BEAUTIFUL ZANZIBAR

This island belonging to Tanzania surprised me with the amount of things available to do, with the variety of beaches and its wildlife. This will be an overview how you can spend a week in Zanzibar enjoying variety of things it has to offer.

BEACHES

Zanzibar is surrounded by beaches and there is something for everyone’s taste. I found it the closest weirdly to Bali vibes. Filled with modern coffee shops and vegan cafes it also greatly caters for vegans which is not very commonly found in this continent.

I spend half of the time in Paje area and half in Nungwi. I honestly did not like Nungwi at all. Yes, if you love beach clubs and loud and busy atmosphere it is probably for you. I went there because I read that the beaches are the most beautiful up north, however I found it hard to find a spot that has no people or locals trying to sell you something. It was way too busy for my liking and ruined the beauty of the beaches, which I honestly did not find less beautiful in the Eastern side of the island. I have read that Kendwa in north is much quieter. 

My heart is with Paje even though it is very much affected by low and high tide and is very windy, I loved how wide the shoreline is, how tranquil it feels. Every morning there were so many locals and tourists jogging by the beach and taking walks in the evening. And it still did not feel crowded. We stayed about 30min walk away from Paje itself and I absolutely loved not there. Paje still has plenty of cute cafes and restaurants. 

THINGS TO DO

Two days during my stay in Zanzibar I spent exploring the island. One day we opted for the full day of activities - Stone Town, Jozani Forest to see wild local monkeys, Salaam Cave to swim with turtles and Rock Restaurant for the sunset views. On another day we went to swim with the dolphins. 

I was not very keen on Stone Town, however it surprised me with how much history and architecture is there and I absolutely enjoyed it. You can visit East Africa slave museum, Freddy Mercury’s home, local markets and stroll through the old town. 

Jozani Forest offers jungle experience - we spent an hour looking for local monkeys in the wild and also seeing local people and children residing in the forest.

Swimming with turtles in Salaam cave was fantastic - even though it is pretty crowded and touristy it was still amazing to see these beautiful sea creatures so

close. 

The Rock Rock restaurant is another interesting spot in Zanzibar and you can most certainly enjoy a meal over there. During low tide you can walk to the restaurant and during high tide you will be taken there by a boat. The beach is also very pretty over there.

North of Zanzibar offers tours to swim with dolphins - you will spend about 3 hours on a local boat chasing these beautiful sea animals and once you find them you can jump in the sea and swim with them. They do move fast though. Afterwards, there is a spot for snorkelling before you are taking back to the shore.

Of course, there are many more other things to do in Zanzibar, however we wanted to have some relaxation time by the beach combined with some activities.

To get around the island and visit all the sights we used Abdul who was recommended to us - he is a great guy and I also highly recommend him - you can tailor your activities to whatever you like and we even managed to combine swimming with dolphins and moving from east to north of the island. Here is his company ASM Tours.