Welcome to Zanzibar (Tanzania, Zanzibar)

In Stone Town, hospitality takes on acrobatics. Since the 2000s, young divers have been improvising aquatic shows on the shore, combining acrobatics, humor, and winks at visitors. Their hand-painted signs become living signs—waved above the waves like a choreographed gesture of welcome.

This practice, which comes from a Swahili tradition of sea games, embodies an economy of connection: an art of hospitality where the Indian Ocean becomes a floating stage . Each jump is an addressed gesture, each immersion a way of saying Karibu — welcome.

Today, these semi-spontaneous rituals extend the port soul of Zanzibar, where the show is not played out on stage, but on the waves.