NOW & THEN

He captured the Dalai Lama on camera, visiting heads of state and everything, Zanzibar: Ramish Rohit T. Oza, here photographed between two elephants in 1975. A few weeks ago, his Capital Art photo studio was evicted from Stone Town, making way for yet another boutique hotel. The photographer wasn’t there to protect his longtime home and place of work, founded by his father, Ranchhod Trikam Oz,a 95 years ago. Rohit, as his friends called him, passed away in 2024 at the age of 74. But his widow, Usha endured in the studio, occasionally selling photos to tourists passing by on Kenyatta Road, until the very last day in November 2025 (small photo), when she had to close up and move to another apartment. In support of her and the invaluable work of the Oza family, THE FUMBA TIMES will continue to publish some of the extraordinary black-and-white photography documenting Zanzibar’s past and present. What brought the elephants to Zanzibar 50 years ago, however, remains a mystery. Widow Usha just remembers vaguely: “Somebody wanted to start a zoo.”