Scott and Melissa (00:00)
When you were planning an African safari, you probably picture early morning game drives, lions on the prowl, elephants, tented camps, and those incredible African landscapes. What you may not realize is that you can finish that same trip sitting on a beach overlooking the Indian Ocean. And after a week or more of early mornings and game drives, adding four or five days at the beach can be a great way to slow down before heading home.
We've now done that in two different destinations Zanzibar, which you've probably heard of,
and Diani Beach on the coast of Kenya, which you may not have. We've stayed at both and they're very different experiences. So today we're going to introduce you to Diani Beach, compare it with Zanzibar, and talk about why you may want to add a beach stay at the end of your safari in the first place.
Speaker 2 (01:01)
We're Scott and Melissa, The Sunshine Travelers.
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Scott and Melissa (01:30)
Listen, I think we should start with the question of why add a beach destination to a safari? And that's because there are a lot of people who don't even realize that this is an option. When someone starts dreaming about an African safari, they're understandably focused on the safari itself. Where are we going to go to see lions? Where can we see the elephants? Are we going to get to see the big five?
And should we go to Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique? What kind of camp should we stay in? And beach just usually isn't part of that initial conversation about a safari.
Yes, I definitely think when most people picture an African safari, especially people who come all the way from the US, like that's the trip. I think this is probably something that's more common or more known, maybe for European to then go on safari and go other places because you're thinking about the animals, the game drives, where you're gonna stay. And so you actually don't realize how close you are to the Indian Ocean.
And to some incredible beaches and that adding a few days on the end of your trip, if you can spare it, is not only an easy extension, but probably a really good way to rest. Because that journey home, if you're going back to the US, is also no joke.
So again, when you look at the map, and you're on safari in Kenya and Tanzania, you are literally not that far from the Indian Ocean and some really beautiful beach destinations. depending on where your safari ends,
You might be closer than you think. And getting to one of these places might actually be easier than you think. So we finished our safari in the Maasai Mara this time. and so we just went to a small airstrip right in there in the Mara, then got on a plane and flew toward Diani Beach. So they did make a stop somewhere else in the Mara to get a bigger plane because that bigger plane stopped in Amboseli and then went on.
And actually stopped a couple of places just really quick, like we didn't get off or anything like that. one other place near the beach and then on to Diani. So this also works really well if you are finishing your safari in Amboseli, if you're doing it in Kenya, because there's a plane that comes there. So we had a few people get on in Amboseli as well.
So that is really an easy and pretty incredible transition. So in the morning, you're doing a game drive, you're in the Mara, and then later that day you are by the beach.
Well, there's another reason we think people should at least consider doing this, and that is because a safari can be absolutely exhausting. And that's not a complaint. it is just part of the experience and it is what it is. But you're getting up before the sunrise, 'cause that's when the animals are most active. They're tend to sleep during the hottest parts of the day.
And you don't really want to sleep in because this might be that morning that your driver goes out and finds a leopard somewhere. And so you don't want to miss that. There's there's huge FOMO associated with safari. you're spending lots of hours in that safari vehicle getting what they call the Kenyan or African massage, and that's basically just you bouncing up and down.
Against the seat back, and so you're getting your massage that way. And then depending on how your safari is designed, you may be moving between camps or even different parts of country because each one can give you a completely different wildlife experience. So by the end of a great safari, you've most likely had an absolutely amazing vacation, but you may not be rested from it.
And so that was especially true for us. So not only had we done the Habitat for Humanity build for a week, and then we had a week on Safari, and then after we led
that small group on their private safari with us. We had a few more days in a different part of the Mara exploring some other camps before we could recommend them to other people. and this was at the end of about two and a half months of continuous travel. So we were actually really looking forward to this on our first safari. We had had several people tell us about, going to Diani.
and of course, knowing people that people to go to Zanzibar after Safari. And so we were ready to just relax. we didn't want another complicated itinerary. Yes, we wanted to see and do some few things, but we really wanted to just check out what Diani Beach and then what Zanzibar has to offer and just relax a little bit. Yeah, we weren't quite ready to go home yet.
Because you may ask yourself, don't you guys live at the beach? Wouldn't it be just as simple for you to go home and sit in your beach chairs at home? And that's true. but we we weren't there yet. We we still wanted to go and see and do a little bit more. We just wanted a little bit of rest and relaxation. And once you know that adding a beach to your safari is actually a possibility, the next question that
Will come up and it becomes more interesting. Is where are you going to go? And there's a number of possibilities that are along the East African coast in the islands of the Indian Ocean, but we're gonna concentrate today on two places that we personally stayed at and we can compare them from our own experience. And that's Zanzibar in Tanzania and Diani Beach in Kenya. Most travelers have probably heard of Zanzibar before, but
Diani Beach isn't nearly as well known. It's on the Indian Ocean coast of Kenya. It is south of Mombasa. And in some ways, that lack of notoriety is, I think, part of what we enjoyed about it. if I had to explain the difference in one comparison, I would say Diani reminded us a little bit of Curacao compared with Aruba.
So Zanzibar is a lot more developed as an international tourist destination, but Diani felt quieter. it was a little more local and a little more connected to the country that we had already been traveling through. But Zanzibar had the prettier beach, the clearer water, and considerably more to do there. And that's why this isn't really about picking a
which one is best. It's about deciding what you want for the last few days of your trip to actually look like. And so Scott, let's start with something that surprised us about Diani. and the fact that it was really easy to get there from the Maasai Mara. So like I mentioned, we flew out of the small airstrip, and then connected through another place in the Mara, connected through
And Bicelli and then on to Diani Beach. Now it's interesting here because this is not like it's just so different. We never got off the plane. So people would get on and off, and because they're just little small airstrips. so but it was super easy and they we didn't really know like how many places it was going to stop. And so we just said, okay, like tell us when we get there. which I think it was actually the last stop. So everybody else got off there.
And so it wasn't a big complicated travel day. It was literally us just changing that one time in the in the Mara. the airport we got off on Diani Beach is called Ukunda And it's exactly what you expect from a little small airfield. And it also it remind me a little bit of getting off the plane in maybe Kona in Hawaii.
You get off the plane and there's like a covered waiting area. And so they actually brought the luggage to us. They like were like, wait over there. they got the luggage off the plane and brought it to us. And we we found out though this is really common. and it's just something that's included. Like I think you tipped them a little bit, but it wasn't like you could go do it yourself. We found this to be kind of the same thing in Zanzibar. And they actually also wanted to they walked us out to the
the vehicle as well, which I think it's best if you kind of pre-book something. You had booked an Uber as well. And so that was kind of they kind of had it set up for that and wanted to know where our car was and stuff like that. And then most of the hotels are going to be really close from that Ukunda airport. And so ours was like maybe 15 minutes away. if that there's a couple that are are further on and
Yeah, it was super easy to get to our hotel. Like we just felt like we were there in no time. You can also fly into Mombasa, which is a much bigger airport, but then you're looking at roughly an hour to an hour and a half drive to Diani, depending on the traffic and where you're staying. And I don't know that you can fly into Mombasa straight from the Mara So you probably would have to fly like to Nairobi and then go to Mombasa. So it was just so much easier to
Take those smaller planes. We flew on Safari Link and and go into Diani Beach. it was nice because we didn't need another visa with Diani. You're still in Kenya, and that's where we had been on our safari and doing the habitat build. So the visa part was already taken care of. But if you're gonna go to Zanzibar from a Kenya Safari.
That's gonna require a couple of extra things. One, you have to get an additional Tanzania visa. now, if you're doing a safari in Tanzania, you'll already have this in some people may say that's why Zanzibar is a popular choice for this. for us, we tend to like to do our safaris on the Kenya side. And so going to Tanzania just meant that we had to
get that extra visa. Also, Zanzibar requires their own travel insurance and it has to be purchased through them. So there is an extra cost for that is about roughly $45 a person. when we when we did this, we talk about it in our previous episode, number one eighty three about Zanzibar, and we go into a little more depth on it. So if you want to hear that, go listen to that previous episode.
But the third thing is you'll need to fly to Zanzibar either from Nairobi or Mombasa. So there will be an additional flight and more travel time getting over to Zanzibar. But from Kenya, Zanzibar really feels like you're adding another destination on, and you may enjoy that. if you like adding new destinations,
If maybe you've done Kenya and you want to check off Tanzania as well, well, Zanzibar is a way to do that. Again, neither one is better. and it depends on really what you are looking for. Yeah, and Scott, one other thing I wanted to add. So that would be what Scott was talking about the Mombasa or the Nairobi would be if you are in safari in Kenya. if you're already in Tanzania.
Your flight path would likely be a little bit different to get to Zanzibar.
if you're already doing the safari in Tanzania, you'd likely go through Dara Salaam or something like that. And sometimes it may depend. I've seen people who've had to then do an overnight stay. So it really just depends, but likely you would have to do through a a larger city as well. So let's talk a little bit about Diani. So that is what we actually did first, and then from there we went on to Zanzibar.
we actually didn't really know exactly what to expect in Diani. we had heard good things about it. We had several people that we had talked to really enjoyed it. but our first impression was that the road was lined with local stands selling handicrafts, and then we would see cute restaurants, cute sets of shops, and then entrances, usually gated to some beach resorts, maybe some private homes and things like that. And the roads actually seemed better to us than many that we had encountered.
either on the safari or going to different places on the safari and then also in the villages when we were doing the habitat build.
So the roads actually seemed much better to us than many that we'd encountered in Kenya so far. we had had some kind of rough roads going to the village or a couple of places on the habitat build, and then sometimes on safari, obviously the roads can be rough. So
They that was much smoother and but overall the f the the area felt very local. we actually passed one place that would be probably a very popular night spot. it looked like some kind of disco club. It never when we would pass by it, it wasn't like it was open. I think it may have been a restaurant, but it definitely looked like it would it would light up and have lots of activity at night. so it also didn't feel like that we had suddenly entered a large international resort destination. And so I think that's
part of what we liked about it. It still felt very much like Kenya. it was neat to see, I think, a lot of the handicraft places. I mean, there was all kinds of things like furniture being made and things being woven and and things like that. So that was very neat too.
We stayed at a hotel called the Eleven Pearl Boutique Hotel and Spa, and I want to set expectations correctly because this isn't some big glamorous luxury resort. It only has about twenty rooms and all but three of those have an ocean view. There is a pool there, they have a full service spa, a restaurant, and a beachfront area with sunbeds underneath these tiki style umbrellas.
I describe Eleven Pearl as being more comfortable rather than luxurious. It was nice and clean, the staff was very nice, and because there were only about 20 rooms, it was pretty quiet there on the property. Our beach front room was around $130 a night, and that actually included breakfast, and it had a really good air conditioner that worked very well.
So, Scott, what I liked about it, I mean, it was just absolutely a beautiful property. Everything except for the rooms themselves was open air. So the restaurant where they had breakfast and dinner, all that was open air. they did have a pool and a couple of rooms like set back on the property a little bit. It was gated. So everything here was pretty much like resorts were were like gated as well.
And then it had like a open air bar where you could do snacks and stuff in the afternoon. And it was funny because when we actually got here, it was a Sunday afternoon and it was packed with people. We were almost a little like, wow. But people had come, they were having like some kind of big like Sunday afternoon barbecue type of a thing.
You could tell it was very popular for the locals, but a lot of expat locals, I think, too. And we had heard that that's true of Diani Beach, that there's a lot of expats from a lot of different places who live in the area.
But we got checked into the room and got our stuff in the room and it was it was very nice. great, like Scott mentions, great air conditioner. And it was almost it was interesting. It was almost set up like some of the safari tents where the bed is there, there's a desk and then the bathroom, shelves and toilet sink, all that is kind of like behind the bed. That seems to be real common. So it's kind of set up like a
like kind of like a safari tent would be, but it was like a a building. And we did have a partial view of the ocean and it had a place where you could sit outside. And so that first afternoon we also joined kind of the crowd and found a place to sit and got, snacks and stuff like that. But overall, the staff was fantastic. The food was actually really, really good. Everything was a la carte. I fell in love with their samosas, their beef samosas, and they had really good house made chips as well.
And the other thing that I like too is that I always felt like no matter what somebody's like quote unquote job was, they were always willing to help you. so if they saw you, for example, walking toward the chairs, if they were a landscape person or the security guard or a waiter, they would go grab towels and then set them up on the chair for you. It didn't really matter. It wasn't like this person is the, the pool person or whatever.
And so I overall I really enjoyed it. It was like a just a very small boutique, small property, where the staff was really, really excellent.
Yeah, I totally agree with that. Eleven Pearl Boutique is a pretty big contrast with where we're gonna talk about next, which is where we stayed in Zanzibar. once again, I'll just point you back to the previous episode. If you want to listen to Zanzibar in detail, go back and listen to that. But in Zanzibar we stayed at the Marriott Turaco Resort in Nungwi Beach and
Turaco has about a hundred rooms in it. I think 97 to be exact. but compared with the 20 at eleven Pearl, it was much larger and probably a little bit more of a polished resort experience. it's managed and run by Marriott. So, they've got their brand that they're gonna be infusing into the resort experience. And Scott, I would say too, just
So that boutique hotel, one of the people at the desk or somebody I had talked to had said that it was a French couple who owns the Eleven Pearl boutique. And they had done a really nice job with like the branding, like the fabric that it was on like all the chairs and then on their uniforms and things like that. It felt very
I don't know, like luxury French brand without having a branding on it, like the pattern and the colors and things like that. So they had done a really good job, I felt like of making it feel like a boutique resort. And it was owned by a couple in re instead of being a corporate hotel. Yeah. And depending on the client, I wouldn't have any problem recommending the eleven Pearl.
If someone wants something to be a little more upscale in Diani, there are a couple of other choices that we can recommend. We did visit the sands at Nomad, which would probably be a step higher. it was very close to Eleven Pearl, and you were close to other restaurants. So if you wanted to leave the resort and go eat at other places, you could. We did that once and went to the famous cave restaurant.
It's actually inside a a cave. it looked like the inside of maybe a cenote, if you're familiar with one of those, but it was really cool experience. you do have to make reservations in advance because during the busy season it's hard to get into this restaurant. then we also went to another property called I'm gonna say chale. maybe it's Cayley or something like that, but I'm I'm just gonna say it's Chale Island.
It's C-H A L E and it's actually the same owners as the Nomad. those two are owned by the same people. Now, this is an option that would be absolutely worth considering if you want a secluded resort with a completely private beach. You got to plan to eat at the resort during your whole stay due to its location. Some people do come and go from there, but it's way further out.
And in just a minute, I'm gonna tell you a little bit about how you had to get to it. But I would say this would be go to the resort and do everything right there from the resort. they had a lot of on site activities, and water sports that were included. It had everything from rooms catered to families to honeymoon retreats. And one of the interesting things about
Chale is that the the tide is what determines how you get there. So depending on the water level, if it's low tide, you may cross by a tractor pulled wagon, or if you're coming in at high tide and the water is deeper, you may have to get there by boat. And so we went when it was low tide and you got in the back of this wagon, and the tractor pulled you across over onto the island.
you don't have anybody that's gonna approach you on the beach. none of the beach vendors, none of the people trying to sell you massages or trips out on a boat to go snorkeling.
it is gonna be a secluded private sanctuary for you if you're staying there at this resort.
Sunshine Travelers (21:35)
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Scott and Melissa (23:35)
All right, so let's talk about the beach overall. So if you were judging both of these destinations purely based on the beach and the water, Zanzibar probably wins. I would say that the sand is wider in Zanzibar and the water, and there's more of the clearer water. there is that in places in Diani, and you can especially see it like when you're flying over.
but I would say that that's kind of what you think of when you think of that water in Zanzibar. Diani was definitely still beautiful. the water was very clear. where we were, there was a quite a bit of seagrass in the water just offshore. And I would say to the beach variation. So we'll talk about this for Zanzibar, it would definitely come up. So you could you could go out to the beach at low tide.
but then it would come way up on the seawall. And so just where we were in Diani, and it's going to be different, like, as the tides change and exactly where you are, but the beach would be much, much wider. and there was really only, I think, what one place, Scott, where people would really go out to snorkel and they would have to take you out there by boat, but it had to be done at low tide, for the sandbar.
and we're gonna talk about activities and stuff like that in a second. But if you want that classic white sand, clear blue water, you're probably gonna want to choose Zanzibar
Think this is where the comparison gets interesting though, is we really enjoyed sitting by the beach at both places. And because Eleven Pearl was so much smaller, it was considerably more quiet. and that could have been just that one family in Zanzibar,
They had lots of beach chairs, so we never had a problem at either place finding a beach chair right by the ocean. So that was one good thing. I think Zanzibar does have the better beach, but if what you want is quiet for relaxation, I think Diani makes a really strong argument in their direction. Yeah, there were
A lot more like empty chairs. I felt like they were a lot more spread out too. but what you do need to know about both of these is they are gonna be like on the resort. So they're not gonna be like taking chairs out to the sand. I mean, yes, they had sand up on the resort on Zanzibar, in order
to be kind of secluded, away from the beach. but I definitely think that I enjoyed that experience in having the quieter and whatever in Diani more. we didn't ever use the pool or anything like that, but I enjoyed that much more in Diani. I kind of missed that once we left and went to Zanzibar.
Okay, so let's go back to the tide. Let me explain that, I guess, a little bit more. And the difference between the high tide and low tide can be very, very dramatic. And I think I was kind of surprised by this so both of them, the tide would go quite a bit out, and then you'd have shallow water for a very, very long time when it was low tide. So
At Diani, that would be the time that if you wanted to go out and do the snorkel and do the boat trips to where they would take you to snorkel, it was always done at low tide because they would take you to this sandbar, which you could actually see from our resort from the Eleven Pearl. You could actually see it from the Nomad So it wouldn't be a very far boat ride, but that was the time of the day that they did that. Well, in both places when the tide came up, it would come up almost
all the way to the resort. So when the tide was up, you aren't not going to have well, in Diani, you're not really gonna have the beach vendors because it's also where we were, it's like very spread out. So it was probably what, a half a mile in either direction to the next resort. There were some other things that were like smaller homes and and things like that. But there's just nowhere really for people to walk on the beach when that high tide is up.
in Zanzibar, they would then be allowed to walk along the wall. they had a seawall there at that resort, but it would come, I mean, that it would be very deep. What would you say? Probably 10 or 12 feet deep there if you like jumped right into the water off that seawall. But it when the tide was up, it would be like crashing up against that seawall. So the tides are very, very dramatic there as well.
So what we would say if you like to take long walks down the beach, et cetera, you do have to pay very close attention to the tides because you would end up like, up by the resorts, or you'd have to come back along the road, for example, but you do have to pay very close attention. And it was funny because the locals would say, well, it'll be high tide then and like they would base their what they would do and their beach vending and things like that off of the tide.
And I would say though in Zanzibar, it didn't matter. They could they would go out to the snorkel trips and stuff like that. You would leave no matter what the tide was because they were taking you out to Mnemba Island or there was another place that they could take you to snorkel. So it didn't really matter what the tides were like when you left.
Well, let's talk a little bit about what there is to do at each of these locations.
If you want sightseeing and activities while you're in Zanzibar, you have Stonetown, which it has a very historic perspective to it.
That's where we also talked about it being the home of Freddie Mercury. there are spice farms there. There's the Jozani Forest where the red culobus monkeys are. And there's lots of snorkeling and boating trips that you can take. the island in and of itself just has a lot of history and culture on the island.
And one of our regrets from our time in Zanzibar is that we didn't spend time in Stonetown and doing the spice farm tours and going down to that Jozani forest. But by the time we had arrived, we were exhausted, and where we had stayed up in Nungwi Beach was about an hour, hour and a half from Stonetown. Zanzibar is also much larger, and you'll need to book transportation either through your resort.
Or through a tour operator. There's one thing that we found very funny is that to go from the airport up to Nungwi Beach, which was about an hour and a half, cost us $60 one way. And then one day we had booked this little private Dhow Boat tour. It was about a five, 10-minute drive, and that cost us $20 using the same operator. So
I don't know how they price things out, but it seems like it was very consistent like they do with their beaded jewelry and stuff like that.
So I think Zanzibar really became our place to recover rather than another place to explore, except for that snorkeling trip that we did. And I think if we did it again, we'd plan it differently. we'd add a couple of nights and divide that trip between Stonetown and those beaches where we stayed in Nungwi. And if you want to hear more about our trip to Zanzibar, listen to that previous episode.
So Diani has a lot of activities too. some of the biggest ones, if you're at the beach, are gonna be the snorkeling around that sandbar at low tide that I talked about. But they did have a lot of water sports that we saw that we didn't see in Zanzibar. They may have it in some places in Zanzibar, but that seemed to be a big option for a lot of people. You could do kite surfing, There were kite surfing lessons.
paddle boards and kayaks and different things like that. our resort didn't have those like included. the other resorts we mentioned had non-motorized water sports included. There was like an activities desk where I think they could help you book some of that stuff if you wanted to do that as well. So and then you could also do some things out from the resort and out from the area. They there was like a wildlife preserve nearby where you could go see some safari type animals.
you could also go to Mombasa for a city tour. Our Uber driver had actually said that that was a great thing to do if you if you wanted to see cities and do things in cities. He was like, that's actually a really good tour where. and on our first morning, one of the guys that helps book the tours from the resort came around and kind of let us know what they offered and if we were interested. That they, of course, recommended that you book it from them. Same thing in Zanzibar, or through your tour operator if you've like.
kind of pre-book stuff. So, but we and we had said, okay, we'll just decide when we get to Diani we of course didn't bring snorkel gear either, but for here it really seemed like you to really see anything, you would have to go out to that sandbar. So there were quite a few things to do. and I think maybe for more local people or if you're coming from close by, like you could kind of do the whole thing in one, all the ocean activities and you could go see some wildlife if you wanted to.
obviously if you've already been on Safari that probably wouldn't be of interest.
Well, one thing that I can say that Diani Beach and Zanzibar have in common is the beach vendors. And Melissa briefly mentioned that earlier. So let's talk a little bit more about those beach vendors. When you're sitting at the hotel property, they're generally not going to bother you because both the resorts in Diani and on Zanzibar have resort security. Not because it's dangerous, but so that the resort area remains private.
and that the vendors don't come on to the property and and bother the guest.
But the second that you step off of the property and go on to that public beach, be prepared to start talking to people. And this is true in both locations.
Some of them are gonna want to sell you handicrafts, Some of them have the beaded jewelry. Some of them might be there to offer you a massage. One thing that I can say is that they're all gonna be extremely persistent.
However, extremely friendly at the same time. there are quite a few Maasai Diani who had come from the Amboseli area, and many of them were selling the beaded bracelets and jewelry, and that's how we met a guy named Joseph. He's a young Maasai guy, and he noticed that on my arm I had a beaded bracelet that I was already wearing. We started talking.
And then he was showing me the ones that he had, telling me, all about the different patterns. and then I just asked him, I said, could you make a custom one with my name on it? And he was like, absolutely. So it's one thing I would say about these vendors is if you want something, just ask them because more often than not, they're probably have a way to make it happen.
so we agreed on a price of about 15 US dollars. And since it was something that he was making specifically for me, I thought it was fair to give him half up front as a deposit. We exchanged WhatsApp numbers. I jokingly told him I said, now don't give my number to anybody else. but he was a really good guy. And the next day I got the message from Joseph, he had that bracelet ready.
We worked a time to meet back up and he delivered it and it was exactly what he had promised to deliver. And so I think for us that's one of those little interactions, one of those stories that becomes a part of the memory of the place for us. And I think it also goes back to what we really liked about Diani. it definitely felt local and it felt very connected to Kenya, to the other people that we had met in Kenya along the way.
we found out that Joseph and many of the others come from the Amboseli area because it's relatively close by in order to sell items and in order to make money. so there's a lot of beach vendors in Zanzibar. Some of them are just like regular, they just wear normal clothes, things like that. Some of them also do have on the Maasai outfits. Maybe they are Maasai.
It felt though a little bit more displaced because they're not really local to there. Like they would be like nearby, I guess, in Diani.
And so other than like the friendly people and things like that, there was no really continuity from the mainland of Tanzania to the islands.
So Diani felt like that we had discovered just another part of the country of mainland Kenya than we had already visited. Yeah, I I didn't really understand what those Maasai guys were doing on the beach. in Diani it was clear because they had a pole with all of their bracelets they were selling, and then they had other things that they had made kind of hung around them. But in
Zanzibar, they had a stick and they were just walking on the beach. So I didn't know if like, they were like you can have a your picture made with us type thing and and offering that. Maybe underneath their robe they had stuff they were selling, but it wasn't obvious to me. So I didn't quite understand all of the Maasai people that were walking on the beach in Zanzibar.
Let's talk a bit more about if you do decide to leave the resort. I would say getting around in Diani was very easy.
The activities guy at the 11 Pearl and Diani had given us some advice And he told us that if we wanted to take one of the tuk tuks to the shops or nearby restaurants, he said, This is what the fare should be. He said, Some of them might try to charge you more than that and don't agree to that. And that's why he said, Let us call you one from the hotel. We'll call you one we know that is reputable.
And won't try to overcharge you. but you can go out to the street and hail one on the street if you wanted to. He did say that he would recommend using the tuk-tuk service during the day, but if you were going to go out at night, he would recommend that we took an Uber. so it was really some good advice that he offered along with the different excursions that they offered from the hotel.
Let's talk about the roads in Diani and Zanzibar. I would say that the roads in Diani were generally a lot better. And after spending two and a half weeks in Kenya bouncing around dirt roads, it was nice to get to Diani there and have, a little bit better roads. Now I will say the closer we got to that Chale Island, the roads did get worse out there. But just around Diani, they were really good. But in Zanzibar, I felt like
The roads were really rough all over the whole island. They told us that it was because they were doing lots of road work and repair, getting ready for a big event. But I've got a feeling that those roads are just always gonna be horrible there, no matter how much work that they do. Because even when we notice this in parts of Kenya as well, sometimes when they would build a new road.
People would drive around the new road because it was so bad. And they would just drive off to the side of the road and create an another alternate road.
So let's talk about the food in Diani and the food in Zanzibar. And because I think that was another difference between the two properties that we stayed at. So at Eleven Pearl, our breakfast, like Scott mentioned at the beginning, was included and it was like a buffet style. And then you could order eggs, cook to order, like an omelet or just scrambled eggs And then the lunch and dinner and snack menus were all a la carte. And you just ordered off the menu. So it was what they call a
plated meal.
So we could have done an all-inclusive package, but we opted just to stick with the breakfast and then just order what we wanted when we wanted it. We just felt like that was the better option for us. At Turaco in Zanzibar, both the breakfast and the dinner was buffet style. And but it did have a lot of options. we had breakfast included with the room, and then they offered a couple of different options. You could do a half board.
a full board and an all-inclusive. So for those of you who don't know, the because this is common, I don't know, I feel like you see this common like international terms. So half board means that breakfast and dinner are included. Full board means breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And here it did not include alcohol. And then they had an all-inclusive package that was breakfast, lunch, and dinner, snacks anytime you wanted, all your alcohol.
But I felt like the price of that, like you'd have to eat a ton and drink a ton in order to make that work.
So because it was a larger resort and it had those buffets, that's not really our preference. it it just it is what it is. we don't necessarily love them. They did do a good job of having like some pretty good options. And so it kind of just depends.
In Zanzibar, we just felt more comfortable in the evenings just staying inside the resort and having the dinner there. And after we kind of drove in, that was when we had to make the decision if we were going to do one of the boarding options or just kind of do it on our own. and then in Diani we actually felt more comfortable finding a restaurant outside the resort if we wanted to. We only ended up doing that once because the food there was so good. and it was also because we did have one of the recommendations that we wanted to do that cave restaurant as well.
Well, let's talk a little bit about the price between the two destinations.
And I'll start with accommodations. Earlier I shared that our beach front room at eleven Pearl was one hundred and thirty dollars a night. That included breakfast and so for four nights our accommodation was five hundred and thirty two dollars.
We found Diani considerably less expensive, but of course this is also going to depend on where you choose to stay. there will be nice and inexpensive places in both Diani and Zanzibar.
And then there's gonna be some that cost more even in Diani,
like the Nomad or Chale Island. In Zanzibar, most things I found where we would want to stay ran from about two hundred dollars a night to over three hundred dollars a night. And since we were booking eight nights, that really adds up in the cost. And so we ended up using our Marriott points that we had in our account. And when you use points
You get every fifth night free. So one night was free. And then we also end up getting upgraded to a beachfront room, which would have cost even more. All right. So we mentioned the food. So let's talk a little bit about the food cost.
So here's the thing that actually really surprised us. so we spent four nights in Diani. And so during that time, breakfast was included, like I mentioned. We ate lunch at the resort, we had drinks, and we ate dinner there three of the nights. And once we settled up, the whole cost of all of that was $160. Now that's not $160 a day. That was $160 for all of it. And that even included a big bag of laundry that we did.
one time during our stay. Let's compare that to Zanzibar. So Scott had mentioned that Zanzibar Resort was part of a Marriott property or part of the like the Marriott management. And so I feel like that's gonna automatically be a little bit more. So we ended up deciding on the half board. And like I said, we had to decide that like pretty much once we got there. So she had told us that if we didn't do it like included in the package,
that the buffet dinner was going to be thirty dollars per person per night. And it ended up coming out, I think something around she said it'd be like twenty dollars if you kind of did it with the the half board package that we did. and again this was a buffet. So the total cost of the eight nights for
The buffet dinner. And unfortunately, that also included the breakfast, which was supposed to be included in our room. And it didn't really seem to be a discount for that. But anyway, it was $480 US for the eight nights that we had to pay. We had to go ahead and pay that up front, which put breakfast at about like $160 as part of that $480. but I will say if you
Like, look at the price of typically eating a breakfast buffet at a hotel. Usually that's anywhere from like twenty-nine dollars to fifty dollars, depending on what it is. So I would say that for breakfast and dinner, four hundred and eighty dollars for eight nights was not too bad. The food did rotate enough. there was plenty of fresh fruit, including watermelon, passion fruit. They had a bunch of juices. You could get like specialty coffees included. I think the only other thing you just had to pay for, like if you did the alcohol.
that that was separate. So I ate a ton of the passion fruit and
I joked with Scott that that would have ended up in the thousands of dollars as much passion food as I ate anywhere else. and so then when we checked out the light lunches that we did, we ate at they had another restaurant there that we ate at for one lunch and then a few drinks and things like that ended up being another two hundred and sixty dollars. So altogether our food in Zanzibar, food and drink was seven hundred and fifty dollars for eight nights. So a little bit more.
The other thing I wanted to say, we hadn't experienced this in Zanzibar, so I don't have a good comparison, but in Diani, I actually one afternoon I had a one hour massage, I did a manicure and a pedicure. and it was like fifty eight US dollars for all of that. So that was incredible and super inexpensive.
So overall Zanzibar was more expensive for us. and I think it would be more expensive in general, depending on where you stay. But there's also the additional expense. we had to get the visa, and then of course we had to do the mandatory Zanzibar travel insurance.
and so if you are already visiting Tanzania for the safari, you'll have the visa, but that insurance is specific to Zanzibar. That was $88 for the two of us for that length of time. I'm not really sure how they break that out because it wasn't any like itemized thing. It was just like, when are you arriving? When are you leaving? Two people, it was eighty-eight dollars. So I can't really say to how that is split up.
So I would say when you're looking for us at the overall value, we think that Diani had a significant advantage, especially if you're just doing the safari in Kenya because it you don't have the cost and the having to do that extra visa. And so particularly for someone who's already invested a significant amount of money in the safari, you can add these beach days without it taking a long time to get there and then without the extra cost as well.
I think the next topic on our list is to talk about the length of stay. And that's really difficult for us because we aren't bound by vacation days. at least we're not now like we were in the past.
For Diani, I think four or five nights is about right, especially if your primary goal is to relax. I think anything less than four nights would be taking away from the relaxation time. Like Melissa said earlier, you can book that snorkeling trip out past the sandbar, you can go out for dinner, you can get a massage, you can sit under an umbrella and do absolutely nothing if that's what you want to do.
But in Zanzibar, it's a little bit different. I'd give Zanzibar a couple of extra nights because I think there's enough there that you don't want to travel all the way out to the island and just see only the beach resort. We did, but if you listen to that episode, one of our only regrets was not going to Stonetown, visiting the spice farms, or going to that Jozani forest. Yeah, really the main thing in those
eight nights that we did was just the dhow boat out to Mnemba Island and then we did just a quick afternoon village walk. But it really didn't take up that much time. so we would say based on that, if you do want to visit Stone Town, is that you start there and stay in that area.
One night, two nights, something like that, and then head to whichever beach location in Zanzibar you want to visit, and then have your time to relax and finish off the trip. If you want to do that snorkeling trip, we definitely recommend that Dream Dhow trip to Mnemba Island that we talked about in our Zanzibar episode, also.
So both Diani Beach and Zanzibar had amazing qualities that I think either one of them would add amazing add-ons to a safari trip. And Scott, I want to do something a little different and let's do something and try to determine who this trip is for by saying, let's match the destination to some different travelers and get your opinion on that. So I'm gonna give us a type of traveler or a situation, and then we're each gonna say who we'd recommend. And we actually haven't
prepared these answers or compared these answers ahead of time. So Scott, choose Diani if I'd say choose Diani if you're thinking of a more authentic experience, less commercialized and probably a little bit more relaxing. And I would say choose Diani if you're only going to Kenya.
And then if you want to be super comfortable to go out to different places at night and things like that, I would choose Diani for that. All right, Scott, choose Zanzibar if
I would choose Zanzibar if I was someone that was looking for lots of activities. the clear waters, at least in Nungwi Beach, right? I should I should specify that. the clear waters just right off the beach where you can go and swim and even snorkel if you wanted to. and then definitely the sunsets in Zanzibar were amazing.
yeah, that's true. I would say if you want to use points or something like that or you want to stay at a larger name hotel, choose Zanzibar. There were several Marriott properties,
There was Melia property, there was a RIU property, and some more options like that. So definitely if you're like looking to use points or or something like that, you would choose Zanzibar So Scott, which one would you recommend for a family?
I think family could go to either one. So there's not one benefit over the other. I will say where we stayed, there was more families in the Turaco Zanzibar location than there were at the Diani Beach 11 Pearl. There were there were a few families there, but not quite as many.
I would say too that on Diani like the Nomad or the Chale Island, was probably set up more for families. Now they may have had more family friendly rooms, like we just had a king bed, but we actually toured some rooms that would be very set up for families at those other two resorts as well. And so which one would you recommend for a couple?
Once again, I think this is one that it just depends on what you're looking for in your style of travel. I would I would highly recommend Diani Beach as just a great couple's getaway. And it's it was so easy to get to. I think that's the biggest thing. And yes, I would agree for with you for that. So if you were somebody was going on their honeymoon, which one would you recommend?
Diani Beach and that Chale or Chale or however you say it island. I think that's that would be a top honeymoon experience for for me. Yeah, I agree with that. I wouldn't probably do one of the places that we stayed for honeymoon, but I do know that on Zanzibar there are some properties that then had own their own private pools and things like that and some of the larger properties. So that could definitely be an option.
What about a luxury traveler? Luxury is probably gonna go more on the Zanzibar side. I think you have more luxury options there. There are some in Diani Beach and we could definitely point you towards those, but Zanzibar is gonna have a much bigger choice. And like I said, it's more of that commercialized resort style property.
And then, and you've probably guessed this based on some of our answers. What about someone who's more budget conscious? Yeah, Diani Beach. I think the price comparison that we did really speaks to that. now I imagine that you can find very price comparative options in each of them. but when we were doing our research on Zanzibar, I think Melissa mentioned this is that like
It started around $200 a night, which was already almost double what we paid in Diani. I will say that there are like Airbnb type options or home rentals in both of the places, but I also would say that probably just your travel alone or your transportation alone. Can I talk about that real quick? I would be very careful in doing an Airbnb.
in Zanzibar because we saw what looked like Airbnbs and they were right in the middle of the village. And don't get me wrong, the people are nice and friendly, but I think that would be intimidating to try to do an Airbnb because you have no idea what's around you. Yeah. And then just doing grocery shopping and knowing if
the food is prepared in a way with water and things like that. It would be safe for you to eat as well. So definitely you'd want to, yeah, take recommendations for somebody for that. but what I was gonna say is the transportation alone on Zanzibar, getting from one place to the other is gonna be a lot higher cost. And then you have that insurance as well that you have to think about. So Scott, what would you recommend for somebody making their first trip to Africa?
Actually, I believe either one of these could be fine for first trip to Africa. I think the Diani Beach is a good option just because it was so close to that Ukunda airstrip. And so, you're used to what you've been doing on Safari. It doesn't feel different, and then you're just gonna do that quick drive to the resort.
and get your vacation started. So I think that might slightly edge out Zanzibar. but there's nothing shockingly different between the two that I would say one's better than the other. Yeah. And just FYI, and I'm not sure we even mentioned this in this in our Zanzibar the last episode, is that from Zanzibar then we flew a direct flight back to Charles de Gaulle.
So it also could depend on where else you're coming from. Zanzibar could be done like completely not related to a safari. I mean, obviously so can Diani Beach, but a lot of people who were at the Zanzibar, some people we could see you could tell they were coming from Safari, right? Because they still have Safari clothes and things like that. And then some people were literally were coming for the beach. So there is the international airport there. I can't say that I checked.
though Mombasa, like where all you can fly in Mombasa, I'm sure that it's lots of places.
And so here's probably the most important scenario. you are giving advice to somebody who they are just finishing a 10-day safari, they've had an incredible time, they've been getting up before sunrise, spending hours on game drives, moving between camps, and that they're gonna be tired. They have four nights before they need to start heading home.
Which one of these two are you sending them to?
Well, I hate answering that depends, but where are they coming from? So that's that's we're gonna look at first and how easy is it for them to get there. I believe that Zanzibar is gonna be more difficult to reach no matter where you're coming from. so I'm just gonna say Diani just because of that ease of getting there and getting started on your rest and relaxation.
Yeah, and I would agree with that too. I think overall for me that I enjoyed that more. but you are talking to two people who would pick Curacao over Aruba any day of the year as well.
So I think maybe one of the biggest takeaways from this episode is that you don't have to decide between doing an African safari and doing Indian Ocean beach vacation. You can actually do both. And if you didn't know that, hopefully that's something that you learn from our episode today. So when you're planning that dream safari and you're looking at the itinerary,
Don't automatically assume that the last safari camp needs to be followed by a flight home. Ask yourself one more question. What if we went to the beach first? Maybe that's Zanzibar. The beaches were prettier based on our experience. The water was clearer. And there are enough things to do that it can become another destination within that trip. Or maybe it's Diani.
It's easy to reach from the safari areas of Kenya. It's quieter. It's considerably less expensive. And it gives you the opportunity to experience another side of Kenya that many international travelers don't know much about. And maybe you don't want another destination at all. Maybe what you really need after a week or 10 days on safari is four days with nowhere you need to be.
It's not simply about where you can go. It's about how you want the trip to feel. So before you book that flight home after your safari, ask yourself first whether you're actually ready to go home yet or not.
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