Zanzibar's long stretched white beaches, turquoise sea and waving palm trees attract thousands of tourists from Western Europe each year. Yet, the paradise destination in the Indian Ocean has its dark side. The beaches are full of young and desperate Zanzibari men prostituting themselves to middle-aged European women on holidays. Their ultimate goal is to go to Europe and they are prepared to do anything at the cost of even being rejected by their own communities and becoming total outcasts. 

By Lotte Vermeij, Zanzibar

“We see many tourists coming, they are rich people. I know for sure that Europe is paradise; everybody has enough money and your government is good. Life on Zanzibar is terrible, we have too little money so we hunt for the European women. They can take us to paradise. Or even just provide us with money, a car and a house in Zanzibar,” says one of the boys, by the name of Dotcom.

Exotic
“We know the European women are interested. They like our bodies, our rasta hair, they think we are exotic. So we work out on the beach to show our muscles and chat to the ladies when we sell them small crafts and snorkeling trips. Then at night we meet them at the beach bars, we drink together and play drums around bonfires. We give them a lot of attention and when they get drunk it is really easy to go to the hotel with them. I have done this for 6 years so I have a lot of practice. I know what the women want to hear so they will give me what I want”. Dotcom carries on.

Most of the women stay for a week and pay for all expenses. “It's good because they take us out drinking every night. But what we all want actually is that they take us back to Europe with them. It’s our ticket to paradise”.

Masai warrior
“One of my friends was really smart, he used to dress like a Masai warrior. Especially old ladies from Italy liked him. They were impressed by the Masai culture and they believed he could kill lions with his bare hands. But he had never seen a lion in his life,” one of Dotcom’s friends says in good humour.

Even though the beach boys seem to be content with their lifestyle which involves enormous amounts of alcohol, drugs and women, it has a definite dark side. Many of them have been rejected by their community due to their lifestyle. The Muslim Zanzibari society perceives them as outcasts denying their roots.

Abandoned values
“The beach boys have abandoned our traditional cultural values. They are aggressive and commit petty crimes but there is no control. The police do not do anything. The only thing we can do is condemn their lifestyle, we are ashamed of them. They are no longer welcome in the village,” says the local chief.

But for all these boys, there is only one thing on the agenda - to get to lucky by getting picked up by a lady who would take them to “paradise”. Beach boy Dotcom confesses with a grin on his face: “The only thing we want is go to Europe and get rich. Many of my friends have done it. So when I catch the European ladies I do everything they want. My body is theirs. For me it's not love, well yes, it is love - for their money.”

Read Part 2 to this story on Sunday.