Summer in Zanzibar

After this appalling heatwave Melbourne dished us in the last week, and continuing the African theme, I thought I’d soothe the soul and refresh your eyes with these beautiful images of summer in Zanzibar. The pictures were taken by Friedmann Hauss for Australian marie-claire – possibly in the early 90s, judging by the slip dresses (and the fact that a FAX number is given in the travel details rather than a website!).

Except for the touches of turquoise blue, I don’t actually like the garments in the photoshoot. They look merely passé and bear no patina of retro charm (not yet anyway). But the photos are sublime, depicting a far gentler summer than this furnace Melburnians lived through in the past week: searing heat and hot, drying winds are not pleasant.

Zanzibar! The name itself is exotic, the whisper of it conjuring up images foreign to my eyes, strange sounds in my ears – the lap of water against a wooden boat, the rustle of the breeze in trees for which I have no name, African voices chattering inexplicably – the sounds to lull one to sleep on the white sand.

Zanzibar is actually an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Tanzania, composed of numerous small islands and two larger ones – the main island Unguja is commonly referred to as Zanzibar. It sounds like a place I should visit one day, but meanwhile I can daydream. 

Click on images for larger versions.