Zanzibar fleet

Long before Vasco da Gama reached India, dhows sailed the Indian Ocean from coast to coast. Usually it is said that dhows are Arab sailing ships but they have also been used by Swahili seamen for centuries. In the past they sailed from Africa to India (it was on the Swahili coast that Vasco da Gama found a pilot who showed him the way to cross the ocean to India). There are even reports of a Swahili prince sending his ships to China with a giraffe on board. On the Swahili coast the dhows are still in use. Perhaps they don't sail to China any more but between Zanzibar and the coast of Tanzania they certainly do. Not just old squeaky boats, new dhows are still being built as they have always been.