hotels that we would book for our tourists, and she was to stay there for a whole month. Unfortunately, in her second week she was robbed and almost got sexually assaulted,” said Juliet Samuel, who works with a tour agency.

Ms Samuel added that, the female co-ordinator from Spain who asked that we don’t disclose her name, wrote a final report for the tour agency, and said; “Careful with pickpockets in tourist areas, don’t walk alone at night, don’t go inside a taxi if you don’t know the driver. Go to the police in the town where you were assaulted and file the report.”

She added, “I think it is not the safest place in Tanzania because people are more desperate in terms of gaining money so they risk themselves assaulting and robbing tourists but I never heard about sexual abuse while I was there.”

Although authorities in Zanzibar assure visitors' safety and Stone Town has CCTV cameras on every street corner to ensure both locals' and visitors’ safety, bad treatment of female tourists is a reality.

“Tourists visiting Zanzibar are guaranteed safety as besides police patrols in tourist attractions, including beaches, there is a diplomatic police unit that is tasked with maintaining the safety of people visiting the island and tourist attractions as well,” said Mohammed Nassor Bajuni, an officer of the Zanzibar Tourism Commission.

But most calls by the public in light of Olehinde’s claims are about dignified treatment of local tourists and those of African origin from the rest of the continent regardless of their gender.

“Do a better job of protecting all tourists, be they domestic, regional or international as they all bring revenue to the country. Tourists are not only white people,” commented Joshua Agukoh on the Facebook page of Tanzania police following Olehinde’s assault claims.

The most troubling issue is that women face challenges that male travellers don’t even think about when they leave their countries. With half of all travellers around the word being women, some solo, tourism players have many lessons to learn.


Kabla hujatoa boriti kwenye jicho la mwingine hakikisha wewe unamacho safii.. biashara ya kuwauza watoto kwa watalii huko Mombasa mmeshaikomesha??


 
Baada ya mwanamke Mnaijeria kujitokeza na kulalamika alichokumbana nacho wakati alikwenda kutalii, wanawake wa Tanzania wajitokeza na kusema yale ambayo hukumbana nayo kila wakijaribu kutalii nchi yao, au utalii wa ndani. Dharau, kejeli na matusi, wengine hata hunusurika kubakwa, hutukanwa kisa mavazi ilhali wanawake wazungu hawaambiwi chochote hata wavae vipi...

===========================

Zanzibar has been described as an exotic and idyllic romantic destination, a paradise of Africa and the cradle of Swahili hospitality. Also known as the Spice Island -- its famous Stone Town is a Unesco World Heritage site -- it draws tourists to its white sandy beaches with a promise of a laidback island life and permanent air of fun.

With almost a million annual visitors pre-Covid, official data of January 2022 shows that over 65 percent of all tourists to Zanzibar were female.

Yet despite this, female tourists, especially those traveling solo, experience a fair share of harassment both physical and sexual, verbal abuse on the street and some even robbery.

Nigerian tourist's complaint​

Recent social media claims of sexual assault by 23-year old Nigerian tourist Zainab Olehinde brought forth bad experiences of other travellers to this paradise, and made me relive my own share of bad experiences in Zanzibar, as a local tourist.

As investigations by the Zanzibar Commission for Tourism on Olehinde’s claims are still ongoing, the question of how tourists, male and female, local and foreign, black and white are treated is being asked all round. Not just in the case of Zanzibar, but the whole world. Tourism is the mainstay of many economies around the world, but do visitors get an experience worth their money?


Speaking English​

On a recent visit to Zanzibar, my friends and I decided to find whether the talk about female foreign tourists getting ‘’different’’ treatment was true. We had been having this talk among ourselves for a while and also heard it from mutual friends.

“Let's speak English from now on, pretend we don’t understand Swahili,” suggested Lilian Ndilwa, a close friend and my travelling companion, as we were disembarking from the ferry that brought us to Zanzibar from the Mainland sometime last year.

We are both Tanzanian and were here to headed to the boat party.

The pretence of being non-Swahili speakers was to protect ourselves from the apparent mistreatment meted to local female tourists from the Mainland who are called names for dressing differently from the local Zanzibari women. We wanted to experience international tourist treatment in our homeland, after all, we were paying, local tourists or not.

I was not surprised by Lilian’s remarks as I have been to Zanzibar a couple of times, on my own and with a group of friends – male and female. And each time I had a different experience on the island.

The turtle sanctuary in Zanzibar.

The turtle sanctuary in Zanzibar is a big attraction. PHOTO | POOL
As a solo tourist, I’m normally mistaken for being either a Kenyan or Rwandan and taxi drivers and boda-bodas would whisper among themselves, “Huyu wa Kagame au Kenyatta?” Swahili for ‘’Is she Kagame’s or Kenyatta’s,’’ meaning am I Kenyan or Rwandan and either way, I would be treated courteously just like a foreign tourist throughout my stay on the island.

This however was not the case when I am accompanied by fellow Tanzanians who chose to let it be known that we are from the Mainland.

Local tourist​

And it is not just me. Happy Lyimo, a Tanzanian girl I met in Paje, Zanzibar told me; “It’s always hard to find a hotel, or even get a hotel attendant to attend to you as a local tourist.”

She further confessed that the first time she travelled to Zanzibar as a college student, she had to venture outside her accommodation to find street food because it would take hours before anyone at the establishment would attend to her.

“They assume all women come here to ‘hunt’ for men,’’ she said. Now, this is not unique to Zanzibar. It is a fate suffered by all black women travellers around the world.

“I went to several restaurants actually, near Forodhani where as expected most visitors are white tourists. The restaurant attendants would attend to them, even when I am front of the queue, and I just failed to understand why,” said Lyimo.

And she isn’t the only Mainlander who has had this experience in Zanzibar.

“I remember I went to Zanzibar for work and the company I was working for recommended I stay in a four-star hotel somewhere in Nungwi, very expensive you would say. At the reception, the person attending to me was hesitant to say how much the room costs. I was accompanied by a taxi driver and he asked her why the hesitation, and she said that women [of] my kind, meaning black female tourists, normally fail to pay,” said Sarah William in a phone conversation with The EastAfrican.

She said the comment was so insulting that she stepped outside for a while before she could respond to the hotel receptionist.

Another local tourist, Irene, had it worse. “I was staying at this hotel, in Stone Town close to the waterfront. I got there in the evening without any trouble but the following day during breakfast I asked for scrambled eggs as per the package but to my surprise, the cook fried eggs for other diners who came after me and ignored my order,” said Irene.

It was not lost on her that she was the only black female guest at the hotel. And all other guests were in groups of three or four, while she was alone.

“When I approached the cook and inquired why, he didn’t give me any explanation so I decide to stand at his work station to make sure I got my scrambled eggs. When I eventually walked back to my table with my scrambled eggs, a fly had got into my glass of juice. I politely called one of the waitresses to get me a fresh serving, but she pretended not to hear me or even see me waving to catch her attention,” she said.

Not just locals​

Irene says she didn’t make anything of it and thought the girl had not seen her. “I finished my breakfast and continued reading my book for a little while. But the waitress totally ignored me as she cleared up breakfast tables, skipping mine. I was shocked that she even went round chatting guests and inquiring if they enjoyed their breakfast, and if they needed anything else.’’

But hotels are not the only establishments mistreating local tourists in Zanzibar.

So on my trip I decided to go sightseeing in Stone Town market and the beach. I was wearing an above-the-knee dress, sandals and a floppy beach hat. In the streets, I would notice how some of the local people gave me weird looks. I didn’t understand why. Almost all other tourists were dressed like me.

Irene said they were mocked on the streets too. “I remember I was accompanied by a male friend who was wearing shorts and a T-shirt, just like her. We happened to pass by a street where a group of local women dressed in the black Buibui (traditional full body cover) were seated. They laughed at us and in our hearing said that Mainlanders were used to walking naked and that we weren’t even half-naked,” narrated Irene.

She said what dismayed them even more was that, behind them was a group of white tourists, male and female and all in shorts too. “The women had swimsuits on for tops, and some had T-shirts just like my friend. The women didn’t comment the same about them.”

But sometimes harassment doesn’t only happen to black women.

“Last year in August we sent our project co-ordinator to Zanzibar to research on hotels that we would book for our tourists, and she was to stay there for a whole month. Unfortunately, in her second week she was robbed and almost got sexually assaulted,” said Juliet Samuel, who works with a tour agency.

Ms Samuel added that, the female co-ordinator from Spain who asked that we don’t disclose her name, wrote a final report for the tour agency, and said; “Careful with pickpockets in tourist areas, don’t walk alone at night, don’t go inside a taxi if you don’t know the driver. Go to the police in the town where you were assaulted and file the report.”

She added, “I think it is not the safest place in Tanzania because people are more desperate in terms of gaining money so they risk themselves assaulting and robbing tourists but I never heard about sexual abuse while I was there.”

Although authorities in Zanzibar assure visitors' safety and Stone Town has CCTV cameras on every street corner to ensure both locals' and visitors’ safety, bad treatment of female tourists is a reality.

“Tourists visiting Zanzibar are guaranteed safety as besides police patrols in tourist attractions, including beaches, there is a diplomatic police unit that is tasked with maintaining the safety of people visiting the island and tourist attractions as well,” said Mohammed Nassor Bajuni, an officer of the Zanzibar Tourism Commission.

But most calls by the public in light of Olehinde’s claims are about dignified treatment of local tourists and those of African origin from the rest of the continent regardless of their gender.

“Do a better job of protecting all tourists, be they domestic, regional or international as they all bring revenue to the country. Tourists are not only white people,” commented Joshua Agukoh on the Facebook page of Tanzania police following Olehinde’s assault claims.

The most troubling issue is that women face challenges that male travellers don’t even think about when they leave their countries. With half of all travellers around the word being women, some solo, tourism players have many lessons to learn.


 

SHOCKING: Crowd cheers as street boy rapes woman in CBD​


NNRIVERROAD0504cjpg.jpg

A view of River Road in the city centre. PHOTO | FILE

A video has surfaced online of a woman being raped by a street urchin in broad daylight on River Road as his colleagues cheered him on.

In the two and a half minute clip, the street boy is seen attacking the woman as she screams for help.

“Help I’m being raped,” the woman screams.

DEATH THREAT
The woman however gives up her attempts to resist after a member of the watching crowd issues a death threat.
The undated video, seen by Nairobi News, was recorded by a member of the crowd.

Police have called on the woman to record a statement to help them arrest the rapist and his accomplices.

CONTACT POLICE
Nairobi Director of Criminal Investigations Nicholas Kamwende said he had seen the disturbing video and appealed to the victim to contact the police.

“What happened to the woman was wrong and we are urging her, wherever she is, to come to my office and record a statement so that she can help us in getting the men behind it,” Mr Kamwende said on Tuesday.

He added that a team of detectives has been assembled and ordered to pursue the matter.

Nairobi News is now available on Telegram. For handpicked stories every day, subscribe to our channel today
Telegram channel


 
Baada ya mwanamke Mnaijeria kujitokeza na kulalamika alichokumbana nacho wakati alikwenda kutalii, wanawake wa Tanzania wajitokeza na kusema yale ambayo hukumbana nayo kila wakijaribu kutalii nchi yao, au utalii wa ndani. Dharau, kejeli na matusi, wengine hata hunusurika kubakwa, hutukanwa kisa mavazi ilhali wanawake wazungu hawaambiwi chochote hata wavae vipi...

===========================

Zanzibar has been described as an exotic and idyllic romantic destination, a paradise of Africa and the cradle of Swahili hospitality. Also known as the Spice Island -- its famous Stone Town is a Unesco World Heritage site -- it draws tourists to its white sandy beaches with a promise of a laidback island life and permanent air of fun.

With almost a million annual visitors pre-Covid, official data of January 2022 shows that over 65 percent of all tourists to Zanzibar were female.

Yet despite this, female tourists, especially those traveling solo, experience a fair share of harassment both physical and sexual, verbal abuse on the street and some even robbery.

Nigerian tourist's complaint​

Recent social media claims of sexual assault by 23-year old Nigerian tourist Zainab Olehinde brought forth bad experiences of other travellers to this paradise, and made me relive my own share of bad experiences in Zanzibar, as a local tourist.

As investigations by the Zanzibar Commission for Tourism on Olehinde’s claims are still ongoing, the question of how tourists, male and female, local and foreign, black and white are treated is being asked all round. Not just in the case of Zanzibar, but the whole world. Tourism is the mainstay of many economies around the world, but do visitors get an experience worth their money?


Speaking English​

On a recent visit to Zanzibar, my friends and I decided to find whether the talk about female foreign tourists getting ‘’different’’ treatment was true. We had been having this talk among ourselves for a while and also heard it from mutual friends.

“Let's speak English from now on, pretend we don’t understand Swahili,” suggested Lilian Ndilwa, a close friend and my travelling companion, as we were disembarking from the ferry that brought us to Zanzibar from the Mainland sometime last year.

We are both Tanzanian and were here to headed to the boat party.

The pretence of being non-Swahili speakers was to protect ourselves from the apparent mistreatment meted to local female tourists from the Mainland who are called names for dressing differently from the local Zanzibari women. We wanted to experience international tourist treatment in our homeland, after all, we were paying, local tourists or not.

I was not surprised by Lilian’s remarks as I have been to Zanzibar a couple of times, on my own and with a group of friends – male and female. And each time I had a different experience on the island.

The turtle sanctuary in Zanzibar.

The turtle sanctuary in Zanzibar is a big attraction. PHOTO | POOL
As a solo tourist, I’m normally mistaken for being either a Kenyan or Rwandan and taxi drivers and boda-bodas would whisper among themselves, “Huyu wa Kagame au Kenyatta?” Swahili for ‘’Is she Kagame’s or Kenyatta’s,’’ meaning am I Kenyan or Rwandan and either way, I would be treated courteously just like a foreign tourist throughout my stay on the island.

This however was not the case when I am accompanied by fellow Tanzanians who chose to let it be known that we are from the Mainland.

Local tourist​

And it is not just me. Happy Lyimo, a Tanzanian girl I met in Paje, Zanzibar told me; “It’s always hard to find a hotel, or even get a hotel attendant to attend to you as a local tourist.”

She further confessed that the first time she travelled to Zanzibar as a college student, she had to venture outside her accommodation to find street food because it would take hours before anyone at the establishment would attend to her.

“They assume all women come here to ‘hunt’ for men,’’ she said. Now, this is not unique to Zanzibar. It is a fate suffered by all black women travellers around the world.

“I went to several restaurants actually, near Forodhani where as expected most visitors are white tourists. The restaurant attendants would attend to them, even when I am front of the queue, and I just failed to understand why,” said Lyimo.

And she isn’t the only Mainlander who has had this experience in Zanzibar.

“I remember I went to Zanzibar for work and the company I was working for recommended I stay in a four-star hotel somewhere in Nungwi, very expensive you would say. At the reception, the person attending to me was hesitant to say how much the room costs. I was accompanied by a taxi driver and he asked her why the hesitation, and she said that women [of] my kind, meaning black female tourists, normally fail to pay,” said Sarah William in a phone conversation with The EastAfrican.

She said the comment was so insulting that she stepped outside for a while before she could respond to the hotel receptionist.

Another local tourist, Irene, had it worse. “I was staying at this hotel, in Stone Town close to the waterfront. I got there in the evening without any trouble but the following day during breakfast I asked for scrambled eggs as per the package but to my surprise, the cook fried eggs for other diners who came after me and ignored my order,” said Irene.

It was not lost on her that she was the only black female guest at the hotel. And all other guests were in groups of three or four, while she was alone.

“When I approached the cook and inquired why, he didn’t give me any explanation so I decide to stand at his work station to make sure I got my scrambled eggs. When I eventually walked back to my table with my scrambled eggs, a fly had got into my glass of juice. I politely called one of the waitresses to get me a fresh serving, but she pretended not to hear me or even see me waving to catch her attention,” she said.

Not just locals​

Irene says she didn’t make anything of it and thought the girl had not seen her. “I finished my breakfast and continued reading my book for a little while. But the waitress totally ignored me as she cleared up breakfast tables, skipping mine. I was shocked that she even went round chatting guests and inquiring if they enjoyed their breakfast, and if they needed anything else.’’

But hotels are not the only establishments mistreating local tourists in Zanzibar.

So on my trip I decided to go sightseeing in Stone Town market and the beach. I was wearing an above-the-knee dress, sandals and a floppy beach hat. In the streets, I would notice how some of the local people gave me weird looks. I didn’t understand why. Almost all other tourists were dressed like me.

Irene said they were mocked on the streets too. “I remember I was accompanied by a male friend who was wearing shorts and a T-shirt, just like her. We happened to pass by a street where a group of local women dressed in the black Buibui (traditional full body cover) were seated. They laughed at us and in our hearing said that Mainlanders were used to walking naked and that we weren’t even half-naked,” narrated Irene.

She said what dismayed them even more was that, behind them was a group of white tourists, male and female and all in shorts too. “The women had swimsuits on for tops, and some had T-shirts just like my friend. The women didn’t comment the same about them.”

But sometimes harassment doesn’t only happen to black women.

“Last year in August we sent our project co-ordinator to Zanzibar to research on hotels that we would book for our tourists, and she was to stay there for a whole month. Unfortunately, in her second week she was robbed and almost got sexually assaulted,” said Juliet Samuel, who works with a tour agency.

Ms Samuel added that, the female co-ordinator from Spain who asked that we don’t disclose her name, wrote a final report for the tour agency, and said; “Careful with pickpockets in tourist areas, don’t walk alone at night, don’t go inside a taxi if you don’t know the driver. Go to the police in the town where you were assaulted and file the report.”

She added, “I think it is not the safest place in Tanzania because people are more desperate in terms of gaining money so they risk themselves assaulting and robbing tourists but I never heard about sexual abuse while I was there.”

Although authorities in Zanzibar assure visitors' safety and Stone Town has CCTV cameras on every street corner to ensure both locals' and visitors’ safety, bad treatment of female tourists is a reality.

“Tourists visiting Zanzibar are guaranteed safety as besides police patrols in tourist attractions, including beaches, there is a diplomatic police unit that is tasked with maintaining the safety of people visiting the island and tourist attractions as well,” said Mohammed Nassor Bajuni, an officer of the Zanzibar Tourism Commission.

But most calls by the public in light of Olehinde’s claims are about dignified treatment of local tourists and those of African origin from the rest of the continent regardless of their gender.

“Do a better job of protecting all tourists, be they domestic, regional or international as they all bring revenue to the country. Tourists are not only white people,” commented Joshua Agukoh on the Facebook page of Tanzania police following Olehinde’s assault claims.

The most troubling issue is that women face challenges that male travellers don’t even think about when they leave their countries. With half of all travellers around the word being women, some solo, tourism players have many lessons to learn.


 
Halafu kwetu hatuna sera za kutetea ujinga kama huo, mtalii alipobakwa tulikemea sote na hatua zikachukuliwa fasta na huyo dereva alikamatwa, hatukumkingia kifua au kuanza kulialia kwamba tunaonewa au kuhujumiwa, ila kwa hawa hebu fuatilia majibu yao kuhusu hicho walichokifanya, wanalialia na kulaumu Kenya, mara wanamtukana huyo mhanga hawaeleweki.
Kule twitter nilikuwa nawaunga mkono hawa majirani, kwenye hiyo saga ya huyo dada kutoka Nigeria. Kisa mimi wanigeria huwa siendani nao kwa lolote. Kwasababu ya 'attitude' ya wengi wao dhidi ya waafrika wenzao, sanasana wenyeji wa A.M. na Kusini pia.

Ila aibu ya tweet na comment za watanzania, dhidi ya huyo dada zilifanya nitulie na niwe mtazamaji tu kwenye mgogoro huo. Hawa majirani zetu wamepinda sio mchezo. Jamaa walikuwa wanauliza kama huyo dada ni wa kubakwa, wakisema kwamba sio mrembo. Utadhani kwao ni rukhsa kuwabaka wanawake 'warembo' au kwamba wanawake ambao sio 'warembo' huwa hawabakwi.

Response yote ya watanzania ilikuwa ni aibu tupu tu na sio tu kuhusu haki za wanawake kwa ujumla. Ilikuwa ni 'a show of total ignorance', tena inafanywa kama sifa. Kama hiyo ndio attitude ya wanaume wengi nchini Tz, nawaonea huruma sana kina dada na mama wa Tz.
 
Kule twitter nilikuwa nawaunga mkono hawa majirani, kwenye hiyo saga ya huyo dada kutoka Nigeria. Kisa mimi wanigeria huwa siendani nao kwa lolote. Kwasababu ya 'attitude' ya wengi wao dhidi ya waafrika wenzao, sanasana wenyeji wa A.M. na Kusini pia.

Ila aibu ya tweet na comment za watanzania, dhidi ya huyo dada zilifanya nitulie na niwe mtazamaji tu kwenye mgogoro huo. Hawa majirani zetu wamepinda sio mchezo. Jamaa walikuwa wanauliza kama huyo dada ni wa kubakwa, wakisema kwamba sio mrembo. Utadhani kwao ni rukhsa kuwabaka wanawake 'warembo' au kwamba wanawake ambao sio 'warembo' huwa hawabakwi.

Response yote ya watanzania ilikuwa ni aibu tupu tu na sio tu kuhusu haki za wanawake kwa ujumla. Ilikuwa ni 'a show of total ignorance', tena inafanywa kama sifa. Kama hiyo ndio attitude ya wanaume wengi watz, nawaonea huruma sana kina dada wa Tz.

Bahati yao hawajui kingereza, matusi yao yanaishia ndani kwa ndani, ila wangesomwa vibaya sana na ulimwengu.
 
Kule twitter nilikuwa nawaunga mkono hawa majirani, kwenye hiyo saga ya huyo dada kutoka Nigeria. Kisa mimi wanigeria huwa siendani nao kwa lolote. Kwasababu ya 'attitude' ya wengi wao dhidi ya waafrika wenzao, sanasana wenyeji wa A.M. na Kusini pia.

Ila aibu ya tweet na comment za watanzania, dhidi ya huyo dada zilifanya nitulie na niwe mtazamaji tu kwenye mgogoro huo. Hawa majirani zetu wamepinda sio mchezo. Jamaa walikuwa wanauliza kama huyo dada ni wa kubakwa, wakisema kwamba sio mrembo. Utadhani kwao ni rukhsa kuwabaka wanawake 'warembo' au kwamba wanawake ambao sio 'warembo' huwa hawabakwi.

Response yote ya watanzania ilikuwa ni aibu tupu tu na sio tu kuhusu haki za wanawake kwa ujumla. Ilikuwa ni 'a show of total ignorance', tena inafanywa kama sifa. Kama hiyo ndio attitude ya wanaume wengi watz, nawaonea huruma sana kina dada wa Tz.
Huwa mnaitia Afrika mashariki aibu kubwa sana. Mojawapo ya hizi aibu ni kama hii
IMG-20220419-WA0005.jpg
 
Huwa mnaitia Afrika mashariki aibu kubwa sana. Mojawapo ya hizi aibu ni kama hiiView attachment 2198974
Mashoga wapo kila sehemu, kwenye kila jamii kote duniani jombaa. Hata Tz pia wapo, humu JF pia wapo wengi. Sio kwa comment na hoja ambazo zimejaa humu, kuhusu 'tigo' mara sijui kwa mpalange. Kama wewe sio mmoja wao na hutaki kabisa kuhusishwa nao, ningekushauri uache kupigia promo za bure huu uovu.
 
254 mushughulike na ya kwenu, nyie mko na kueneza fitna tuuu. MISIFA NDIO YENU. kijambo kidogo huwa mnawaka kukipalia moto ya kwenu mbona hamyasemi. Muache tabia za umbeya. Baya likitokea kwa mwenzako nyamaza na ufunge mlango wako. Nyama mkubwa
 
3 Reactions
Reply
Back
Top Bottom