Speaker 1 (00:01)
Is Zanzibar worth visiting? And what should you know before you go? In this episode on our visit to Zanzibar, we're sharing our first hand experience with the airport arrival process, mandatory travel insurance, and choosing between the beaches of Nungwe and the history of Stone Town. We'll take you inside our stay at Tarako Nungwui Beach Resort, share what the beach was really like, and revisit our private Dream Dhow snorkeling trip near Nimba Island. We'll explain all
why we miss Stonetown and the Spice Farms, and what we would do differently next time. We're Scott and Melissa, the Sunshine Travelers.
Speaker 2 (00:45)
We're all about exploring the world and sharing the journey with you. Whether you're a seasoned traveler, dreaming of your next adventure, or just here for the stories.
Speaker 1 (00:53)
No matter
where you are on your travel journey, we've got firsthand experiences, tips, and plenty of inspiration from some of the most amazing places on Earth.
Speaker 2 (01:02)
So buckle up and get ready to travel with us.
Speaker 1 (01:10)
Welcome back to the Sunshine Travelers podcast. Today we're taking you to Zanzibar. It's an island we had heard about for years, seen on social media, and the one that almost everyone recognizes, even if they aren't exactly sure where it is or what a trip there would look like.
Speaker 2 (01:29)
Zanzibar is part of Tanzania and it's just off the East African coast and it's in the Indian Ocean. For a lot of travelers, the name conjures up images of brilliant blue water because it is in the Indian Ocean, white sandy beaches, spice farms, and old wooden sailing boats, the kind of stuff you may have seen on Instagram or Facebook. And so for us, our visit to Zanzibar came at the end of our much longer journey. We had been traveling continuously for over two months.
And we had spent a lot of time moving, different hotels, different cities, working, photographing, and trying to absorb everything along the way. We had also just been on a Habitat for Humanity build in Kenya and a safari experience in Kenya. And so by the time we reached Zanzibar, we were definitely tired and not tired and like, okay, we're ready to go home, but just tired of the constant travel, the last
Two plus weeks had been early mornings, just a busy schedule.
Speaker 1 (02:33)
And that matters to the story because Zanzibar became where we would simply slow down, we would relax, and prepare ourselves for our journey home. And like Melissa said, because we had been going, going, going, this was our opportunity to reset and relax before we got back home and started into our daily lives again. We didn't really have a checklist of attractions that we wanted to see in Zanzibar.
We needed a few days where the most difficult decision was do I sit over here beside the pool or do I sit by the beach and which drinks are we gonna order off the menu? The decision to come here gave us the rest that we needed before returning home. It also created one of my only regrets for this trip, and I'm gonna talk about we didn't make time for Stone Town.
I would have genuinely liked to visit the Freddie Mercury Museum and we'll talk a little bit about Stonetown later along with how we would plan a return visit to here on Zanzibar. Let's talk about how we got here though. We flew to Zanzibar from the main airport in Mombasa after spending time at Diani Beach in Kenya. And next week we're going to talk more in depth about Diani Beach. But before we get into the rest of the trip,
I want to talk about the amazing lounge that they had there at Mombasa. Our flight was a little bit delayed, and so we had plenty of time at the airport to go in and check out the lounge before heading to the gate. And this lounge was absolutely stunning. And we got into it with our priority pass. So if your credit card doesn't have priority pass as a perk, you probably need to be looking for a different credit card.
It was absolutely beautifully decorated with I don't know how to describe it, but I would say cozy African beachside feel to it. They had freshly cooked local and Indian dishes. They even had pizza where you could grab a slice. They had a nice bar, soft drinks and beer were included in your visit. And this was really nice because it was at the very beginning of the World Cup and we actually got to watch a couple of games.
that were being played on huge TV screens inside the lounge. So you could grab a drink, a little bite to eat, and watch some football to pass the time.
Speaker 2 (05:00)
I was actually kind of nervous because I was like, they're not updating the board. And so I went and asked the girl at the desk several times, will you let us know when they're gonna board this flight? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll come get you. I'll let you know. Well, that was a little bit chaotic because she came and got us and a few a couple of other people. But like they had let everybody else, like they were waiting till the last minute, like, let these people enjoy the lounge until the very last second. But for us, that was just like
my gosh, like we like to be like when our zone is called, we like to get on the plane. Now it wasn't a plane like that where they haul these zones or anything like that. I think it was Safari Link, wasn't it? and so literally they were like, everybody move out of the way so these people can go through security. And I I guess we had to sign seats, but like we were the last people on the plane, which almost made you feel bad. Like these people are waiting for us. So anyway, that was what they had told us to do. I had bugged the girls several times. So other than that, the flight was pretty straightforward.
But the surprise came after we landed. So Scott had completed the visa paperwork a ahead of time. Actually, he had completed the visa paperwork for both Kenya and Tanzania before we even left, or kind of as we were leaving. we had to get it printed out. We got it printed out way back in Bologna. So we thought we had done everything that we needed to do. And so when we entered the terminal, we were actually stopped and asked to show proof of Zanzibar's required inbound travel insurance.
So this is not the same thing as showing a policy that you already purchased. And so we have a yearly policy that we use through Alliance. so I pulled out the information I showed him. He was like, no, no, no, like this one. And so Zanzibar requires visitors to purchase this specific policy through this specific company. So I would say it's really more of a in just like an entry requirement than insurance. I don't know what it would do or what it would cover, but like you're not getting in if you don't have it.
Speaker 1 (06:54)
I kept calling it a tack.
Speaker 2 (06:56)
Yeah, something like that. I mean you're not you're not getting in. And this is right as you enter the terminal before you even go through immigration. So we didn't have it because I well, I didn't know about it. And I think you had said, I saw something about that, but I thought that our insurance would cover it. I mean, so not a big deal, but we were there just off the airplane. It was delayed by this time, so it was dark. So we were what, probably an hour and a half or so later than we maybe thought.
And so we there we were trying to get it off our phones. They did have Wi-Fi that you could use. They also had some people there that would be like, What's your information? Tell us all the stuff, and then you can just pay me. And so that's why we said, okay, it's just kind of like a a tax thing. So the the website was not easy easy to navigate, but it cost us about forty-five dollars per person. So we were looking at $90. so that's why you always just want to.
Have extra funds, have that travel credit card just in case, like you just don't know. You don't want to be stuck in a situation where you wouldn't have a way to pay for this because then you'd be stuck.
Speaker 1 (08:00)
Well this requirement was introduced in late 2024, and although the rules and prices can change, check the official Visit Zanzibar insurance site before your trip. But the practical advice here is simple. Buy it before leaving home, save the confirmation and QR code to your phone, and also keep a screenshot that works even if the airport internet does not.
We would also add, make sure that every person in your party can access their own information when entering the immigration line. Don't assume one person can stand at the counter and answer for everybody. For us, they were like, Nope, just one person and they split us up into different directions. So the process did feel a little bit chaotic. The way that they handled the one traveler at a time and asked for the specific details about like where we were staying, the reservation number and all these things.
It would just have been helpful if we both had that going in. Luckily I was able to pull it off of our itinerary that we had put together and I could answer those questions for the immigration.
Speaker 2 (09:06)
And Scott, this was actually the second time that we had had that happen. When we entered Morocco, we kind of had the same situation. And thankfully, like we saw people struggling with that. And so very quickly, I was like screenshotting stuff for you or saying, have this on your phone because that was the same situation. So I would say that would be a good idea no matter what. I know the immigration rules and these automated systems and things like that are changing, but it's just always a good idea for you to have where you're staying.
how long you're staying, that kind of thing. Each person have that. And by have that, I would mean like make sure the hotel name, the the location, the address, and then again, like how long you're staying. Another tip would be to put it in a shared note, take a screenshot that you can send to everybody. So that's a small step that you can do at home to make the arrival much easier. Funny enough, it took us about 30 minutes to get through that immigration and border control. And Scott, you went way faster.
than I did as well. And you I would say you definitely also want to make sure that you have that visa. I think what had happened was the girl in front of me didn't have it. And then it was a whole process to like figure out where she was going to have to go next and how she was going to do that before they let her through. So you actually like were ending up standing and waiting for me at baggage claim for quite a while. and it was funny because there weren't many people in line, but it did take us a while. So when we finally made it through and I ended up meeting you, we got our bags.
Their porter system was like fantastic. Like it was one of those things where it was like you're entering, you're leaving. They just have people who work there, I guess, who do that. And then of course we tip them a little bit, but then they were like so appreciative of the tip. You go a lot of other places and they try to help you with your bags and this like that. And then they expect a lot of money. But this was just like something that they did. And that was just I just found very interesting. So now we were ready to head to the hotel.
Speaker 1 (11:03)
unless you've been in Tanzania for a while and have some local currency. My advice would be to have a few US dollars or Euros that you could give as a tip there because they can go to the money exchange counters and change that in for the local currency.
Speaker 2 (11:22)
And one other thing I would say is we did not end up getting any money out. And I wish that we would have. I think when we ended up buying one thing that we bought later on, we ended up buying in Euros and it wasn't a big deal, but it wasn't like ATMs were readily available even in the town or anything like that. So I would say if you feel like you need local currency, I would get it at the air.
Speaker 1 (11:46)
Well, we had arranged transportation through the hotel and our driver was waiting once we exited the airport. We strongly recommend setting that up in advance, especially if you're arriving tired or heading to the northern part of the island. Thankfully, because we had arranged this transportation and given the driver our flight information, he was aware that the flight was delayed a couple of hours and he was still there when we arrived.
Speaker 2 (12:12)
Yeah, and I think this is a place too where I just wouldn't leave it to chance because it is far and it's just nice sometimes to have that arranged when you're going to a place for the first time. And so like Scott said, we did that through the hotel. It was easy. We had already paid for it. So we were good to go. So our hotel was in Nungwi at the very northern end of the island. And that's about a ninety minute drive from the airport.
And so this is where some first-time visitors may begin to realize that the Zanza Bar outside the resort walls does not look anything like the Zanzibar in a luxury hotel advertisement or the Zanza Bar on social media that most people have seen. And so we we want to talk about that very honestly. If you have never traveled in a developing country before, there
probably will be moments when the drive might feel uncomfortable. And not because you're in a dangerous situation or anything like that, because what you will be seeing is probably going to look very unfamiliar. The roads are probably gonna be rough. For us it was at the very beginning. There was road construction near the airport when we were there. And honestly, I don't know if the road situation is going to be dramatically different when they actually finish it. It was like
They had completely demolished a road in order to possibly build another one, but it just felt like they'd scraped it down to nothing. It was like complete dirt. You will pass homes without running water electricity. If you're arriving in the evening or at night, this is a culture where that's where everybody like everybody comes and hangs out in the evening at light. So there'll be lots of activity. There'll be lots of people walking because lots of people don't have their own transportation. You might see
mopeds with lots of people on them as well. And so if you haven't experienced that before and you're thinking fancy beach resorts, crystal clear water, all these things, you might be like, what in the world?
Speaker 1 (14:16)
I would just say that what someone there considers a home may be very different from the image that comes to mind when you hear that word for yourself. And so this isn't a judgment that one life is better than another. It's just simply a reality travelers should be prepared to see. We've definitely visited communities like this in many parts of the world, but we understand why a first-time visitor
might quietly start to wonder whether the route that they're taking is normal or whether it is safe. In our experience, yes, route was normal. We felt very safe. The people we met were friendly, welcoming, they're very proud of their island. But feeling unsettled by unfamiliar surroundings is not the same thing as being unsafe. And so one of the reasons we like to travel is to encounter
realities that are very different from our own. The goal should be curiosity, not comparison. We encourage you to look, listen, ask respectful questions, and allow the place to be itself instead of expecting it to resemble maybe what you call home. And many of the families there in that area actually live just day to day. They have to travel great distances to go get clean water to use in their homes.
They grow the food that they will probably eat tonight. And many work during the day to earn the money to put food on the table every day.
Speaker 2 (15:54)
It's it's an interesting juxtaposition because these people truly live in a paradise. When you look out at that blue ocean and that crystal clear water and those boats that for us look so picturesque, but for them, that's how they have a sustainable living to fish during the day, to take people out on boats, to fish at night. They do a lot of night fishing there as well. And so these resorts have purchased the most beautiful land.
And they have built enclosed sanctuary for your visit. These resorts are just one small, carefully designed environment within these much larger communities. And of course, they employ these people. some of them live in that community. I know that even all the way up in Nungwi, I know that some of those people lived closer down to Stonetown. One of the boys told us like he rides the the employee bus up there every single day.
And so if you never look beyond those walls, you may have a beautiful vacation. But ask yourself if you have truly visited or truly seen Zanzibar. One of the one of the stories though, Scott, I wanna tell about like that just kind of like sticks into my mind is like you mentioned, the World Cup had just started. And so we would see people as we would pass by the road, like a group of people.
Crowded around a TV and watching. And we assumed that, they're watching the World Cup. but we later learned that they were more into their local teams. And and so a couple of people told us maybe they were watching the World Cup, but more likely they were watching something local as far as soccer that was going on. But I just that is an image that will stick with me about how they would crowd around those as and and that just attests to their in the evenings.
that their communities are very social. And we're gonna talk a little bit more about that at the beach as well.
Speaker 1 (17:46)
Well let's talk a little bit about the area where we stayed. Before the trip we went back and forth about whether we should stay closer down to Stonetown. some friends of ours had recommended a place in Stonetown where we should stay. Or should we go up to Nungwe, which is more of a beach resort area, I would say, than than Stonetown is.
Staying near Stonetown would have made the airport transfer a whole lot easier and would put the historic center within our reach.
Speaker 2 (18:20)
So one thing I wanted to point out is that Zanzibar is actually very large. It's actually made up of a couple of islands. We were on the main and the larger islands that include Stonetown. And we had mentioned it's like an hour and a half to the Nungwi area. About an hour or so east from the airport, it there's also a monkey reserve. If you went like an hour and a half, you could be straight across at the beach, but then that would still be like an hour and a half drive from where we were. So
Just keep that in mind as you plan what you wanna do. And we're gonna talk a little bit about more what we did. But if you plan to do like if you wanna see Stonetown and then you wanna do the monkey reserve and you wanna go to the island and you wanna go to Nungwi, it might be worth moving around a little bit. Not you don't necessarily have to rent a car or anything like that, but having it to where you could have transfers and maybe stay at some different places so that you're not an hour, hour and a half.
Well, which I guess wouldn't be too bad, but every single day kind of coming back and forth. So just keep that in mind, that it's not like tiny and so you might end up spending anywhere from two to three or so hours if you decided to go back and forth. So Scott's research kept pointing us north around that Nungwi area because we basically had decided that we would do one or two things, but the main point of our trip was gonna be to relax.
Nungwe is highly rated for the soft white sand, the very clear turquoise water, access to some of the snortling experiences and the locations that we wanted to go to. And because we were also specifically looking for a beach day, a place where we would be near the beach and we could just chill out and relax.
So Nungwi really matched the purpose for us for that part of the trip. And so I did some research and actually found a Marriott property in Nungwi Beach. We ended up using points for our stay. And we booked the Turico Nungwi Beach Resort, which was an autograph collection of the Marriott. And so it's a Marriott affiliated property right there on the beach. And so I think looking back, we would still choose Nungwi for this trip.
But we did have moments where we wondered if we should have put stayed closer to Stone Town, maybe for part of it. But again, we didn't want to like change. That was really the purpose for us. So in the end, we would definitely not change the choice that we ended up making.
Sunshine Travelers (20:45)
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because we believe the way that you experience a safari matters. One of the biggest differences is how we've arranged the safari vehicles. We're limiting each vehicle to just three or four guests. That means everyone has plenty of room. You can move from one side of the vehicle to the other when wildlife moves. You have space for your camera. And when a lion or an elephant or leopard or cheetah appears.
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Speaker 1 (22:46)
When our driver pulled into the gates at Turco, it was definitely a sharp contrast to the village that we had just passed through outside. You enter to this open air, welcome area with the tall thatch covered roofs, and the staff greets you very warmly, and the whole property has this relaxing beach vibe to it. The staff was extremely friendly. Our experience was that if we needed something, all we had to do was ask for it.
And that kind of service matters when your goal is to relax rather than spend every day managing logistics. We had a small issue when we arrived that the room that we thought we were getting based on communications with the hotel was not the room that they ended up putting us in. And don't get us wrong, it was a really nice room, but it was disappointing because it wasn't on the beach side. And after conversations with management,
a couple of days later when one of those beach facing rooms became available, they moved us into it.
Speaker 2 (23:51)
And so this resort sits directly on the beach. There's a nice pool with a swim up bar and loungers near the sand under tiki style umbrellas. They had terrific service from the beachside bar, they had a pool side bar. they had people who came around to take orders and bring drinks. And so you could literally just settle into your chair, look out over the Indian Ocean and pass the day away without a care in the world.
so they had several meal plan choices and we weren't really aware of this until like a few days before our stay is when they were messaging us, I think through email and asking us about some of these things. That was also when we arranged the transportation. So all of that was great. They had great communication. So they have bed and breakfast, then they do a half board, so that would be breakfast and dinner, and then they have an all-inclusive, which would include three meals a day plus all your drinks.
And so we decided on the half board. So that included the breakfast and dinner. And so honestly, the breakfast was already included with our Marriott status. So it really was just the dinner. and that was definitely the right choice for us. We didn't we didn't really want to leave the resort to find dinner. I don't know that there would have been that many different places for us to go outside of the resort for dinner. And on most days we didn't want a full lunch. We would have a late breakfast, we might have something small in the afternoon, and then we would just have dinner at the resort.
So breakfast and dinner were all buffet style. That's not our favorite, but it's very common. we had had that quite a few times in our experience in Kenya as well. Sometimes they're plated dinners, but we had had a lot of buffets. And but we did have a wide variety, but was funny because we did start to notice that if something kind of got left over, you would see how they would reimagine that into a new dish.
a new dish maybe for breakfast or a new dish for dinner because they did have variety of different international cuisines as well. And so what Americans like eat for breakfast might not be breakfast that other people eat.
Speaker 1 (25:51)
I think that when a lot of people think of going on a beach vacation, they may think about going out to a seafood restaurant somewhere or going and leaving the resort. I don't think that's quite as common in places like Zanzibar.
I know that even though we said we felt comfortable with where we are, we didn't feel unsafe. It's just we weren't gonna get out and go around town and go to somewhere that we know nothing about and eat and
Speaker 2 (26:20)
The the other thing I would say about that is I think it's kind of the same as being in Morocco, for example, on this trip, is that you would need to know that it would be safe for us to eat it. So that the pre the food was prepared in a way the water was would be filtered for us to eat. And so we did see some other hotels in the area that weren't necessarily right on the beach. We did see some other like
maybe apartment type places and a few restaurants. And so, but that would be a big concern. when we were in Kenya, especially when we were the habitat people, it was like you can eat here. We're taking you a place that where you can eat. And so you would just want to make sure that you wouldn't have problems with the food upsetting your stomach.
Speaker 1 (27:08)
Well, in the half board plan, Melissa mentioned the drinks were were separate. So make sure you factor that into the budget. Zansbar was a little bit more expensive than Deani Beach, but we still did not think that the pricing for Zansbar was unreasonable for a beachfront resort experience. and it was likely less than what we would have spent eating for a week at a hotel at most other places in the world.
So this is true for any resort, but choose the dining drink plan based on how you're gonna actually use it or travel. If you plan to explore the island and eat away from the hotel, all inclusive wouldn't make sense for you. If you want to stay on property, enjoy cocktails, and never think about the bill, compare the upgrade cost very carefully.
Speaker 2 (28:03)
I think so when we got there we had to pay up front for the half board part of it. And I think that was like maybe four hundred and forty US dollars. And we were there like eight nights, so eight times where we would have dinner. And then I wanna say maybe we spent another couple of hundred dollars for the extra stuff because it was really just drinks. And so six hundred and something dollars for over a week, I don't think was was bad. But just to put that in perspective.
So our days were mostly spent looking out at the water. The water in Nungwi is that beautiful turquoise color that we've talked about that what you imagine when you think about Zanzibar. It's clear enough that we found really bright red starfish close to the shore, and we spent more time in the ocean here than we had in Diani. One thing I want to mention is that you do want to have watershoes. the beach sand is soft, but the bottom
was a little bit rocky in places. There were those starfish, there were some coral, some uneasiness surfaces. And so for us, like watershoes made the difference between having to carefully pick every step before enjoying the water and being afraid that you would step on something and then kind of have an injury. So we could buy some and we did buy some at the shop at the hotel. And so that was just worth it not to injure our feet. It's like Scott said,
If it had been like this is our destination, probably even if we were doing Safari and then doing that, I probably would have brought them. But again, not a big deal.
Speaker 1 (29:33)
The tides also play an important part in the beach experience. At low tide, there's the soft sandy beach that you can walk on. the water's very shallow and you can walk a great distance in the water before it becomes deep. And then at high tide, sections of the beach can become very narrow or be totally cut out. So the route that you walked earlier in the day may not be available on the return. And so we saw that where we stayed because
the water at high tide would come all the way up to the seawall, so people would have to come up and walk over the seawall and cross through the resort that way.
Speaker 2 (30:13)
Yeah, and they would have them walk right on the right on the edge on the seawall. Whereas so there was always steps. So if it was at low tide, there were steps that you would go down to then access the beach and then people would walk along the beach. But like Scott's saying, if it the tide was up. And so what since we were there for a week, we kind of saw that tide shift times a little bit. And then they did have security people that would stand and just kind of guard the resort.
So just set your expectations as your dream is a long, completely quiet walk. And so I mentioned the security people, once you leave that resort's immediate areas, there are lots of local vendors that will approach you. They sell jewelry, they sell handcrafted goods, massages tours, boat trips, world cup or soccer jerseys, or literally anything that you want. And so I will say that everyone that approached us was very friendly, but they are also very persistent. You can't
really just have a polite no. So a polite no here actually begins a conversation rather than ends it. and even if you choose to take a walk, they will choose to take a walk with you. And so we never felt unsafe, but just know that that is the culture here. And if one person gives up, I would say like somebody else is gonna come. And you could have more than one person at a time. So
You wanna r respond with kindness and still be firm. I think Scott, you're better at this than I am. Is they're gonna ask for your names. At the end, they really want you to buy something, right? This is their livelihood. and they don't really want much, but anyway.
That's that's how it is. So if you are interested, genuinely ask questions, agree on the price and the details before committing. And lots of people buy things. As a matter of fact, I will say we had bought a couple of soccer jerseys in town. And we talked to another girl and she had gotten like a much better deal buying them right there on the beach. But this kind of culture, it's like, okay, whatever you agreed upon, whatever feels like a good or fair price to you, like that's the price. It's not.
like the best price is everywhere the same price. So just just kind of know it's just a different culture if you're not you're not used to that. So if you're not interested, keep moving, be consistent. But in the end of the day, it although it is frustrating, like just just try to be nice and try to be like this is their home. This is what they do for a living. And so it is what it is.
Speaker 1 (32:39)
Out in the bay, you see all these fishing boats and traditional Dows anchored just a little bit offshore. There's gonna be a lot of local captains out there that are also offering trips directly from the beach. They did tell us at the resort that they don't recommend booking that way because they can't verify the captain's credentials, equipment, or if they have insurance, all of those things. It doesn't mean that every local operator is unsafe.
It just means that you need to understand who is standing behind that excursion. We personally preferred booking through a platform. We use Viator, where we could review the operator and the details in advance. So what were other people's experiences when they went out with this operator? I will say though that those boats moored or anchored out there in that little area. They did create some of my favorite photographs from Zanzibar.
At sunset, the silhouettes of the boats against the sky looked just like the Zanzibar that I think a lot of people imagine before they arrive.
Speaker 2 (33:51)
And a couple of other things I would say, Scott, about booking things is that they will also sell things at your hotel. There'll be a lot of different beach vendors that have little shacks or they're just walking around, but your hotel will probably sell stuff. But if you're booking this through like let's say you're doing a safari and you've got a company who has organized like your whole trip for you, like you could book it through them and they probably have local operators that they use as well. So one of
Our favorite parts of staying in the Nungwi had nothing to do with the excursion or the resort. But every afternoon before the tide came in, locals would gather on the beach and just play soccer. A few people would appear and then a few more. And then before long, there would be a match taking place in the sand with the Indian Ocean behind it, with the sunset. And so it wasn't the beach wasn't a staged attraction. It was just part of that daily.
Community life. I mentioned earlier about it just is a very social culture, especially in the evenings. And then this was just a part of it. So if you are taking a walk on the beach in the evenings, just know. And it wasn't just like one place. Like we saw it all up and down. And so this was around the early stages of the World Cup excitement as well. People sold zanzibar jerseys everywhere. People wore them. And so soccer is woven into the personality and the culture.
of this island and their daily life. So it was just neat to be there at that time when the whole world's focus was on football at this time and to see that how it's already a part of their daily life. Scott, you mentioned that road earlier and the driver actually on the way back mentioned, the reason they're doing all this is because a big tournament is supposed to be coming to Zanzibar in the next few years as well.
And so the only planned experience during our stay was the private Dream Dhow excursion that we booked through Viator that Scott mentioned. it was definitely a splurge and but I it definitely became one of the highlights of Zanzibar. It it took us to out into that water where we could snorkel, where we could swim, and we could see the the the coral reef and and stuff like that. So
What a Dhow is a is a traditional sailing vessel that is made completely out of wood. It is associated with the Indian Ocean and that East African coast. So you've probably have seen those. Ours had a phenomenal crew. And because it was private, the day like we had it to ourselves. And so it kind of moved at our pace, which was nice.
Speaker 1 (36:23)
Yeah, it's neat because they had this JBL speaker. It said, Hey, you can play your own music. So we introduced them to Jimmy Buffett. They had never heard of Jimmy Buffett before. We told them, Hey, if you're at the beach or you're on an island, like this is music that we would listen to at home. but before long, we all agreed on a little Bob Marley, which turned out to be exactly the right
mood or soundtrack for sailing across that blue water and just hanging out on the boat all day. they took us out to snorkel in the waters near Nemba Island and we didn't go to the island because it's a private island, but we anchored just offshore there. And at first we didn't quite understand what it was if we were just gonna snorkel where they had anchored us.
It was just like, hey, you can jump out in the water, you can have fun here right now, and then in a little while we're gonna go in and snorkel. And I think it had to do with the tide. So they were waiting for the tide to go down before we went and did our snorkeling. While we were swimming in the water, they fixed this great lunch, fresh lobsters and cooked those up. Melissa didn't get to try those because she's allergic to lobster, but they did have
fish and several other things that she was able to eat. And so when the when the tide did go down, we snorkeled in those waters right off the island. The snorkeling was excellent. We saw a variety of fish and marine life, including clown fish swimming among the anemones. And because this water is so clear, the visibility gave us the ability to see way down in the water and all of those brightly colored fish were all around us.
Speaker 2 (38:12)
So having this private boat trip gave us space and gave us flexibility because they would kind of ask us like, What do you want to do? Are you ready to swim? That kind of thing. And then we could just kind of get on and off. like I mentioned, you could book something from the hotel. The one from our hotel was not in a in a Dhow boat like that. It was in a smaller vessel like so you don't have to do a private charter.
But it just would give you like a completely different experience. And so kind of for us, this is the only thing that we were really planned to do, it was worth it.
Speaker 1 (38:42)
And I wanna say that was around four hundred dollars.
Speaker 2 (38:46)
Yeah, which I think for for here w is a lot of money. But so they did have to use the motor to get us out there. And it was probably more than an hour, wasn't it? An hour, hour and a half, probably to get out there. And then on the way back, they put the sales up. It was so much food. Now, yes, they ate it too, but it was like more food than the two of us could eat and a bunch of different dishes. They provided Cokes and juice and and things like that, but it was more food and then they had snacks later on.
as well. So, of course, shared excursions can be a lot more affordable. Their snorkel gear. So that was another thing too, that we usually like to have our own snorkel gear. That was not a possibility here, but their gear was actually very fantastic as well. So this was a top-notch experience. It had really good reviews. Scott, you had picked it on Viator. we can link it in the show notes as well because it it really did live up to the the hype.
But you'll wanna make sure that like with shared excursions or any excursions that you understand the number of guests, if it'll have shade or not, because that was important, flotation equipment, snorkeling gear, whether have lunch, snacks, because we also had a bunch of snacks and exactly where the boat will depart and return. Because that was one thing. The departure place was not I don't know, ten or fifteen minutes, but to get a taxi there was like twenty.
Speaker 1 (40:09)
It's around forty dollars.
Speaker 2 (40:10)
Which was crazy because I think it was only sixty dollars to get all the way from the airport to the hotel. So it was a little bit strange because it was actually the same transport company. So anyway, I will say that our crew did something that really especially thoughtful for us at the end. Instead of us taking us back to that original departure point, you actually mentioned, Hey, that's our hotel. Is there any way that we can like get near there? And then we could just walk back.
And so they were actually able to do that. So they just kind of came in and anchored for a second. They dropped us off at the beach directly near our hotel. We didn't have to walk far at all. And so that saved us another forty dollars to get back. So that was really nice. And then of course you'll want to also leave a tip for the crew. And I think our crew had three people on it.
Speaker 1 (40:54)
We also recommend while you're in Zanzibar taking a village or a cultural tour if your hotel offers one. The point's not to turn someone's daily life into our own entertainment, but it's to replace all of our assumptions with understanding. And seeing the village through car window while you're driving in, it gives you one impression, but walking with someone who can explain how the community works, how the families live.
where people work and what challenges and opportunities exist, it gives you a whole lot more context than just seeing chanties on the side of the road. And we had a conversation with the resort staff member during our village experience. And that conversation really hit me and it stayed with me for a long time after the tour. And then even when we got back, it later inspired
a LinkedIn post that I wrote about what daily life is like for him in Zanzibar. And that conversation really just reminded me of why travel matters to us. The beaches can be beautiful, but a conversation really changes your perspective. And in that conversation he was talking about the challenge of working in a resort, that when it's high season, it's good and the pay's there.
But when low season comes around, he may only get paid half as much, or he may not work at all. And so what he had done is bought him one of those bikes with the little buggy on the back of. So after work, after he finished his maybe 10 hours at the hotel, he would then go out in the evenings and give people rides for money in these rickshaws.
Speaker 2 (42:46)
Yeah, and so it just makes you really think about and appreciate their life there. because he did say like sometimes he has to be there at five thirty in the morning and then work all day and then go out and do that in the evening. And so this was something that our resort actually offered. They offered several opportunities of different activities that we're gonna talk about, but was a village walk. And so we just asked them about it. And that particular day they were like, it's it's free to do it.
And so he just took us around and it was just a few other people started out with us and then they didn't finish it. And so it was just really us and one other couple. And so yes, we could have walked through the village ourselves and we probably would have visited a few shops close to the resort and stayed close to the main road. But he actually walked us through where people live, where the kids were playing in between the homes. he took us to the fish market and
And by the place where they're actually building these dow boats by hand at two different places where the men were s actually working on these boats. And and then he took us to a few shops and it was it was just great because between us and the other couple, we could ask questions. The the husband from the other couple actually needed to go to the ATM. And so that's why I was saying you might want to go at the airports because they went into some location and
Speaker 1 (44:06)
Is a Western Union.
Speaker 2 (44:07)
Yeah. They were gonna be there for a quite a while and and wanted to get some cash. And so it wasn't just like you walk up to this ATM. And so I was really glad that we had decided to do this. And it actually ended up being a lot longer than I thought.
Speaker 1 (44:20)
I almost forgot that they took us to to the sea turtle aquarium.
Speaker 2 (44:23)
Yeah, so we did get to go to one of the sea turtle aquariums. it was interesting because we did pass several and he was like, No, not that one's not good. That one's not this one is the one where I guess they feel like they do they're doing a better job of trying to rescue them. So this is interesting. So the sea turtles do lay their eggs on the beach there, but because of the tides, they have to move these nests. That's one reason. The second reason is they said and
They're trying to educate people. They don't want people getting the eggs, trying to eat them, because some of them could be poison like poisonous, right? The guy at the sea turtle place said there was one family that it at that poisoned them and actually killed the whole family trying to eat the sea turtle. And of course, that's just raising awareness like worldwide, trying to keep these populations up. And we got to kind of feed them the the seaweed and and different things. so that so that was neat as part of that. We did pay for that part of it.
But that was a a neat part of the the village walk. So we would definitely recommend doing this. So we did the one, like I mentioned, that the hotel was providing. So choose a tour that is definitely community led. So this employee of the hotel, he was actually like Scott mentioned, he was a part of this particular community. You could tell that he definitely knew the people as people would pa pass by, they would high five him or he would speak to them. and he was a young
a young kid as well. And then he would do his rickshaw bicycle in the evenings. And and also make sure that it clearly benefits the community.
Speaker 1 (45:52)
For this next section, we want to be really clear that we did not visit Stonetown on this trip. We are gonna share it informationally with you as an option based on our planning and some subsequent research we did, but it's not our first hand review of Stonetown. Our reason for not visiting was simple. Nungwi is far enough away from Stone Town that visiting would have required a significant portion of our day.
And after months of continuous travel, we just said, Hey, we're gonna choose to spend time resting and rejuvenating before we go home. And so at this time for us, it was the absolute right decision. Looking back though, not visiting Stonetown and especially not
going to see the Freddie Mercury Museum and the place where his story began. I would say that's one of my only regrets from the entire trip.
Speaker 2 (46:51)
Scott, maybe you should say who is Freddie Mercury just in case.
Speaker 1 (46:55)
The lead singer of Queen.
Speaker 2 (46:57)
Yeah, I know. But just in case somebody doesn't know. So what is Stonetown? Stone Town is the historic center of Zanzibar. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is known for its narrow, winding streets, carved wooden doors, markets, and architecture shaped by African, Arab, Indian, and European influences over centuries.
It's history is very interesting. And so, but people have lived here for for quite a while. it very important for trade, for the spices. And so that's why it has so much influence over time. And so what we have read, wandering the lanes with a knowledgeable guide, appears to be a major part of the experience. Because, like we talked about before, a guide can connect.
The architecture, the trading history, the lives of the people who built the city, who, as it changed over history, would be able to like help you understand that story. And for music fans, the Freddie Mercury Museum is in Stonetown. Freddie Mercury was born Farak Bulsara in Zanzibar. And the museum focuses on his roots and early life before he became the legendary lead singer of Queen.
Speaker 1 (48:07)
Well, if we had been more rested, we would have made that trip, but we needed Zanzibar to restore us, and that's exactly what it did.
Speaker 2 (48:16)
And Scott, I want to say, like it w it definitely would have been easy for us to from the hotel, for example, like hire a tour to take us. It probably would have included driving down there, going to Stone Town, going to a spice farm, maybe going to that monkey preserve as well. And like you said, like that would have been an entire day. And the Dhow Boat experience was an entire day. And I
actually did some research while we were there. One of the days we were sitting there, I think by the beach. And so I was like reading different reviews. Should we go to Stone Town? Should we spend the time? And the reviews were definitely mixed. But it would be interesting at this point to see what we thought, right? Because anytime you read reviews, people are always like, I loved it. It was great. I we had a great experience. And then I read so many reviews, it's like, why is this a UNESCO World Heritage site? It is so run down. It is so
like we didn't have a good experience there. Our God was terrible, all these like all these different things. So it would have been nice because then you would have seen the Frederick Mercury Museum, but it would also have been nice to kind of like see that for ourselves
So maybe next time.
Speaker 1 (49:22)
And we did hear some people, locals, say, Why would you want to visit the Freddie Mercury Museum? So
Speaker 2 (49:27)
Yes. And I read that
in several reviews as whereas people like it was supposed to be on the tour and they kinda skipped it and they're like, Why aren't we going there? And they were like, Why do you even want to see that? So yeah, it's just always a matter of perspective.
Speaker 1 (49:41)
I'm gonna also say the same disclaimer applies to Zanzibar spice farms. We didn't take a spice tour on this trip, but it is something that we might add next time we go. Zanzibar is often called Spice Island because they have cloves and other spices that have played such an important part in the history and trade. A lot of tours go and introduce visitors.
to plants such as cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, cardamom, pepper, turmeric, and lemongrass. And so it's one of those things, kind of instead of just seeing a jar on the grocery store shelf, you can actually learn how that spice grows. You can smell the leaves or the bark. You can taste the tropical fruits and understand how those crops
connect to Zanzibar's past and their present.
Speaker 2 (50:36)
And so, like I mentioned, many travelers combine that spice farm with Stone Town because both of them are kind of the same broader part of the island.
Speaker 1 (50:44)
So not instead of Nungwi. I would say split the stay, like you said before. 'cause Nungwi gave us the beach, the water, the snorkeling, and all the rest and recovery that we actually needed. I think Stonetown would have given us the history and the cultural experience that we we missed by not doing that.
Speaker 2 (51:06)
So if your priority is a beach vacation and nothing else, which is what a lot of people do. A lot of people do safari and this is their relaxation. Nungwi definitely makes sense. And if your priority is history and architectural food and culture, then make sure that you put Stone Town much higher in your plan. And then again, if you want both, maybe divide that stay rather than spending lots of hours going back and forth. And that really just depends. Like if you need to relax first, maybe do the beach first and then
go back and stay, and it could even be like be near the airport or something like that. So I do want to mention a couple of other things really quick of what we did do instead of the Spice Farms in Stonetown, which is different from the things that we would normally do. which I think were cultural in their own way. So in in addition to that cultural walking tour.
The hotel also offered daily activities for a small fee. And we actually took part in two of them. Now they had things like painting and things like that, but the two that we ended up doing was they did and tell me Scott if I'm saying this right, but it was like a palm leaf hat making class.
Speaker 1 (52:14)
Yeah, the weaving class.
Speaker 2 (52:16)
with the with the palms. And so what was so cool about Zanzibar but this resort is it had like plumeria blooming everywhere. So white flowers and pink flowers. And then it has these palm leaves. And what's interesting enough is like the land the guys who worked on the landscaping every day, like they literally wore these actual palm hats. So it wasn't like this is just a
this is like a touristy thing that nobody wears these. No, these guys like wear them. And it was actually them who were teaching us. It was the guys who were like working on the landscape that had a break from that and they were teaching us how to to do this. And they went and got all the materials and and were teaching us. And then he it was just really cool because when we finished he decorated it with the different plumerium was absolutely beautiful. And they would I mean there was so many of these like a bouquet like that would cost a fortune here if you went and bought it, right? But then he would he had
Where he had made little, like almost little vases, right? And filled it with water and like put the flowers down in it. So that was really cool. He actually made me a little basket the next day and we gave him little tip for that. But then the second class that we did was a bracelet making class. So this was with the same young man that had taken us on the cultural walking tour. And so we had done a short bead making lesson with the ladies in the village in Kenya when we were on the habitat trip. They had come and
shown us a little bit about the bead making and talked a little bit about their lives. But the intention here was to make a whole bracelet. And so you realize just how much skill this takes and how much time it takes. Now obviously they learn to do it and they do it very, very quickly, but you can get these bracelets for, I mean, anywhere from a few dollars to a very fancy one that Scott got made for him in Kenya that's like doubled and has his name on it for like
$20, less than $20. And so I think we ended up spending like three hours with him trying to make these bracelets, but we kind of got to chat with some of the other people that were staying at the resort and learn a little bit about them as well. So that was just a neat experience. And again, we didn't have anywhere to be or anything else that we wanted to do, but it really gave me an appreciation for that.
particular skill and how they're able to do that. And then of course that was gave us not just the memories, but like a little a souvenir that we actually did that we got to bring home. So and those things aren't at the hotel, like those aren't things that we normally do. Like we've done like a lay making class in Hawaii one time and a ukulele class, you and stuff like that. But
we don't participate in these a lot of times, but these two in particular were a part of that local culture. And so I think that was why I really appreciated that we took the time to do that.
Speaker 1 (55:00)
Let's make this a little bit practical. If we planned to do Zanzibar again, what would we do differently?
Speaker 2 (55:09)
So first of all, we would know about that Zanzibar insurance QR code. We would make sure that we would have that hotel name, address, the reservation details on our phone before reaching immigration. And I think that's a lesson that we kind of need to take with us as we travel now is making sure that before we get to immigration that we have those. I think we would still stay in Nungwi. We really enjoyed that area. We enjoyed the beach and the resort.
I think that experience matched what we needed. And so we would definitely not only happily return to that part of the island, but recommend that as well.
I think we would add at least one or two nights in Stone Town so that we could at least explore it. Cause I I think it's like what you said. Okay, I would have liked to see the Freddie Mercury's Museum. But I think for us it would have been nice to like have that perspective so we could tell people again, have a tour that we could recommend, have a tour guide that we could say yay or nay.
There's actually some really nice hotels in that area as well. I think there's like a Park Hyatt. There is a Serena Lodge hotel. They we visited one of their lodges in Kenya. So there are some really good options and good places to stay near Stonetown as well.
So one of your questions might be who is Zanzibar for? Zanzibar works especially well for travelers who want more than just a generic beach resort. The water and the beaches are beautiful. The island also offers history, culture, snorkeling, boat trips, and opportunities to learn from local communities. There's also other like
larger name brand resorts that you've probably heard of, like the RIU and the Melias in different beaches along the island. There were a couple of those that weren't too far from us.
Speaker 1 (56:58)
I would say Zanzibar is less appealing if your only goal is for complete uninterrupted quietness on the beach. Just remember you have those beach vendors that are a part of the experience and tides that change where you can and can't walk throughout the day.
And our experience in Zanzibar was only one version of an East African beach escape. We also spent time at Diani Beach in Kenya and the two destinations felt just very different from one another.
Speaker 2 (57:31)
For sure. Zanzibar felt a lot busier, definitely more developed for tourism. And I think it's more well known. So tourists from lots of different places, full of lots of activities. Diani was definitely quieter, more laid back and definitely less commercialized.
Speaker 1 (57:47)
Yeah, I think the comparison there reminded us a little bit about our conversation about Aruba and Curacao. But we're gonna save the full conversation on Diani for next week. So listen in and episode one hundred eighty four will answer the bigger planning question of should you add a beach vacation after an African safari? And if the answer is yes, should you choose Zanzibar or Diani Beach?
We'll compare the logistics, the costs, the resorts, the beaches, the atmosphere, and who would find each destination the best fit. And little spoiler on that, I don't think there's a universal winner. So until then, keep dreaming about your next adventures.
Speaker 1 (58:37)
Well that's it for today's episode. Wherever you're listening from, we hope we've added a little spark to your travel dreams today.
Speaker 2 (58:45)
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Speaker 1 (58:53)
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Speaker 2 (58:58)
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Speaker 1 (59:04)
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Speaker 2 (59:14)
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