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House of Wonders (Beit-el-Ajaib): Traveler Reviews

Mizingani Rd, Stone Town, Tanzania
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Ranked #5 of 13 attractions in Stone Town
Type: Architectural Buildings
27 visitor photos
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136 reviews from our community

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Senior Contributor
48 reviews 48 reviews
13 attraction reviews
Reviews in 31 cities Reviews in 31 cities
95 helpful votes 95 helpful votes
“Found what I was looking for!”
4 of 5 stars Reviewed November 16, 2012

A three story museum dedicated to the history of Zanzibar. I went to find the artifacts of David Livingston and what I could of Stanley. Found and photographed what I was looking for then ventured out to the balcony for a great view of the harbour.

Visited October 2012
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See 3 more reviews by R Ramey for Stone Town
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Doha, Qatar
Top Contributor
52 reviews 52 reviews
15 attraction reviews
Reviews in 11 cities Reviews in 11 cities
19 helpful votes 19 helpful votes
“I wonder why I bothered...”
2 of 5 stars Reviewed November 4, 2012

House of Wonders it may have been when it first opened, but those days are sadly long gone. Decrepit building with tired and faded exhibits is an accurate description of today's House of Wonders. Which is a shame because it has so much potential to be better, much better - especially as most of Zanzibar's annual 250,000 tourists will tramp through it during their trips.

The government needs to invest the ticket revenue into maintaining the building.

Visited October 2012
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Warsaw, Poland
Contributor
17 reviews 17 reviews
8 attraction reviews
Reviews in 6 cities Reviews in 6 cities
6 helpful votes 6 helpful votes
“Symbol of Stone Town”
3 of 5 stars Reviewed October 30, 2012

Part of history, you can learn about history of the city and Zanzibar island visiting small museum inside.

Visited October 2012
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Kingsbridge, United Kingdom
Top Contributor
55 reviews 55 reviews
39 attraction reviews
Reviews in 17 cities Reviews in 17 cities
35 helpful votes 35 helpful votes
“Worth a visit ...”
4 of 5 stars Reviewed October 23, 2012

There are many very interesting things to see which help to explain the history of Zanzibar so it is well worth visiting.
It is quite run down and some areas require negotiating around scaffolding (health & safety officers should avoid this place as you would have a fit!!) so it needs extra funding to restore it to what it should be.
One very revealing aspect is a room which describes the progress of Zanzibar and is extremely candid about everything including the very negative aspects of tourism on the culture and architecture (it gives the positives as well) which you probably would not find in many museums around the world.

Visited October 2012
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Istanbul, Turkey
Reviewer
3 reviews 3 reviews
1 helpful vote 1 helpful vote
“not worth to visit”
2 of 5 stars Reviewed October 23, 2012

really not worth to visit!

there was a nice view from the top, but there were nothing else to see................

Visited September 2012
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