Having spent your first night in one of the many excellent'stone Town' hotels, you wake to the sounds of the busy streetsand alleyways below. The sun has started off the scents of the previous evening, the spices, the sea. The muzzeins' calls to prayer have echoed over the roof tops. You have an exotic breakfast in a precarious roof top "tea house " - wondering at the total differences from your recent safari; the contrasts; colours; noises; the markets; shops; artisans in doorways; the culture; the magic...

It appears to be a 'secret town' - labyrinths; dead ends; restored houses, some converted to lovely hotels and guest houses or shops, with beautiful Arab doors, set side-by-side with ruins; dereliction and bad drains! There is a horrific past life to be considered too - this was the ancient slave port of the East - there are scars. But to change your mood, beyond the archways and balconies and narrow streets, the beaches, palms artd impossibly blue Indian Ocean await.....

How to get there

• Gulf Air fly there via a 4/5 hour stop-over at a Gulf Airport such as Muscat or Dubai.
  
• Air Europe from Milan fly direct
  
• Most visitors arrive direct from safari in mainland Tanzania or by Kenya Airways (six times per week) from Nairobi via Mombasa.
  
• Precision Air and Air Tanmnia direct scheduled flight of one hour from Kilimanjaro Airport.
  
• Air Charters of twenty minutes from Dar-es-Salaam Airport; Coaslal Travel etc.
  
• Hydrofoil or Ship Ferry direct from Dar-es-Salaam on the mainland- a voyage of between one and a half and three hours; regular departures; Sea Express Sepideh etc. also from Tanga on mainland Tanzania and Mombasa, Kenya (four hours)
  

Please do NOT travel on unseaworthy local boats or dhows - there are little or no safety measures and certainly no emergency services capable of mounting art air-sea rescue.

Advice

Spend at least an afternoon and one night in the exotic and amazing 'Stone Town.'

Walk around and savour the unique feel of this place - or take one of the excellent Town Tours which have good guides.

The beaches are very good and are served by a range of hotels and guest houses, catering for every imaginable level and budget!

Do not forget the interior of the Island or the 'country' as the local people call it. Here you will see spice farms and the old ruined palaces of the age of the Sultans.

 

Information

Zanzibar has a Muslim culture - please respect this and dress and behave accordingly. There are leaflets and notices everywhere which show how and what, but it is mostly common sertse and cortsideration!

Most hotels are on a Bed & Breakfast basis but one can order other meals. There are some great restauarants and snack bars and they are all easy to find - indeed, part of the fun is walking around looking! Emerson's House is rightly world famous.