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Zanzibar
Reef, spice and a thousand years of trade history, an hour’s flight from the safari plains.
Trips offered
Typical length
Best known for
Pairs well with
Why go
Zanzibar is the natural second half of an East African trip. After a week of early starts and long game drives, the island asks nothing of you, and the flight from the Serengeti or Nairobi is short enough that the transition costs almost no holiday time.
It is not only a beach though, and treating it as one wastes it. Stone Town is a UNESCO World Heritage site built from the Omani, Swahili, Indian and European trade that ran through it, and the interior still grows the cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon the island was named for.
Which coast you choose matters more here than the hotel. The east has wide tidal flats and reliable wind, the north keeps its water deep enough to swim through the tide cycle, and the southeast is quieter than either. We match the coast to how you actually want to spend the days.
Where to go in Zanzibar
Nungwi and Kendwa
The northern tip, where the tide drops least and you can swim at any hour. Busier and livelier than the east coast, with sunset dhow trips and the island’s best beach bars.
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Paje and Jambiani
The east coast, where dramatic tides expose a wide sand flat twice a day. Consistent cross shore wind has made Paje one of the better kitesurfing spots in the Indian Ocean.
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Jozani Forest
The last significant stand of indigenous forest on the island, and the only place to see the Zanzibar red colobus, a monkey found nowhere else on earth. A half day, easily combined with a spice farm.
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Mnemba and the reef
The atoll off the northeast corner offers the clearest diving and snorkelling around the island, with dolphins frequently encountered on the crossing.
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Spice farms and the interior
The plantations behind the coast still produce cloves, vanilla, nutmeg and cardamom. A guided farm visit explains why the island mattered enough to be fought over for centuries.
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Stone Town
Carved doors, narrow lanes, the old dhow harbour and the Forodhani night market. Worth two nights at the start or end rather than a rushed afternoon on the way to the airport.
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When to travel
Good
Good
Shoulder
Shoulder
Shoulder
Peak
Peak
Peak
Peak
Good
Good
Peak
Peak months are dry, clear and busy. March to May brings the long rains, when many hotels close or drop rates substantially.
No fixed Zanzibar departures yet
Every Zanzibar trip we run is built around the traveller, usually as the second half of a safari. Tell us your dates and which coast appeals and we will put a route together.
Build it around your dates.
Most of what we arrange in Zanzibar is put together from scratch. Tell us the shape of the trip and a consultant will draft a route.