1 destination · 10 things to do

Tanzania

Zanzibar is the Spice Island of the Indian Ocean, a low green island off the coast of Tanzania where Swahili, Arab, Persian, Indian and European history meet on white-sand beaches and turquoise reefs. Its old capital, Stone Town, is a UNESCO World Heritage maze of coral-stone houses, carved wooden doors, mosques, churches and bazaars, with a waterfront where the Forodhani Gardens fill with food stalls every evening. Beyond the town lie the clove and nutmeg farms that made the island rich, the Jozani Forest with its rare red colobus monkeys, and the giant tortoises of Prison Island. Out at sea, wooden dhows carry snorkellers to the sandbanks and lagoons of Menai Bay on the Safari Blue day, to the coral gardens of Mnemba Atoll, and into the sunset off Nungwi and Kendwa in the north. This guide books the tours worth booking, explains the compulsory Zanzibar travel insurance and how to get around, and helps you split a first trip between Stone Town and the beaches.