Zanzibar Fortress

The Zanzibar Fortress, was a large military compound, located within the mountains of Zanzibar Land, and was the headquarters of the Zanzibar Land government and armed forces. Sensors were placed around the cliffs, to detect possible intruders attempting to scale the mountain. The fortress was comprised of the Zanzibar Building, the Maze Wood, a swamp, the Nariko Desert, the Tower Building, the Bridge of Sorrow, the highlands and the detention camp.

The cliffs to the south of the fortress are sharp and at a nearly ninety degree angle. The southern portion of the Fortress contains jungle, and swamp environments that expand northwards as well as a desert environment (where the temperature difference between day and night is vast) in the center, a crevice north of the Tower Building, and highlands in the northern portion of the fortress. The fortress was also constantly under the highest alert condition (Level 1).

The fortress's doors are also controlled by a central computer, requiring a specific IC card to open a door.

Zanzibar Building
The Zanzibar Building was the main stronghold of the Zanzibar Fortress. It was a four-story building that was constantly under 24 hour alert, with full support provided by the various facilities housed within it. The main entrance was to the south of the building, protected by a series of wired fences. The main entrance was also locked and on guard, presumably due to the entire fortress being on high alert. In addition, the ventilation shafts also generated a jamming signal for radar.

First Floor (1F)
The first floor housed the central command, the hangar, and the factory. This was the central processing floor of the Zanzibar Building, with important production and communication facilities concentrated in the area.

The factory was on the west side of the floor, where Goliaths, Hind Ds, and other large war machines were constructed. These vehicles were also maintained, refueled, and repaired here.

The central command room monitored all intel in Zanzibar Land, as well as processing and relaying orders to troops. In essence, this was the proverbial brain of Zanzibar Land. The command room also contained a large central monitor that displayed a map of the entire layout of the fortress. A few instances, a PA will activate requesting for the soldiers to stand at attention as the Zanzibar Land national anthem plays in the background.

The eastern side of the floor contained an immense door with a hallway within that contained a room carrying the Hang Glider. Most of the guards stationed there are actually mannequins, although there is one that is an actual guard near the door.

Second & Third Floor (2F & 3F)
The second floor was the deck, which was used to watch over the first floor. The two floors were not actually separated, but an elevator was required to move between them.

The third floor was utilized for R&D purposes, and was used to store specialized equipment such as night-vision goggles and mine detectors. Some of the areas on this floor were gassed, so personnel were always equipped with gas masks.



Fourth Floor (4F)
The fourth floor housed the living quarters for the soldiers, and as such, many allowances were provided to ease the weariness of their duties.

One of the rooms was the mess hall. It was equipped with three full sets of tables and stools, and two 40 inch TVs mounted on the walls for brief entertainment at mealtimes. The menu provided meals of carefully calculated calorie balance, with the taste adjusted for each soldier, depending on his homeland, to help ease the divide of ethnicity, culture and religion. This was also the only part of the fortress where soldiers were allowed to smoke.

To the east of the mess hall was the freezer, for storage and supply of food. Cooling was possible down to a minimum temperature of -100 oC.

Adjoining the mess hall were both men's and women's bathrooms. The Gentlemen's was of a sound blue color while the Ladies' was of pale pink. Both were equipped with non-dust toilets from GA-INAX Co., which automatically cleansed and dried the occupant, via a gale of warm air, so there was no need for soldiers to remove their weapons. Since there were no female Zanzibar Land guards, the women's bathroom was used to house a secret elevator to the third floor basement, through which the confinement cell in the Maze Wood could be accessed.

To the southwest of the floor was a hallway filled with an immense number of mannequins that resembled the Zanzibar Land soldiers. Real soldiers also guarded this area.

Bedrooms were located to the northeast of the floor. 16 beds were provided in total, and the floor was made from wood, for human comfort.

The locker room was to the east of the bedrooms, where personnel could change their clothes before going to the sauna or to bed. They were equipped with locks, with seven provided for soldiers to store their belongings. One of the lockers, however, was used as a temporary repository for trash. Sometimes the Zanzibar Land children play hide and seek in the lockers.

South of the bedrooms was a sauna, used to ease the fatigue of soldiers. This was the only place where soldiers were allowed to remove their combat gear.

First Floor Basement (B1)
The first floor basement housed an armory, which contained weapons and equipment for infantry, ranging from grenades and submachine guns, to camouflage mats and body armor. It also contained the powder house.

Second Floor Basement (B2)
The second floor basement housed the main power plant, waste disposal center, and water treatment and processing facility. The fortress utilized hydroelectric power, using a drainage ditch. The water circulated within the tunnels, via certain chemical reactions, at around 30 km/h, supplying electricity to the whole fortress. The water was also purified in this area for consumption. There was also a disposal processing room, equipped with a large trash compactor. It used built-in pressure sensors to automatically process and burn trash and feed the heat energy back into the fortress as a secondary power source. Dust chutes were used to process trash from certain floors. The waterways also contain some aquatic mines.

Third Floor Basement (B3)
An old sewer ran within the third floor basement, acting as an underground route between the Zanzibar Building and the crevice, north of the Tower Building. The area was maintained by several automated sweepers, which provided a hazard to anyone caught in their paths. The sewer could only by accessed by the secret elevator located in the women’s bathroom, on the fourth floor.

Maze Wood
The Maze Wood (also known as the Lost Woods) was a forest within the Zanzibar Fortress. It was virtually unnavigable to anyone unfamiliar with the area (as its name implied), with only certain soldiers knowledgeable of the correct pathway through, and how to reach the hidden confinement cell. Minovsky particles were often used here to cause electronic jamming, making navigation even more difficult.

Confinement Cell
The confinement cell was a hidden building located within the Maze Wood. Presumably, this was where prisoners of important strategic value were held.

Swamp
The swamp was an area directly north of the Zanzibar Building. Soldiers often warned the children not go into the swamp, as it was deep enough to cause grown men to sink and drown. However, trucks were known to have driven through here, implying that there were areas shallow enough to travel across safely.

Armory
There was an armory located to the northeast of the swamp. The mercenary Running Man guarded this area, since he was fast enough to cover the entire area. Like other parts of the fortress, nerve gas was released when an intruder was detected.

Nariko Desert
To the north of the Maze Wood/swamp was the Nariko Desert. The desert was named after the Nariko Singing Sand that was used in the central part of the area, imported from the Okinawa Prefecture in Japan. It acted as a natural security system, as the sand squeaked when stepped on, making it difficult for intruders to sneak by unnoticed. The south of the desert also made use of land mines. It was possible that the area was used for desert warfare training, as trucks were constantly deployed there, and some of the items within them were ammunition containers. The desert also experiences a vast difference in temperature during the day and the night.

Helicopter Landing Pad
The main landing area for helicopters such as the ZL Hind Ds, Hind Es, and other gunships.

Tower Building
The Tower Building was a thirty-story building, approximately 600 meters high, in the central area of the Zanzibar Fortress. It was the main government building, high enough to look out over the whole of Zanzibar Land, as well as the location of offices for the various personnel within the fortress. The Tower Building contained three elevators: The Northern Elevator went up to the 10th floor, the Central Elevator went to the first basement as well as up to floor 20, and the Southern elevator went up to floor thirty.

On the twentieth floor was a veranda that was used for parachute jump training. Should the central elevator become inoperable, the tenth floor could be used to reach the twentieth floor via an external circular staircase. The roof could also be accessed by a similar staircase from the thirtieth floor. The door that led to the rooftop was painted shut in an attempt to dissuade trespassers from accessing it, although it was jury-rigged and vulnerable to well-placed explosives.

The first floor basement was connected to the second floor basement of the Zanzibar Building, via the drainage ditch, since they both used the same source of water.

Bridge of Sorrow
The Bridge of Sorrow crossed the large crevice to the north of the Tower Building, a natural boundary that separated the main buildings of the Zanzibar Fortress from the detention camp and other top secret areas. The Bridge of Sorrow was the only way to cross the crevice by foot.

Highland
The highland was a natural area in the northern section of the Zanzibar Fortress, it was mainly grassland with some rocky outgrowths used for stealth operation exercises. It is believed that Jungle Evil often uses this area to train.

Biological Research Lab
The biological research lab was the primary area for the study of biological materials, which included genetic engineering, and possibly warfare. The area was gassed when an alert was raised, so personnel within this facility were always equipped with gas masks. Two animals native to Zanzibar Land were known to be studied in this area, the Zanzibar wood owl and the Zanzibar snake.

Detention Camp
The detention camp was, as the name implied, used to detain prisoners and other objectors to Zanzibar Land’s rule. A sweeper was often deployed to maintain some areas (and possibly deter intruders). At night, the power to the detention camp was turned off, along with the laser fences. Also, some guards relied on the Zanzibar wood owl's hoots to tell when it was about to get dark out.

Most of the buildings were occupied by either children hiding from the soldiers or ammunition, but the building to the northeast had three basement floors. The third floor basement housed the prison where Kio Marv was held, as well as the locker in which he hid the OILIX formula. The prison was guarded by the stealth-camouflaged mercenary Night Fright. This same building was also where Metal Gear D was stationed, in a secret base further underground.

The prison was often infested with rats (actually the highly poisonous Zanzibar hamster), so the soldiers put out sulphuric acid to try and get rid of them. This provided a further obstacle to intruders, but the acid could be rendered harmless by neutralizing it with chocolate contained in B2 rations.

Behind the detention camp was a large stretch of forest, with a clearing to the north.

Security Systems

 * Visual Systems
 * Video Cameras
 * Sensor Systems
 * Infra-red Sensors
 * Pattern Infra-red
 * Stationary Infra-red
 * Pulse Sensors
 * Pressure Sensors
 * Noise Sensors
 * Nariko "Singing" Sand
 * "Bush Warbler" Floor
 * Footstep Reverberating Material

Behind the scenes

 * GA-INAX CO, mentioned as the manufacturer of the cubicles in the Zanzibar Building bathrooms, appears to be a reference to the Japanese anime studio, Gainax, that is associated with the otaku community.
 * In the MSX2 version of Metal Gear 2, Minovsky particles are mentioned by Campbell as being responsible for Snake's radar being jammed in the Maze Wood. This a reference to a technology of the same name used in the anime series Gundam.