#KavitaTakesTanzania - A Weekend in Zanzibar

Welcome to my third and final post from my #KavitaTakesTanzania series on my blog! If you haven't already, be sure to check out my summary of Tanzania and how my makeup lasted through the crazy Tanzanian heat by clicking here and here. I also have more pics from my trip on my Instagram if you're interested!

As mentioned in the title, this post will be all about my weekend in Zanzibar. Zanzibar is a small Tanzanian island in the Indian Ocean and has become an increasingly popular tourist destination for its strong culture, the abundance of freshly grown spices and for its many picturesque beaches! The best time to visit Zanzibar is anytime between June and November. Unfortunately, our trip was in April so we did experience some rainy weather!

One of the best ways to travel to Zanzibar is by ferry which only takes 2 hours from the port in Dar-es-Salaam which runs regularly throughout the day.

We reached Zanzibar around 9am so we had plenty of time to tour around Zanzibar on our first day! I've broken this post down into the activities we did & places we visited. I hope this helps anyone who is thinking of visiting Zanzibar!

Stone Town

This is the old part of Zanzibar City - so many narrow streets that you can get lost in! Walking through Stone Town felt like going through a time-machine and it was interesting to observe the people's way of life in this area. Many children were playing freely on the streets, street vendors were selling fruit and vegetables and the occasional scooter whizzed past you - 3 things you don't see often, if at all in the UK.Being a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it's a must to visit Stone Town if you're going to visit Zanzibar. The mixed heritage and culture of Zanzibar throughout the last century is shown through it's architecture and there are many mosques, museums and cathedrals to visit too.

Spice Tour

This is a must if you're curious about spices, a foodie or a cooking-enthusiast! There are so many different companies that offer a guided spice tour but I highly recommend the one I went to, called 'Big Body Spice Tour'. The guides were very friendly, explained all the different plants to us and even voluntarily sang a few Bollywood songs for us too haha!

I won't mention everything we learnt on the tour - I don't want to spoil the surprises in case some of you do decide to go! However, the photo above shows an avocado tree aka "Parachichi" in Swahili. Due to the trending "Avo Toast" in the West, Zanzibar has been growing a much larger quantity of Avocados to export out to Europe and the USA.

Below is a vanilla pod vine - the second most expensive spice in the world. The most expensive spice is Saffron.

The tour guides also made us some eco-friendly jewellery! What do you think?

After the tour, we had a chance to buy some organic perfumes, balms and soaps made from spices straight from Zanzibar! It was interesting to learn about the uses of all these natural and organic plants. For example, did you know that lemongrass is used as a natural mosquito repellant?

We also had a tasting session of some fresh fruit. The fruit here tastes AMAZING! I felt like I had never had real fruit before I came to Tanzania/Zanzibar! The photo below looks like a lime but it's actually an orange - the best orange I have tasted!

The best pineapple to ever exist. If I could go back right now, the first fruit I'd have is pineapple!

As mentioned at the start of this post, April is the rainy season so most of our tour was in the rain. Luckily the tall trees protected us from most of the rainfall but the tour guides also provided us with some banana tree leaves to use as an umbrella.*I know I look very calm in this pic - it was seconds into another thunderstorm but I had to take a pic with my authentic umbrella before I ran for cover - you gotta do what you need to for a pic 🤷🏻‍♀️😂 Notice the tour guide in the background with an actual umbrella too haha.

Oh and before I forget, one of the members of our tour guide sang the Jambo Bwana song while climbing a tree. Side note: I highly recommend learning the Jambo song before you go - it will come useful in the most unpredictable of times. Here is a link to a youtube lyric video: Jambo Song

Prison Island

Also commonly known as the Changuu Island or Quarantine Island, this island is only a short boat-ride away from Stone Town. Prison Island holds a lot of history - it was once where slaves were sent to for being "rebellious" and it also became a quarantine station to treat yellow fever cases.

Now, this island is one of the most popular destinations when visiting Zanzibar. It's popular for seeing the prison ruins, the giant tortoise sanctuary and the calm beaches! This island is really small so you can see the whole island in half a day but also a full day if you're looking to relax on the beach.

The Aldabra giant tortoises were gifted from the governor of Seychelles. They are huge!

You can also see some of the ruins of the old prisons on the island as well as the view of the ocean.

Prison Island was a memorable experience for me. Taking a boat ride and stepping on to the same island where slaves were taken as a punishment is hard to grasp. Knowing that slavery wasn't even that long ago brings perspective to the many situations we face today around the world. But it's also great to see how much Zanzibar is recovering and the recognition and help it is finally receiving too. Prison Island is a stunning sight and it's not one to miss if you travel to Zanzibar!

Darajani Market

Unfortunately, I have 0 photos to show for my second day in Zanzibar as it was pretty much raining the whole day. We did, however, pass by Darajani Market and I thought I'd mention it because it's somewhere worth visiting! Darajani Market is located in Stone Town and sells everything from vegetables, fresh spices, fish, meat, homeware, kitchen appliances and other miscellaneous goods sold by street vendors.

You will definitely see lots of tourists in the area and you might be overcharged if you do decide to purchase anything - technically a tourist tax? 🤷🏻‍♀️

Dolphin Spotting

Kizimkazi village is known to be one of the best tourist attractions for dolphin spotting and for swimming with dolphins. Again, I don't have any photos because I didn't trust myself taking my phone on the tiny boat but it's worth checking out if you're a dolphin fan and in particular, wanting to swim with dolphins. I didn't swim with the dolphins so I wouldn't say this was an amazing experience but the views of being out in the ocean where all you can see surrounding you is crystal clear waters were breath-taking but can also be slightly scary too if you can't swim!

That's basically a round up of my sight-seeing in Zanzibar! Have you been to Zanzibar before? What did you think of your trip? I'd love to know about your experiences!

Thank you for tuning into my #KavitaTakesTanzania series! I hope my blog posts have been sufficient enough if you are looking to travel to Tanzania. If you do have any more questions, feel free to comment below or message me!

Kavita xo

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