Aline Coquelle’s favourite addresses in Zanzibar, excerpted from her new book
They say it’s all in the name, and that rings true with Zanzibar. Merely uttering the word evokes mystery and wonder—it sounds like an exotic experience waiting to be savoured. The archipelago in the Indian Ocean off Africa’s Swahili coast has always held a certain mystique. In 1872, British explorer Sir Richard Francis Burton described his first glimpse of its islands: “Earth, sea, and sky, all seems wrapped in a soft and sensuous repose. The sea of purest sapphire, which had not parted with its blue rays to the atmosphere... under a blaze of sunshine which touched every object with a dull burnish of gold”.
A semi-autonomous region of Tanzania, Zanzibar continues to lure modern explorers with a promise of an adventure like no other. One of these adventurers is nomadic Parisian photographer Aline Coquelle, who first arrived on its shores two decades ago. “What drew me to Zanzibar was the unknown,” says Coquelle, who calls the place “a dream before being an island”.
Related: Travel Photographer Aline Coquelle Shares Why Zanzibar Should Be Your Next Island Holiday
Like Burton before her, it was love at first sight. That initial encounter sparked the idea of creating a book, which Coquelle immediately proposed to Martine Assouline, founder of Assouline. This month, after a creative journey spanning 20 years, during which time she photographed the island and its inhabitants using film, her vision comes to life in Zanzibar—a tome that embodies the essence of this enthralling destination through her lens.
