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Stone Town, Spice Tours, Beaches & Excursions

Zanzibar

Tony Clemens
2005-08-31 21:53:07

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on the east side of the island. The beaches on the west side are too close to Stone Town with its shipping, coastal pollution and even occasional reported muggings. The east side is underdeveloped, often without electricity and no swimming pools, casinos, nightly entertainment, bars or discos. That's my idea of paradise. We spend three days in the Stone Town area before heading to a beach. There are many to chose from but they are all very similar, except for Nungwi which is the furthest from Stone Town and does not have any seaweed but its a small beach. Many travelers were warning us not to go to Jambiani beach, "Everyone goes to Jambiani go to Nungwi, no one goes there." After having several people tell us that they were going to Nungwi beach because no one goes there we decided to go to Jambiani. Jambiani has a very long beach, over two kilometers, with many guesthouses. There would have to be a lot of people at Jambiani to make it feel crowded. The water is full of seaweed at low tide which the locals dry and sell to the Japanese market.

There is not much to do at the beaches, but then that's the idea. The beaches are really small fishing villages and since this area of Zanzibar is made of coral the only farming is livestock rearing. You will encounter touts here who will arrange snorkeling or scuba trips via dhows, trips to view the red colobus monkeys in the Jozani Forest, or go swimming with the dolphins at Kizimkazi. All are worthwhile excursions.

Excursions

The island is surrounded by coral reefs which on the eastern side of the island is only about 100 metres from the shore but the water near the shore is often full of seaweed, especially at low tide and there are many sea urchins and stone fish which can be painful and even deadly on unprotected feet. For only 2000 shillings you can get a trip to the coral reefs for about 4 hours on a traditional dhow sailing boat ...