Safari and Zanzibar: how to combine them

Run the safari first

A safari means dawn starts, long drives and a great deal of dust. A beach means none of those things. Doing them in that order produces the trip most people actually want; doing them in reverse means arriving at the Serengeti already relaxed and leaving it exhausted.

Every safari-and-beach route in this catalogue is built safari-first for exactly this reason.

Getting there

Zanzibar is a little over an hour by air from Arusha, and there are also direct connections from Serengeti airstrips, which saves a long backtrack by road. From Kenya the equivalent coastal extension runs to the Indian Ocean south of Mombasa, usually overland via Tsavo East.

How long, and where

Three or four nights. Fewer than three and the connecting flights consume most of the value; more than four and it starts to be a beach holiday with a safari attached, which is a perfectly good thing to want but should be planned as such.

The east coast has the classic white-sand beaches and a large tidal range — at low tide the lagoon can retreat several hundred metres. The north coast around Nungwi and Kendwa holds deeper water and swims reliably at any hour. If swimming on demand matters to you, go north.

What to do besides lie down

Stone Town is worth a day: coral-stone alleys too narrow for cars, carved doors, the Old Fort and the House of Wonders, and a frank memorial at the former slave market. Spice farms in the interior still grow clove, nutmeg and cinnamon. Jozani Forest protects the Zanzibar red colobus, found nowhere else on earth.

The reefs, particularly around Mnemba Atoll, offer genuinely good snorkelling and diving. All of these are arranged locally as optional extras rather than being built into a package price.

One cultural note

Zanzibar is a predominantly Muslim island. Beachwear is entirely normal on the beach and at resorts, and modest dress is expected in Stone Town, villages and away from the coast. It costs nothing to get right and is noticed when you do.