Zanzibar Itineraries
Zanzibar City Tours (4 hours)
We depart from the hotel and proceed directly to the City Market to witness the hustle and bustle of morning business. Here we see the local Arab buses bring in the dazzling array of tropical fruits and exotic spices from the villages around Zanzibar Island. We take a walk through the market to see and taste some of these rare tropical fruits available in Zanzibar, such as Mabungo and Baobab fruits. We visit the ’kuku’ - chicken market, where you can choose your chicken and have it cleaned while waiting, and walk on to a spice shop where beautifully-packaged spices are for sale.
After marveling at the array of bananas, we continue to the fish market where the day’s catch of exotic fish are on auction, there you will see Blue Marlin, King fish, squid, octopus, tuna and often shark, stingray and huge lobsters and crabs.
After the commotion of the fish market, we take a short trip to The Anglican Church built in 1874 by Bishop Steer, on the site of the old slave market. We tour this impressive church and visit the sombre and cramped slave chambers, where the slaves were kept until they were sold at the market.
A short drive takes us to the Zanzibar Museum, opened in 1925, and designed in the style of a Constantinople mosque. Whilst small, the museum contains a lot of interesting relics from the times of the great Sultans and early explorers, including Dr. David Livingstone’s medicine chest and a captivating exhibition of old photos of Zanzibar Town from the last century. There is also an exhibition that depicts the history and uses of cloves, for which the island is so famous.
A short drive takes us past the High Court, The State House and Victoria Garden to Africa House Hotel, the former British Club, situated with a beautiful view over the ocean. We make a stop here for refreshment, enjoying the commanding views over azure seas of the Indian Ocean, before continuing to the Forodhani Park by the old Arab Fort.
From here we take a walk through the narrow lanes of the labyrinthine Stone Town, passing the Roman Catholic Church and several small mosques with maybe a visit to a few of the curio shops. The walk ends by the beautiful House of Wonders, a striking example of architecture from the 1880’s. The Palace was the house of Sultan Barghash until the end of the last century; hence it was used for banquets and served as offices for the sultan’s employees. There was a lift and electric lighting- the source of wonder to the Zanzibari citizens.
We pass the adjacent former Sultans Palace, now the People’s Palace, and the stylish Old Indian Dispensary before arriving at the old Dhow Harbour, a place steeped in history and atmosphere. Even today, the demand for this ancient form of transport is in demand and, if we are lucky, we might see some local Zanzibari artisans working on a new one. Return to the hotel in time for lunch.
Zanzibar Spice Tour (4 hours)
Leaving our hotel, we pass through the new settlements of Mnazi Mmoja as we drive out into the cultivated plots that are scattered through the centre of the island. Having reached the tiny roads of the Zanzibar countryside, we pass by fields of cassava plants, the root-fruit that is an important part of the diet on the island and stretches of farms with cashew nut trees. During the tour we visit several small, private farms, tasting and learning about the fruits that they produce such as: breadfruit, jackfruit, durian (the worst smelling fruit imaginable!), papaya, pineapple, Zanzibar apples, starfruit (Karambola), mango, bananas of all colours and sizes, avocado and many more.
There is more to the island’s crop growing than fruit and our guide introduces us to several plants with medicinal and herbal uses. The Iodine plant, the Elangi-elangi trees, the fragrant flowers of which used to make a perfumed body lotion with coconut oil, the Hennae bush and the Mbirimbi tree are all found across the island.
Other facets of our introduction to traditional Zanzibar life include a visit to a farm that produces cobra from the coconuts, and we see how the women extract coconut milk to use for cooking. No tour of Zanzibar is complete without the spices and we visit farms that grow cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, black pepper and the most famous spice from Zanzibar, the clove.
Our return to Zanzibar takes in a little of the island’s history as we pass by one of the several Persian Baths that are scattered over the island, before continuing towards the coast again for refreshment at Fuji Beach Bar.
After the stop, we take a tour of the Maruhubi Palace ruins. This palace was built in the 1880’s by one of the great sultans, Sayyed Barghash, for the use of his populous harem and whilst an accidental fire gutted the palace in the late 1890’s, some of the arches and ancient baths that remain offer us an insight into history.
On the outskirts of town can be found Livingstone House, where David Livingstone stayed in 1866 while planning his last trip to the mainland. The building now houses the offices of Zanzibar Tourist Corp.
Island Hopping (Full Day)
Enjoy a relaxing day exploring the atolls, lagoons and islets of the Indian Ocean. We depart town in the morning, and set course for the tiny islands off the West Coast , a 20 minute boat ride. We use local wooden boats with an outboard engine and a canopy to protect you from the sun.
On the way to Changuu (Prison) Island we pass by Grave Island, a tiny uninhabited island that got its name during the last century because it was used as a burial ground for British marine personnel. On the island you find graves dating back to 1846 of sailors who lost their lives fighting the slave trade. There are also graves of the soldiers who died during the First World War, when the famous German ship Koenigsberg sank the British HMS Pegasus in the Zanzibar waters.
Passing by the tiny Snake Island we set anchor in the natural bay of Changuu (Prison) Island by late morning. Changuu is a charming little island with quite a history. It was first owned by a rich Arab, who used it as a place of detention for recalcitrant slaves. Later, in 1893, the British built a small jail there. The ruins can still be seen on the island. For a long period of time the island was the quarantine station for the Kenyan, Ugandan and Tanganyika territories to cope with cholera epidemics.
The island is now owned by the Zanzibar Tourist Corporation and has become a small tourist resort. You can walk around the island in half an hour to see the prison ruin and marvel at the Giant tortoises that freely roam the island. The remainder of the morning is spent swimming from the beach or snorkelling around the reef.
Following lunch, on the return trip to town, we visit Bawe Island, another small island off the West Coast with two beautiful beaches. Return to town by late afternoon.
Optional Excursions in Zanzibar (Full Day)
Depart from the town hotel in the morning. After a 45 minute drive through coconut palms, we arrive at Jozani Forest, the last remaining patch of ancient forest on the Island. The forest harbors a wide cross-section of exotic trees and palms, and most importantly it is the habitat of the Red Colobus Monkey, a sub-species of the Colobus that can only be found on Zanzibar. We take a walk in the forest to see these distinctive monkeys, who are not shy. Our guide explains more about the forest and its eco-system and, after a small break for refreshments, we continue on towards the East Coast of Zanzibar.
Arriving on the East Coast we pass by Paje, a small and very picturesque fishing village, where all the local houses are made from white sand and coral stone. We continue along the coast to Jambiani, a village situated on a beautiful, mile long white beach. Here we have our picnic lunch, swim and relax in the afternoon. Small local boats are available for rent carrying you to the reef for swimming at low tide. We return to town before sunset.
Nungwi/Northcoast (Full Day)
This is a tour for beach lovers. We leave town in the morning and drive straight towards the north coast of Zanzibar, passing through the many beautiful landscapes. Reaching the town of Mkokotoni we stop to buy fish and coconuts for the lunch, we visit a local fishing village and reach Nungwi on the northern tip of the Island by late morning.
Time for swimming and relaxing and look at the lighthouse. Lunch is prepared by the village women, and will consist of fish, coconut. rice and fresh fruits. In the late afternoon we return to town.
Sunset Dinner Cruise (An evening tour)
We meet and board the’Risiki Kwa Mungu’ at Forodhani Park in front of the House of Wonders at 6.30 pm.
While we admire the spectacular sunset across the horizon of the Indian Ocean; with cocktails in hand, we wait patiently for the dhow to be moored just of the islands for a special moonlight swim before dinner. A leisurely, and specially prepared dinner is served at 7:30 pm. After-dinner drinks are served on our return trip to Forodhani, arriving at about 10.00 pm.
