Zanzibar doors

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

   Perhaps the most famous bit of architecture here is what's know as the "Zanzibar door."  It has metal spikes in it, to prevent charges by elephants.  (Not that there's been an elephant charge recently.)
   One such door is in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.  "Zanzibar door" is not in OED.
   Below is information about a recent book on the famous Zanzibar doors.
   O.T.  I just checked, and OED has 1967 for "khanga."  No way I can beat that...I just returned from feeding the tortoises on Prison Island, a bit of snorkeling on the Indian Ocean, and then seeing the rare Colobus monkeys in the Jozani-Chwaka Bay Conservation Area.  From a brochure:  "One tree--_Mlappa_--is even named after this tiny antelope (paa)."  Mlapaa is not in the revised OED...Spice tour tomorrow, then Dar es Salaam, and then home.


Doors of Zanzibar
by Mwalim A. Mwalim, 1998, photos by Uwe Rav
Our Price:  $29.50
Format:  Paperback,   143 pp.           Dimensions:  (in cms.)  1 x 24 x 27

Ask any visitor to Zanzibar as to what best reminds him of these evergreen tropical islands famous for its spices, and there is a one in three chance that the answer will be the Stone Town・ Likewise, there is a one to three probability that what best reminds the one of Stone Town are its famous carved doors: the Zanzibar Doors.