Mambo Blog

Women at Mwaka Kogwa festival, Makunduchi, Zanzibar (Photo: Rachel Hamada)

One of our greatest resources here at Mambo is the stunning collection of photos taken by our contributors - testament to their talent and eye for the spectacular or unusual, as well as to the photogenic nature of Zanzibar itself. Read more »

Ten years ago, in February 2003, a team from ScreenStation arrived in Zanzibar to begin work on a documentary film about Zanzibar's most controversial living musician, Fatma Baraka, better known as Bi Kidude. Read more »

One special site off the tourist trail in Zanzibar, and one of my favourite places to visit, is Bwawani pond. This is what is left of the estuarine mouth of the Darajani Creek system, which underwent major modification (including canalization and reclamation) from the late 19th century to the middle of the 20th century. Read more »

At the Africa in Motion festival in the UK this week, two East African films were represented in the short film competition. One was this year's Tanzanian/Canadian short Who Killed Me, by young director Amil Shivji.

A twenty-first century twist on the whodunnit, Who Killed Me looks at the fate of Congolese refugee Hassan, found dead outside a shop on Eid with a box of chocolates scattered beside him. Read more »

Sober House Zanzibar has organised a three-day art exhibition at the Alliance Francaise in Dar Es Salaam - from 17 to 19 October - to showcase the work of the men and women who are in their recovery programmes.

These programmes have been set up to help people who are determined to break with severe addictions, often to heroin. Read more »