Zanzibar Beyond the Beach

Zanzibar is usually the second half of a trip, added after a week of early starts, and most people quite reasonably use it to lie down. But the island was one of the most important trading ports in the Indian Ocean for centuries, and the evidence is a twenty-minute drive from the beach.

Stone Town. A UNESCO site and a genuinely disorienting place to walk — lanes too narrow for cars, carved doors, a mix of Swahili, Arab, Persian, Indian and European building traditions layered over each other. Go with a guide the first time; the town is designed to confuse and the history is not written on the walls.

The slave market site. The Anglican cathedral is built on the old slave market, and the holding chambers underneath are open. It is a short visit and a bleak one, and it is the most important thing on the island. Zanzibar's wealth was built on this trade and the town above is the product of it.

Spice farms. Touristy, and still worth an afternoon. Clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom, vanilla — you are shown the plants and asked to identify them by smell, which is harder than it sounds and more interesting than a display case.

Jozani Forest. The last stronghold of the Zanzibar red colobus, a monkey found nowhere else. An hour there, mid-morning, and you will see them at close range in the canopy over the path.

Mnemba atoll. The diving and snorkelling off the north-east are the best on the island. Turtles are common, the reef is in reasonable health, and it is a boat ride rather than an expedition.

Where to stay. The north-east coast has the best beaches and the strongest tidal range — at low tide the sea can retreat several hundred metres, which surprises people who booked a photograph. The north around Nungwi is less tidal and busier. The south-east is quieter and further from everything.

A note on timing. Ramadan is observed seriously here. Restaurants outside the resorts may be closed during the day, and modest dress in Stone Town is appreciated year round and expected then.