Zanzibar Island Photos

There is a paradox about islands that seems to speak not only to our own mixed feelings about far off places, but to the experience of spending extended periods of time with ourselves. Robinson Crusoe. Prospero and Miranda. Ralph, Piggy and Jack from Lord of the Flies. Tom Hanks and Wilson. Gilligan and the Swiss Family Robinson. All were marooned on an island, but their responses were different. Some tried to find a way off. Others discovered a more utopian existence, comfortably removed from the rest of the world. Waking up on a desert island can be purgatory. Or it can be paradise.

Turquoise water and palm trees make it easier to forget the mundane aspects of urban living. Add a frosty Pina Colada with a miniature umbrella and you’re well on your way to letting go. But like any other island, Zanzibar holds it’s own paradox. Smartphones, Facebook status updates and TPS reports can seem pretty far away. Especially the moment your toes hit the sand. But for the locals of Zanzibar, a tropical beach isn’t the antithesis of daily life, it is daily life.

From fishing life to flip flop life, here are some images from the beaches of Zanzibar Island.