There's a handful of places that get to earn the nickname paradise on earth. And there are even fewer of those that are affordable enough to make their beauty accessible to the wider public. Zanzibar is one of those. 

So what was our holiday? Some look for pristine beaches and relaxing with the sound of waves crashing onto the shore. Some crave adventure and excitement of water sports or vibrant nightlife. And some need the breadth of history and culture enlightening the life of the previous generations. Zanzibar had it all—and more—and in the limited 7 days we got to enjoy the island, we traversed through all such experiences speechless.

The beginning of our holiday, however, wasn't all roses, when my passport wasn't valid for long enough and Roel got almost deported back to the Netherlands because his visa ran out. Perhaps to make up for the stressful beginnings, we got to experience a great holiday.

Relief overcame us as soon as we passed the immigration check and entered the country. After getting a sim card with a data plan (note: do not ever buy a sim card at the airport; it's a complete rip-off) and negotiating the price for the taxi, we sat inside a van with a very nice local man driving us to our first hotel. Swedzan House was a nice and basic little place with everything that we needed and no extra frills. After quickly dropping off our bags at the reception and changing into lighter clothes (long jeans and sleeved t-shirt indeed didn't prove to be Zanzibar weather-proof) we headed out to the heart of Zanzibar City—Stone Town.


Stone Town is a small area of the city right at the coast that bears the most of the history and authenticity of the old times, with narrow alleyways and mostly white buildings built in Swahili style. The majority of Stone Town is still inhabited by locals who are often crammed in a small apartment, despite the wealth that all the tourism brings. Indeed, restaurants, cafés, and souvenir stalls in Stone Town are growing in numbers and the place does feel like it is becoming more and accustomed and even tailored to the herds of tourists it gets each year. Nonetheless, we visited Zanzibar in the middle of September and the whole island felt rather empty.

After a brief walk along the beach and to the Old Fort, and fueled by amazing coconut shrimp curry for less than $3, we decided to go to the old slave market where slaves from all of eastern and central Africa were sold. One review of the place described it as a 'truly sobering experience' and we couldn't have agreed more. The oppressors would cram 50 people into one small room with no facilities and only a two centimeter-wide opening through which the sun could shine. They would chain them on their neck. A lot of the slaves would die in these chambers even before they could make it into the slave auction. Only the strongest would survive and would be worth keeping as slaves. The second ordeal would wait at the auction itself when all slaves would be whipped. The ones who didn't cry were sold for the most. Ironically, while slavery has spread as a legacy of the British colonial system, it was also a British missionary to stop this atrocity in Zanzibar.

Interestingly, slavery was not only a western affair. Slavery has truly become an institution and a way of life for many Africans, and often slaves would own their own slaves. People would be kidnapped from their own homes when vulnerable and sold and abused by their own people—Africans. The guards at the slave market were also slaves—the strongest ones. I guess in such desperate times you'd do anything to escape your ordeal.

Slavery is often dismissed as something of the past, but more people are estimated to be in modern types of slavery (such as sex trafficking) than ever before. Even this slave market in Zanzibar was still operational at the beginning of the 20th century.

It took us a minute to shake off this experience, but knowing we would only have one and a half-day in Stone Town, we decided to traverse through the streets again, enjoy drinks as we were watching the sunset, and get a nice dinner and an ice cream in the city.

The next day we woke up early and went to the Changuu (Prison) Island. The main draw of the island are the some 200 turtles they house in the sanctuary, from little babies all the way to the 160-year-old grandmas and grandpas.

 





But the island previously served as a prison for slaves that were to be traded at the auction but that tried to escape. Later on, with the black fever outbreak, the island served as a quarantined area where all infected individuals (slaves or not) were sent to contain the disease. Nowadays, it even houses a little bar and a lot of amazing picture spots all along—especially due to its amazingly turquoise waters.

As we said goodbye to Stone Town, we made our way to the eastern side of the island in our rental car. In the end, renting a car was a great decision that allowed us to be extremely mobile and see much more than an average tourist. The way to the eastern coast led through amazing little Zanzibar villages, set in the middle of beautifully green palm trees and under the beaming sun. Adorable kids wave at you as you pass by and for a moment the whole journey feels like it could have been your destination.

After a night in Stone Town, we planned to stay two nights in Matemwe (right next to my diving school One Ocean) and three nights in Pwani Mchangani (right next to Roel's kitesurfing school) so that none of us needed to travel all the time and also so that we would see more of Zanzibar.

We arrived in Matemwe later than expected due to some bumps on the way. (Metaphorical and literal—Google Maps really doesn't work well in underdeveloped areas and sent us through an almost untraversable road. After 15 minutes, having moved several hundred meters, we gave up and turned back seeking an alternate route, but the damage to our ETA had already been done.) We quickly sorted the beginning of my PADI open water course that I was beginning the next day, and went to check in to our hotel which sat right next door.

Matemwe turned out to be a nice, quiet place with a lot of space on the beach sprinkled with hotels and resorts. However, it felt too quiet for our liking. All the travelers were concentrated in their hotels and there were very few beach bars or places to hang out. We chose the location because of my diving school, which was right next door, but we probably wouldn't choose Matemwe again as Zanzibar has so many other amazing places to offer.

On Tuesday evening, we moved to Pwani Mchangani. The primary reason for us to stay here was that there was a kiting school and Roel wanted to learn how to kitesurf. Unfortunately, the wind in Pwani was really weak the whole time we were there—and it had been quite poor all year long.

We discovered Paje quite by mistake. It became Roel's plan B for kitesurfing after the conditions in Pwani Mchangani turned out disappointing. On Tuesday, Roel drove all the way to Paje in the southern part of the island as the wind is usually the best there. He drove alone for an hour and a half one way and in the end did manage to do some beach training. And so I moved the last two dives of my PADI course to Thursday and we went chasing the last little bits of wind in Paje on Wednesday. We were not so lucky.

Instead, we spent the morning on a SUP, chilled in a great spot called Mr. Kawaha, and spent the afternoon at a beach bar B4. Despite the disappointing wind, Paje was a great one-day trip location. Paje has recently been regarded as a laid-back party location of the island where young people come to kitesurf and hang out in the beach bars during day and party at night. The water in Paje was just as bright blue as elsewhere and the presence of a bunch of beach bars made the place very approachable and social (unlike Matemwe, where you can basically just hang out at your own resort).

Our last destination was Nungwi, a picturesque town on the northern tip of the island perhaps most popular with tourists and best known for its beautiful beach, a plethora of beach bars, and amazing sunsets.








The vibe of the town is very laid-back (just like pretty much the whole of Zanzibar) but you can feel that tourism has entirely overtaken the village. The beach is full of restaurants and bars that extend all the way to the end of the beach, not exactly inviting you to put down a blanket. There are souvenir stalls all around the place - something we have only seen in Stone Town by far. Nonetheless, Nungwi offers amazing views and a lot of affordable hotels right on the beach while giving you the opportunity to escape the resort life at night into one of its many bars. Roel immediately fell in love with this place and I can for sure see why.