In general: Zanzibar is an archipelago made up mainly of “Zanzibar” – the local name is “Unguja” but it is internationally known as Zanzibar - and Pemba Islands, as well as over 50 small islands. It is located in the Indian Ocean, about 40 km from the Tanzanian coast, and 6° south of the equator. The island is roughly 85 km long and 39 km wide.

SEASONS/WEATHER:

Summer: December-February with temperatures around 35°C
Winter: June - August, around 25°C The Indian Ocean has about the same temperatures during these months.

The main rainy season is from April to mid June. In May 2017 we had massive floods (most of the month) with kanus being used on the submerged streets in order to get from A to B. According to locals, last time there was that much rain was 30 years ago. The second “mini” rainy season is in October/November, usually with short lived rains, sometimes though it rains for an entire day. Please note that even if it rains, the Indian Ocean remains wonderfully warm. I love swimming in the Ocean while it rains. As everywhere else in the world, the weather changed quite a bit lately. September/October 2017 were incredibly hot with temperatures of 35°C December 2017/January 2018 were cooler than usual with very unusual rain in January, even sometimes for the entire day, and temperatures around 25-28°C. Please be aware that the weather at the west coast (facing Tanzania mainland) and the east coast is very different, the east coast usually gets more sunshine and less rain than the west coast.

BEACHES:

You find here picture postcard beautiful white sand beaches lined with coconut trees. My favourite part of Zanzibar is the south east coast. It is quiet, tranquil, the locals of the south east coast are extra friendly (genuinely friendly, they smile with their eyes). Here you have approx. 20 km of white sand beaches stretching from Jambiani via Paje and Bwejuu to Michamvi. Paje is the main village at the south east coast; it is very popular with kitesurfers – be aware that the beaches are crowded with kites during kite season and swimming in the ocean is almost impossible if not dangerous. If you stay in Paje, rather walk a few minutes till you find a peaceful beach and safe swimming. Luckily we are blessed with a 20km stretch of beach, there is a perfect place for everyone.

Especially the east coast of the island is protected by coral reefs that make swimming safe – no sharks or huge waves.
NB:
At low tide you cannot swim in the Indian Ocean at the east, south and west coasts. The beaches at these coast lines are very flat, hence the ocean recedes at low tide out to the coral reef, which is anything between 1 and 1.5 km offshore. You can walk out towards the coral reef at low tide. Watch out for the black sea urchins, spiky things that you don’t want to step into. They are clearly visible so watch your step and wear special shoes. Also don’t pick up cone shells – see page To do and not to do. You can check the time table for low and high tide for Zanzibar on on http://tides.mobilegeographics.com/calendar/year/7156.html

At the north coast, you can always swim even at low tide since the beach falls off deeply after a few meters. Therefore, the north coast is very popular with tourists. In December and January (high season) the beaches are packed with tourists there and it is quite noisy. If you are looking for a quiet holiday, this ain’t the place for you. The west coast is my least favorite part. Especially at the southern end it is very rocky and there are only small patches of sand. Also, the sand at most of the west coast is coarse yellow, not the amazing white sand Zanzibar is famous for.

SPORTS ACTIVITIES:

Include scuba diving, kitesurfing, SUP, snorkeling, deep sea fishing, wind surfing; golf (only at Sea Cliff Resort and Spa, 18 holes); cycling, volley ball, beach soccer. Only in Nungwi/north coast: fly boarding, parasailing, water skiing, jet skiing.

Besides the beautiful white sand beaches and delicious food, Zanzibar has quite a lot to offer. There are a few lime stone caves scattered all over Zanzibar and it is believed that in ancient days people lived in these caves. Some of the caves (like Tazari in Nungwi) are believed to have been used as hiding places for slaves in the pre-colonial Zanzibar era of the slave trade. Most of the caves are home to African bats. You can watch them at sunset flying out of the cave entrance. In Bwejuu at the south east cost is a large cave big enough to hold up to 1000 people. It is still used as a shrine. I mention a few of the caves on the pages “Discover Zanzibar”.

There are a lot of stories and tales that villagers insist are true. One of those talks about a phantom ship that appears at night and vanishes in front of the Palm Beach Inn reef off Bwejuu (see Discover Zanzibar south of Stone Town).

CULTURE/HISTORY:

The capital is Zanzibar City, located on the west coast of the island. Its historic center is Stone Town and it is said to be the only functioning ancient town in East Africa. There are three buildings that I know of that have underground tunnels leading out to the ocean; these were built after the slave trade was prohibited by the British; that way the poor slaves were smuggled at low tide from the boats through the tunnels into these buildings. Stone Town’s architecture, mostly dating back to the 19th century, reflects the diverse influences underlying the Swahili culture. Stone Town was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000. Zanzibar’s main industries are spices, raffia (products made from raphia palm trees), seaweed and of course tourism. The islands mainly produce cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and black pepper. For this reason, the islands are also known as the Spice Islands. Please do try to go on a spice tour, the plantations are about 20 km north of Stone Town, it is definitely worth your while.

Language is KiSwahili but English is widely spoken especially in Stone Town, also Arabic and Italian and lately there are quite a few tour guides in town who speak German. It is lots of fun if you try to speak some words in KiSwahili, greetings for example. You will for sure be rewarded with a bright smile. Most important word is “Jambo” which is a friendly greeting – you just reply also with “Jambo”. Thank you is “ahsante”. For the English word “cool/okay” you can use “Poa”. For more phrases, please check “To do and not to do”. As per the last consensus in 2012, approx. 1.3 million people live on Zanzibar island. Population growth annually is just over 3%.

GETTING HERE FROM OVERSEAS

Direct flights to Zanzibar:

Condor, Jetfly, Ethiopian Airways, Kenyan Airways, Oman Air, Qatar Airlines, Arkia Israeli Airlines, KLM, FlyDubai, Turkish Airlines, Meridian and Mango. There is talk that other international airlines might get permission to land in Zanzibar in the near future. Other airlines fly to Dar es Salaam.

Getting from Dar es Salaam to Zanzibar:

The airport is on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam quite a distance from the Harbour/Ferry Port which is in the center of Dar. Traffic in Dar is horrendous, it can take you 2 hours or longer by taxi from the airport to the ferry port (the distance could be done easily in 30 min if there were no traffic). The taxi will cost anything from US$ 30 upwards to the ferry port. Make sure you agree on the taxi fare before you get into the taxi!

ZANZIBAR INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT:

Zanzibar International Airport was supposed to be replaced by a new, much larger airport but construction work was halted more than two years ago, nobody really knows why. For the time being we are stuck with the old airport (see photo below), which is completely inadequate, to put it mildly. Be prepared for some chaos on arrival, take a few deep breaths and be patient. When you made it to the top of the queue at immigration, your visa is processed and a photo of you as well as fingerprints are taken, this only takes a few minutes. Don’t expect your luggage to arrive on conveyor belts - any luggage is carried in by hand by airport staff. In case you want to exchange money, you can do so while you wait for your luggage. After all your bags went through an x-ray machine (usually a customs guy is in attendance there) you’ve made it!

In order to avoid any chaos at departure check in well in advance, minimum is two hours before departure! After the initial queue to get into the departure hall, your luggage/bags are scanned. Now you face long, slow moving queues at the check-in counter (this hall has no aircon, just ceiling fans). If needed, toilets are up the staircase on the 1st floor of the departure hall, at the far left of the restaurant (there are no signs).

Then you join more queues at the immigration counters and finally, your hand luggage is scanned again. Now you made it into the boarding hall, which has aircon units. Here you find a shop and some kiosks where you can do your last shopping. At the end of the hall (walk around the corner) you find a small kiosk for snacks and coffee, fridges with cool drinks and water and around the corner are toilets.

MALARIA:

Zanzibar is not an official Malaria area anymore. It is up to you to take Malaria prophylaxis or not. Do bring Mosquito repellent and drink lots of Tonic water (Mosquitos hate the smell of chinine in the tonic water which your skin somehow gives off). If you drink alcohol, enjoy a gin tonic at sunset (gin also contains chinine = double dose of chinine) – the gin tonic is only to keep the Mosquitos away of course. In the hotel rooms, you have mosquito nets and staff usually spray the rooms at night when they get your bed ready.

YELLOW FEVER VACCINATION:

Yellow Fever vaccination is not compulsory for visitors arriving directly into Tanzania from NON-endemic countries like Europe, the USA and Japan. Tanzania is mapped by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a low risk country for Yellow fever (WHO 2015 update). However, the presence of Yellow fever vector (mosquitoes) poses potential risk for Yellow fever if the virus is introduced into the country. All visitors from Non-Endemic countries, whom on their way to Tanzania have passed through Endemic Yellow Fever zone(s) but they did not get out of that country’s airport, will not require Yellow Fever vaccination certificate provided the transit time at the airport is less than 12 hours.

In order to conform to International Health Regulations requirement and safeguard public health security in Tanzania, Yellow fever vaccination is mandatory to travellers arriving from Yellow fever endemic countries. This condition also applies to travellers subjected to long flight connection (transit) in an airport of a Yellow fever endemic country for twelve hours (12hrs) or more. All visitor from Endemic Yellow Fever zone(s), and those visitors whom on their way to Tanzania have passed through Endemic Yellow Fever zone(s) and get out of that country’s airport, will be required to show their yellow fever certificates on their arrival into Tanzania or receive vaccination at the entry point on their arrival (vaccination fee is US $ 50). All visitors from Tanzania mainland to Zanzibar will not be required to show their yellow fever vaccination certificate because Zanzibar is inside the United Republic of Tanzania

The local currency is Tanzanian Shilling (Tzs). Many hotels require payment in US$, in particular for accommodation, but also for food and drink and for tours. Taxis and car rentals are also paid in US$. You do need Tzs for petrol in case you hire a car, and if you go shopping in the villages (you get better prices when you pay in Tzs). Tzs come in notes of 10,000, 5,000, 2,000 and 1,000 shillings. Coins used here are 500, 200, 100 and 50 Shilling. Best place and rates to exchange US$ to Tzs are the EXCHANGE BUREAUS in Stone Town, the banks offer bad exchange rates, the exchange rates at hotels are even worse. Currently the exchange rate is Tzs 2240 per US$ (early February 2018). You get the best rates for notes of $ 50 and $ 100, don’t exchange smaller notes. You can also exchange Euro, GDP, ZAR and other currencies at the exchange bureaus. NB: US$ notes printed before 2006 are not valid in Tanzania/Zanzibar!

The bigger hotels, restaurants and car rentals have credit card facilities. A surcharge of 5% is applicable. Be aware that at many places credit cards are not accepted. Please do visit the villages, the locals do not regard you as an intruder, to the contrary, they welcome you as a guest to their home village. Try to support them by buying their craft, fabrics, bags etc. And do haggle – that’s the way of shopping on Zanzibar.

ATMS:

You can only draw Tzs against your credit card or a card with a Visa or Mastercard logo. An ATM is at the airport just outside the arrivals hall, there are a few other ATMs in Stone Town. Most ATMs have a maximum payout of Tzs 400,000 per withdrawal. You can use your credit card multiple times though until your daily withdrawal limit on your credit card is reached. You might have to visit different ATMs though. New ATM from CRDB Bank in the airport parking lot: you can withdraw up to Tzs 600,000.

NB: ATMs are only in Stone Town. There are NO ATMs outside of Stone Town, with the exception of Paje (to my knowledge, please email me in case you find other ATMs on the island while you are here!): A Barclays ATM was opened at the Paje Petrol Station on 03 February 2018. Not sure though if it will be regularly maintained, i.e. if cash (Tzs) will be available on a continuous basis. It is a very good and much welcome step in the right direction though. Petrol costs Tzs 2256 per liter for Super (mid February 2018) and is paid in Tzs. You can also pay in US$ but you’ll get a really bad exchange rate.

Mobile phone/internet: You can buy a simcard from a choice of service providers at a small kiosk outside the airport arrivals hall, or in Stone Town. The service provider with the most coverage on Zanzibar is “Zantel”, a simcard costs Tzs 1000 (incl. Tzs 500 airtime). I suggest that you buy a minimum of Tzs 5000 airtime and load it (*104*vouchernumber#). Zantel offers prepaid deals for internet, calls and sms

MOBILE INTERNET ONLY PACKAGES (AS PER OCTOBER 2017):

Daily:

75MB for Tzs 250 / 250MB for Tzs 500 / 600MB for Tzs 1000 / 1.5 GB for Tzs 2000

Weekly:

1.2 GB for Tzs 5000 / 3GB for Tzs 8000 / 12GB for Tzs 12000

Monthly:

1.5GB for Tzs 10000 / 3GB for Tzs 15000 / 7GB for Tzs 25000

To sign up: dial *149*15#, dial 4 for mobile services, chose daily, weekly or monthly and then your choice of bundle. You will receive a confirmation sms starting with “hongera” (congratulations – for signing up).

MOBILE INTERNET PLUS AIRTIME FOR CALLS AND TEXT MESSAGES, FOR EXAMPLE (AS PER MID AUGUST 2017):

Epiq 300: Every day, Tzs 300 are deducted automatically from your airtime and you get 10MB internet, 50 free sms and 6 minutes talk time (local) per day.
Epiq 500: Tzs 500 deduction daily off your credit, you get 10MB internet, 60 free sms and 50 MMS and 12 minutes talk time (local) per day
Epiq 999: Tzs 999 deduction daily off your credit, you get 16MB internet, 500 free sms and 100 MMS and 25 minutes talk time (local) per day
To register, dial *149*15#, dial 6 for Epiq, choose your package, your language and then “register”. If you registered successfully, you will receive a sms starting with “hongera”

You can buy airtime (“Zantel Credit”) everywhere you see the green Zantel sign hanging outside the small shops lining the streets all over the island. Be careful, if you ran out of airtime, you need to register again with Epiq. Wi-Fi hotspots in Stone Town are at the airport, ferry port, at Forodhani Gardens, Mercury’s Restaurant and La Taverna restaurant. Most hotels and restaurants offer free Wi-Fi for their guests.