The power of social media: Harrowing travel experience in Zanzibar laid bare

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Last year, on April 15, Nigerian Zainab Oladehinde set off on a solo trip to Tanzania to a small beachside town called Nungwi, where she stayed at the Warere Beach Hotel for a week. Seaside views, breathtaking pools and many activities would fill her itinerary during her stay.

Her arrival was rather quiet, as Oladehinde explored the hotel and made friends with a Russian couple who would soon prove to be her saving grace.

On the night of April 16, Oladehinde was in full birthday mode as she prepared for her 23rd birthday, which was only a few hours away. She bid farewell to her new Russian friends and retired for the night to her hotel room.

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A few hours after she fell asleep, Oladehinde alleges in her account of her nightmare on Twitter, she felt hands touching her body.

“I started to feel a hand touching my breast. Now, this was me sleeping naked on my bed in my hotel room with my doors locked, so this was definitely a dream, I told myself and went back to sleep. A few minutes later, I started to feel my hands stroking someone’s penis. At this moment, I opened my eyes to confirm if it was actually a dream or I was in real danger.”

To her surprise, there was indeed a man lying next to her, moaning in her ear.

“Baby, baby,” the strange voice kept saying. Once Oladehinde realised the man’s plans were to sexually assault her, she pleaded with him to wear a condom.

“He didn’t understand a word I said but immediately he heard HIV. He paused for a while. I quickly wanted to use the opportunity to run but then he started strangling my neck. I became very scared as I saw my life flash before my eyes in an instant. I struggled to not let him strangle me. He left the room and told me he’d be back with a condom.”

Unhelpful police

Oladehinde realised the only possible suspects would be the hotel staff, who had access to her room. She hastily crawled to her Russian acquaintances’ room, where she was encouraged to open a case with the Nungwi police the next day. To her surprise, the police officers were hostile, unhelpful and blamed her for the ordeal.

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The aftermath of this devastating case saw Oladehinde run in circles for a chance at justice, and as her ordeal went viral on social media went, her story encouraged other women to detail their accounts of assaults in Nungwi.

The hotel and the owner

The Warere Beach Hotel has since released a statement in which it said that it sought to legally squash the issue with the police, however, Oladehinde sought a more unbiased party and went to the north to speak to a district commissioner, where she demanded $10 000 (R146 000) as compensation for her traumatic experience.

Little is known about the history of the hotel itself, only that it is owned by an Italian woman named Shauna Accongiagioco, who has a history of patronising customers who leave harsh reviews on travel websites.

In one response to a disgruntled visitor, she said: “Thank you for your review. I am sorry you found the hotel so disappointing. I was surprised to see you ate and drank quite a lot for someone who disliked the hotel so much.”

These allegations against Accongiagioco indicate that Oladehinde’s bad experience was at the resort not an anomaly.

The power of social media

Oladehinde had to wait for a year to see some form of justice.

For Oladehinde, Tanzania will always remind her of her traumatic experience with men and the people who have failed her. Only through the power of social media have the wheels of justice begun to turn for Oladehinde, who has since received a public statement released by the Zanzibar Commission for Tourism that it would begin an official investigation into her ordeal.

Through the power of social media, the Warere Beach Hotel, which once stood as a fierce competitor in the tourism sector with a whopping four-star rating on the travel website TripAdvisor and on Google, has now dropped to a one-star rating.

Oladehinde’s experience was a sad reminder of an unfair society that women must navigate daily, but it was also one of hope that showed how social media could change the entire trajectory of one’s life.

Janice Phiri   Culture Writer +27 11 713 9001 Janice.Phiri@citypress.co.za www.citypress.co.za 69 Kingsway Rd, Auckland Park