Zanzibar Adventures

…continuation from Kenya to Zanzibar post

After arriving in Zanzibar, we had to fill up a form and get our passports stamped.

The only choice of transportation to your hotel or resort is by local taxis or local dala-dala (public transport). Taxi-hailing apps in Zanzibar don’t work. One problem with taxis there is they charge in dollars which is insane for how expensive they can get. We had to pay $45 down from $60 to our place.

The roads are good with interesting scenery. We had booked a place called Miramont Retreat on the eastern side of Zanzibar, very affordable and right next to the beach with good free breakfast.

There are different places to stay in Zanzibar according to your needs. The North mostly known as Nungwi is good for watching sunsets and is more touristy. The south is good if want to do water activities likes swimming with Dolphins. We stayed on the east side which was very chill and the beaches weren’t overcrowded.

Exploring along the beach is fun if you manage to be patient enough with all sorts of people trying to sell you “Island tours” and “Diving with the dolphins” tours. We found an easy solution by telling them we just did everything the other day. Worked every time.

We found some nice local places where we had the best pilau and fish. I’d say at this point, the best pilau I’ve ever had was in Tanzania.

On our second day, we went to Nungwi to watch the sunset using the local dala dala (public transport bus). It took up to 45 minutes to get there from Pwani Mchangani on the east. We had to go to Mshirishirini which costs about Tzs 1000 ($0.50) then waited for another dala dala to Nungwi for the same price. We did enjoy interacting with the locals and experiencing their daily life.

After alighted at a place called Highland Bungalows,we walked all the way down and turned left at the intersection then followed the map to My Blue Hotel.

When we got to the entrance of the hotel we just continued down without getting in. There was a curio market just before getting to the beach.

The beach was a little crowded but very beautiful, clear water and white sand.

It was almost 7pm by the time we left the beach and we couldn’t find any dala-dala to go back so had to get a taxi for $40 back to our place.

On our third day, we walked down to Waikiki Restaurant and Pizzeria.

The beach there is amazing and they have very good pizza.

There’s a kite surfing company next door which would be convenient if interested.

Zanzibar to Nairobi(with safari link)

Our checkout was 11 am and we used the same taxi driver who dropped us from Nungwi beach so it was easier.

Another option is to use local transportation but you will need to leave early to make time for the many stops on the way.

We had a little time to go round Stone Town and visited the Spice market.

Our flight back to Nairobi was at 4pm with Safarilink which lands at Wilson Airport.

In the end, our trip turned out great and we will definitely go back.