Zanzibar

Zanzibar is not just another lie-on-the-beach tropical island; it is a mesmerising archipelago lying just off the coast of Tanzania in East Africa, carrying a rich and fascinating history: for centuries the island was a critical meeting point on the maritime trade routes, connecting Africa, the Arab world, Persia, India and Europe. That wild mix created the unique Swahili culture — a rhythmic language, architecture that blends Arab and Indian motifs, and air simply full of the scent of clove, vanilla and nutmeg, which is exactly why it earned the nickname “Spice Island” — and beyond the perfect beaches this is a place with an ancient soul, a slow pace dictated by the sea and an air of total freedom. What do you do here? The simplest, easiest things: get lost in Stone Town, the island’s beating heart — a dense, magical maze of alleys with old stone walls and hand-carved wooden doors (the place’s signature), and in the evening you must drop by the night food market in Forodhani Gardens, grabbing a seafood skewer or a “Zanzibar pizza” at the street stalls and eating by the water for a laughable price; unwind on the northern beaches (Nungwi and Kendwa), the most beautiful and liveliest on the island, with luminous turquoise water and flour-white sand, whose great advantage is that the water stays deep and good for swimming all day (unlike the east coast, where the extreme low tide pulls the water out for kilometres), and in the evening they turn into one big party with live music, bonfires on the sand and cocktails; and stop for a drink at The Rock, a tiny bar and restaurant built on a lone rock in the middle of the ocean (at Michamvi beach) — reached by boat at high tide and on foot across the seabed at low tide, and even without a full meal it is worth pausing there for the surreal view.

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