Arrival at Zanzibar airport
Zanzibar airport is, shall we say, cozy. After landing you will walk across the tarmac to the arrivals lounge, here you will be given an arrival card and if you do not already have one, a visa application form. If you haven’t already gotten an E-Visa, you will need to pay $50. Both Tanzanian schillings and US dollars are used widely, I suggest bringing $50 cash just in case you need to pay in cash for your visa. After completing your forms an official will ask you “visa?” before directing you to a queue. You would be forgiven for thinking he means “travel visa” but if you have no credit cards to pay with I suggest you respond “Cash application” as it appeared to me there was one kiosk accepting cash only payment and another card only. You can only proceed to the immigration counter for your travel visa after having paid at one of the payment kiosks and receiving your receipt. I use the words counter and kiosk loosely here, as when you enter the arrivals lounge there are two long counters for filling in application forms followed by 3-4 kiosks with no signage. Officials will direct you to which one you need to queue in front of.
After getting your visa you will see one (yes one) baggage carousel, to the left is a kiosk selling sim cards. The wifi on the island generally sucks (don’t expect any Netflix and chill action) so I would recommend getting a sim card with some data backup. I purchased a Zantal sim pack with 2.5GB of data for $15.
Transportation from the airport and around the island is generally by taxi, I suggest getting a driver and using them for as much of your trip as possible, if you keep having to negotiate fares it may cost you more in the long run. After seeing the roads I wouldn’t recommend car hire unless you are going for a 4WD, most of them were unsurfaced giving you “free massage” as the drivers call it or motion sickness for the sensitive amongst us.
Zanzibar City aka Stone Town
Zanzibar was the hub of the East African slave trade up until it’s abolition in 1807 and in fact for some years after with a thriving black market. Natives of east coastal Africa who were the losing side in a tribal war or even those vulnerable to kidnapping would be ferried to Zanzibar and held in horrifying conditions until they were ready for auction. Men would be tied to a whipping tree where the amount of lashes they could endure would increase their price, women were paraded partially or unclothed, all were treated as if they were animals at a cattle market.
Up to 75 women and children were held here until it was time for the slave auction. The only sanitation available was where the ocean swept in through the center channel at high tide.
As uncomfortable as it is to be this close to some brutal chapters of human history, I recommend taking a guided tour around the town to truly appreciate the impact history has had here. Zanzibar was under the influence of the Portuguese, Oman sultanate and British and this as well as the traffic brought by the spice and trade routes is still evident today in the diversity you will see on the island. Islam, Christianity and Hinduism are practiced here and with this in mind, when outside of your resort or hotel remember to dress respectfully.
Stone Town is also famous as part the origin story of Freddy Mercury, you can see the house he lived in as a child and enjoy themed Queen themed cocktails at the bar named in his honour, which serves as a good venue for some beautiful sunset views. There are no end of shopping opportunities in the market and the stores squirreled away in the maze of narrow streets, get your kanga (large square of printed fabric used traditionally as clothing and worn many different ways), sarongs, coffee, spices and oils, traditionally carved wood and other souvenir items here and be prepared to bargain.
Prison Island
This island which you can reach by boat, a mere 20 minute ride from the town, was used to host a prison built by the Sultan. It never fulfilled it’s original purpose and instead became a quarantine area for anyone with contagious diseases. It is now Government owned in partner with a petrol company and is home to hundreds of tortoises, the oldest being 160. These surprisingly fast moving creatures love a good massage and if you bring a gift of cabbage and give their legs and neck a good massage you will have the unexpected pleasure of seeing what a blissed out tortoise looks like. The ethics of keeping so many of these enormous creatures in a relatively small area of land is however questionable and you will have to decide for yourself as to whether you believe the island is now living up to it’s name.
Safari Blue, an island hopping adventure
One of the popular tours where you can go island hopping is Safari Blue. I recommend asking your agent or hotel if they actually use this company or some other operators who follow the same itinerary. If in doubt you can book directly on their website. Having seen both, I can say the quality offered by Safari Blue is superior. I was unfortunate with the weather however, even as I shivered in the rain for most of the day, I could admire the beauty. You will be offered many turquoise blue Insta opportunities throughout the day. The lunch included is a delicious seafood (I had an entire lobster) and chicken grill with rice, chapati, chips and salad. After eating you are taken to see the giant grandfather baobao tree, patriarch to all other trees on the islands which graciously offers wonderful climbing prospects if you feel so inclined.
While the snorkeling did offer up tiger fish, sea urchins and other pretty tropical fish it was not spectacular in terms of diversity if you, like me, have had experienced a diving across a variety of tropical countries in the past. It did offer me the chance to try my full face snorkel mask and this was, as a result, one of the most comfortable snorkeling experiences I’ve had. There are a tonne of differing opinions on the safety of full face snorkeling masks but I am a convert and quite frankly if you are close to the surface and (in the case of a weak swimmer) using a buoyancy aid and/or flippers, I struggle to imagine what kind of life-threatening difficulty you could get yourself into.
Cheetah’s Rock, up close and personal with some big cats.
If you’re looking for a safari experience then you are best headed to the mainland of Tanzania. On Zanzibar there does, however, exist a sanctuary for animals in Cheetah’s Rock. The admission costs ($160 USD including transfers) allow Jenny and her team to continue the work or rescue, protection and pressure on local authorities to stamp out corruption which allows illegal trade of animal products or the overlooking of breaches of regulations safeguarding the treatment of resident wildlife and marine habitats. For your admission price you are given a detailed account of the animals you encounter. the stories behind their arrival as well as the rare opportunity to get close to them.
For those of your with concerns about the ethics of getting close to and touching these exotic animals, the trainers explain that the frequent contact with tourists is an important part of the care process at Cheetah’s Rock. Positive reinforcement delivered via treats allows the animals to build trust with humans so that, should they require medical attention or transportation, they can be exposed to new people without being sedated and risking further stress. They begin to associate being placed in a travel cage or being asked to lay down and have a stranger touch them with the delivery of something they enjoy, food and, in the case of one very happy striped hyena, back scratches. The encounters you experience are with a zebra, bush babies, monkeys, lemur, striped hyena, a white lion, a tiger and lion cub and two cheetah. You are given explicit directions before any encounter as to what you should or should not do.
Before you go in to meet the cheetah, the men in our group who are grey, bald or wear glasses are told to sit on the left side as the cheetah on the right is distinctly unfriendly towards them. My imagination ran riot as to how they discovered this cheetah’s dislikes in the first instance. We are all asked to remove jewelery or anything which may attract the attention of the cats and warned to keep feet tucked under as where we are seated and above all to avoid eye contact as this could stimulate a predator to instinctively attack. The big draw for the public is, of course, the photo opportunities and before we get our personal photo shoot we are briefed on the protocol. Jenny explains that the key is to keep things going, no multiple poses or dawdling as there is nothing a predator dislikes more than having to wait for their food. Like a well practiced military drill, guests walk around a trainer to take up position a respectable distance behind the cheetah which is seated on a tree stump. Meanwhile Jenny grabs fresh meat from a bucket strapped behind her waist and distracts the cheetah in some pre-established appetizer delivery routine before it receives the treat, while another trainer simultaneously takes photos with your camera. Occasionally the cheetah becomes impatient and lunges for the meat and Jenny has to reset to begin the process from the beginning again.
My favourite picture, featured below, shows the exact moment the cheetah turned around, suddenly totally disinterested in the limp lifeless meat dangling from Jenny’s fingers, and peers hungrily at my juicy cocktail and seafood filled summer holiday body. The photo perfectly captures where I froze in slack terror as my features and limbs surrender to fear and begin to dissolve into each other. You can see the half smile slowly sliding off the side of my face and, I’m sure, the sound of my heartbeat was surely audible to all onlookers. I remember thinking that I would be one of those articles in a newspaper which people shake their heads wisely, tutting “What else do you expect exposing yourself to a predator like that?”.
Nunghwi
The spot for chilling on the beach and watching the sunset with a cocktail is at the North tip of the island from Kendwa up to Nungwi town on the tip and then around to Warare beach, where I stayed. Kendwa is where the younger more party vibe is and you can find the odd full moon party here. Nungwi is a pretty basic village, with resorts and hotels nearby. You can rent bikes here and explore by bicycle, however be prepared to have some sore buttocks if you are riding far as you will experience roads which look like they have recently been bombed. The taxi drivers call this a “free massage”, if you are prone to motion sickness I suggest you sit in the front and be prepared to pay in the region of $40 from Stone Town for the service.
From Nungwi you can do a number of snorkeling and diving excursions or privately organised fishing trips. By all reports, the snorkeling is much better here and you can choose to go to either Mnemba or Tumbatu island. By all reports the diversity of fish is the same at both islands although both the fish and people are more plentiful at Mnemba. Even though there are only 5 boats allowed at one time at this protected marine habitat, I am told it is not unusual to see more than double that amount during high season. Tumbatu is the more expensive of the trips, both include a bountiful seafood barbecue. I noticed that any of these excursions in from Nungwi would cost you at least $100.
Lessons learned
The general vibe in Zanzibar is chill, everything runs on island time so hakuna matata (don’t worry). If you want to try wind surfing the northeast side of the island is the place to be and the dolphin sighting tours will take you the the southern end. If I had the time to do this trip again I would have stayed one day in Stone Town before heading to Nungwi to relax at Warare Beach Hotel and do some snorkeling, possibly going horse riding ($30 – $70) to explore the town and swim in the ocean, before returning to Stone Town to take a day to Cheetah’s Rock and then another day for the town tour and shopping. I desperately wanted to swim with whale sharks, however to do this you need to take a flight to Mafia Island. The flight goes via Dar es Salem, Tanzania and costs approximately $150 each way and the Afro Whale Shark Safari for $60 which gets great reviews appears to be the crew to go with. If you don’t see whale sharks on your morning trip you can stack another trip in the afternoon for $50.
Island time is in full effect on Zanzibar and it is a great place to chill out – be prepared to spend a lot of money if you want to do all the things. I will visit again but next time will be splitting the costs with a plus one.