4 Days / 3 Nights Zanzibar Island Escape

Zanzibar — the Spice Island — is a sensory world apart from the dust and open plains of the Kenyan and Tanzanian safari circuit, and the transition from savannah to turquoise Indian Ocean is one of the great joys of an East Africa itinerary. Whether your morning in Zanzibar involves exploring the ancient labyrinth of Stone Town, wandering a spice farm amid cardamom, cloves and vanilla vines, or simply watching the tide come in over the white coral sand of the east coast, the island delivers an entirely different and deeply satisfying experience. If today includes a Stone Town exploration, you will begin in the cool of the morning — the best time to walk the narrow alleys of this UNESCO World Heritage Site before the midday heat builds. Stone Town's Old Arab Quarter is a maze of carved wooden doorways (Zanzibar's famous brass-studded doors), coral rag townhouses, mosques, Indian merchant palaces, and the bustling Darajani Market where fishermen bring the morning's catch and traders lay out piles of scarlet chilli, yellow turmeric and grey-green dried seaweed. The House of Wonders — the first building in East Africa to have electricity and a lift — overlooks the seafront, and the nearby Old Fort (built by Omani Arabs in 1698) provides a fascinating glimpse into the island's complex layered history. A visit to the Slave Market and the Anglican Cathedral built on the site of the last slave market in the British Empire is one of the most sobering and important historical stops in the entire East Africa region. The memory of Zanzibar's role as the centre of the Indian Ocean slave trade is preserved here with great care and dignity.

The afternoon is ideally spent on Zanzibar's east coast beaches — Paje, Jambiani or Bwejuu — where powder-white sand and the turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean await. The east coast reef means the water is calm and clear inside the lagoon at low tide, ideal for snorkelling over coral gardens populated with parrotfish, surgeonfish and occasional turtle. For those interested in the spice tour, the afternoon visit to a working clove, cardamom, nutmeg and cinnamon plantation is a highlight — local guides weave garlands of tropical fruits and spices, explain the island's history as the world's leading clove producer, and serve a magnificent spread of Zanzibari food at the end of the tour. The west coast sunset from Stone Town harbour — dhows silhouetted against the setting sun — is one of the Indian Ocean's most iconic images.

Zanzibar evenings are pure magic. The Forodhani Gardens waterfront in Stone Town comes alive after dark with an open-air food market — charcoal-grilled lobster, Zanzibar pizza (a stuffed flatbread cooked on a griddle), fresh sugarcane juice and Zanzibari coffee spiced with cardamom and ginger, served as the Indian Ocean breeze carries the smell of charcoal and the sound of Taarab music across the waterfront.