Zanzibar Escape

You are met at Abeid Amani Karume airport or the ferry terminal and taken to your hotel inside the old town.

In the afternoon a local guide walks you through the alleys, the old slave market and Anglican cathedral, the Palace Museum and House of Wonders, the carved doors of the merchant quarter and the Darajani market at its busiest.

The evening is free for the Forodhani night food gardens on the seafront.

A morning in the Kizimbani spice farms, walking through clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, lemongrass and cardamom with a guide who has you smell and taste as you go, finishing with a Swahili lunch and fruit tasting.

In the afternoon a dhow takes you out to Nakupenda, a sandbank inside a marine reserve that appears at low tide. You snorkel the reef edge and eat grilled seafood and tropical fruit set out on the sand before heading back at sunset.

Note: Nakupenda timing depends on the tide, so the day order can flip.

You drive southeast to Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park, the last stand of indigenous forest on the island and the only place to see the endemic Zanzibar red colobus, often within a few metres of the path.

The mangrove boardwalk adds a short second walk before you cross the island north to Nungwi or Kendwa, where the tide never fully strands the beach.

Afternoon free on the sand, with an optional sunset dhow cruise.

An unscheduled day. Most guests split it between the water and doing nothing at all.

Options we can arrange the day before include reef diving or a discover scuba session at Mnemba atoll, dolphin spotting from Kizimkazi, kitesurfing lessons at Paje, a Safari Blue dhow day in Menai Bay, deep sea fishing, quad biking through the villages, or the Nungwi turtle sanctuary and aquarium.

Sunset here faces west, so it is the best beach on the island for the last light and a dhow cruise.

Breakfast and a final swim, with a late checkout arranged where the hotel allows it.

Transfer back across the island to the airport or ferry terminal, roughly 90 minutes from the north coast, timed to your departure.