Walk Stone Town, Zanzibar

Stone Town is the old heart of Zanzibar City, a maze of coral stone houses, carved wooden doors and narrow lanes by the sea. FOG hides the map until you walk it, and the whole town fits in a couple of days of wandering.

The old town

Stone Town is a World Heritage site, a trading town shaped by Swahili, Arab, Indian and European influences. Its houses are built of coral stone, and many have elaborately carved wooden doors, some with brass studs.

The lanes are narrow and twisting, too tight for cars in many places, and they open onto small squares and mosques. Getting lost is unavoidable and worthwhile.

Waterfront and market

The Forodhani Gardens, on the waterfront, host a night food market. The Old Fort stands nearby. Inland, the Darajani market sells spices, fruit and fish.

The Anglican Cathedral stands on the site of the old slave market, with a memorial and an exhibition. A house associated with Freddie Mercury's birth is in the old town.

Coverage

Stone Town is small, so you can clear most of its lanes in a couple of days, a dense patch on the edge of the dark sea.

It is hot and humid all year, with long rains from March to May.

How FOG keeps score here

FOG starts with the whole world under fog. Every place you physically walk clears a circle of roughly 120 metres around you, and that ground stays clear for good. It keeps working with the app closed and the screen off once you allow background location, so the walk to dinner counts as much as the planned loop.

There is no account, no sign-up and no cloud. The trail lives on your phone and nowhere else, and you can export a GPX backup whenever you like. Exploring is free; one purchase of FOG Unlimited adds the higher ranks, all five character paths and history import, with no subscription.

Questions people actually ask

Start with a dark map.

FOG is free to explore. No account, no subscription, and your map never leaves your phone.

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