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In February 1974, one of my main targets in East Africa was to learn more about Mangapwani Cave, pictured on a Zanzibar 2.50 sh. stamp of 1963 (Scott nr. 284) and later overprinted Jamhuri ("Republic") 1964 in both machine (Scott nr. 304) and local hand stamps. Our schedule allowed me one week on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam, and I figured that this would allow enough time to make arrangements for a short trip to the island a few miles offshore. I had no idea whether the cave was well known on the island, so I prepared two color enlargements of the stamps before I left Seattle, to be used in case there was a language barrier.

In Dar es Salaam it quickly became clear that visits to Zanzibar were not easy. Although Tanzania and Zanzibar officially were one nation, this was more true in theory than fact. Zanzibar was autonomous in virtually every way. Mainland Tanzania officially was a radical "Socialist" nation, with so strong an anti-American attitude that our Embassy had to be approached through locked gates. But Zanzibar was much more "radical". I was told that after the current government overthrew the first independent republic, killing the Sultan shown on the stamp, there had been an average of two counter-revolutions attempted each year -- each unsuccessful and put down with extreme severity. Yet there was an official tourist agency on the island and a new hotel, and a Dar es Salaam tourist agency thought it could make arrangements for me if I would pay radiogram expenses. This sounded fine, though I decided to leave my wife and daughter back in Dar es Salaam.

And indeed, after four of my seven days had elapsed, it was arranged by radio and I flew the short hop with a proper visa. I was duly met at the little airport, by an official of the official tourist agency, and we discussed tours. The cave was well-known and there was a set fee for a trip there, with more if you wanted to go to the nearby beach afterward. After a little dickering, and planning for lunch at the new hotel, he motioned to a taxi, and I was off through the ruins of what once must have been a prosperous island, with some modern-style rebuilding. I saw only part of the town of Zanzibar but the striking feature was the furtiveness of most of the few people on the streets, literally scurrying from doorway to doorway after looking warily in all directions. Out of town, things appeared more relaxed.

The driver, too, was tense initially. But we talked and he relaxed as he decided that evidently I really was interested in caves. He knew many other caves on the island -- contrary to what the official had said at the airport -- and said that he could take me to others if I had the time (which unfortunately I didn't). Later I reported some of this and additional information from other sources in The Cascade Caver (Halliday, 1974).

After a pleasant drive of 20 or 30 minutes, we stopped at a small sinkhole with some cement steps which marked the main entrance to the cave.
These are shown on the stamp, looking out from the main room of the cave. The driver confirmed my impression that the cave had been a slave pen in olden times (Shells well-White, 1934), with the slaves taken in and out through a smaller entrance which could be plugged by moving a large rock over it. At that time there were no steps in the big entrance, which was overhanging about 20 feet. Thus food could be lowered with no danger of the slaves' escaping. In the main room was a small pool of fresh water, still in use today by farmers living nearby. Broken pottery of various ages showed that it had been used for a long time.

Normally, tourists visit only the main room with the stairs, but I happened to have a flash-light in my pocket, and the driver said I could look around. The part of the cave I visited consists of a single spacious passage in very porous, poorly consolidated limestone which I guessed to be of Plio-Pleistocene age. It is mostly about 30 feet wide, with stoop ways at two points. The pool in the main room is about 2 feet deep and about 5 by 10 feet. The main passage extends about 200 feet roughly southwest to a larger pool, in a smaller chamber. Here is a small amount of dripstone, rimstone, and some sub- aqueous rnacroglobular coralloids. Just beyond is a steep break-down slope topped by the small second entrance. In this area I saw many land snails of at least two varieties, some as much as 4-5 inches long. Millipedes and unidentified small insects were in evidence and a few bats were in the area.

The first pool is almost the rear of the main chamber. Beyond it, there are two more duckunders en route to a larger room. I went only about 200 feet in this direction because I was disturbing a large colony of bats. Along the way are local patches of straw stalactites and other dripstone and flowstone. Most of the walls, however, are bare of speleothems, exposing the country rock. Tree roots are seen throughout the cave, but not in such great profusion as in same other tropical caves. I found the Gave hot and humid throughout. Even slow, deliberate movements cause profuse sweating.

It was easy to see why this cave was a symbol of African liberation with the new steps leading upward, "toward the light", as the stamp gays. Other social commentary here was unintended. While the driver and I were in the main room, a grinning black farmer came down the stairs with a tin bucket, ostensibly after water for his farmhouse-nearby but more likely for the fun of seeing us there. I pointed to my camera and he grinned even more broadly, as he dipped the water from the pool -- the message was clear. The driver hastily told me that I shouldn't take his picture because the simple farmer wouldn't like it but it was o.k. to take his (the driver's) photo there. So I waited until the moment the farmer was leaving and accidentally got both in the photo.

Back en route I chanced to pull the color enlargements of the stamps out of rny pocket, in casual further conversation with the driver about caves. He said he knew about the stamps and shut up immediately. At the airport I saw him talking vigorously to the officials who had met me. After some time, the latter came over and took me aside and told me to destroy the photos immediately. It was a capital offense to have any picture of the old sultan on the island and, while they wanted tourists to come to the island and didn't want bad publicity from arresting one, I had damn well better tear the photos into tiny pieces and dispose of them in the primitive toilet at the airport immediately or I would be in very serious trouble. So I did exactly that, and left on schedule.

As far as I know, the same political leaders are still in control on Zanzibar. Whenever speleophilatelist are in Dar es Salaam I recommend a side trip to Mangapwani Cave. But leave the stamps behind.

References:

Halliday, William R. 1974.
Caves and Karst of Zanzibar: an initial reconnaissance.
Cascade Caver Vol. 13 no. 3, pp. 5-6 March.

Shellswell-White, G.H. 1934. A guide to Zanzibar.
Zanzibar, Government Printer, pp. 59-60. 2nd Edition.