I’d never seen a man fall asleep while riding a bike until I came to Zanzibar.
He was the only thing moving on the beach, a streak of red shorts and
chocolate-brown skin against the sand and the sea. Head down on the
handlebars, he had stopped pedalling and was beginning an alarming wobble.
The crash was spectacular.
Rudely awakened, the dopey pedaller leapt to his feet, dusting the icing-sugar
sand from his shorts and glancing around in the vain hope that there were no
witnesses. Then he saw me, slowly raised a hand and sent me a sheepish
smile.
He made me laugh, but he couldn’t chase away the winter blues. They’re
everywhere: above me, through the rattling fronds of a creaking coconut
palm, the equatorial sky slips from powder blue through azure to cobalt. The
ocean, just a few feet from the tips of my toes, is baby blue, electric
blue, sapphire and ultramarine. It’s also turquoise, but that’s a shade of
cyan, so it doesn’t count.
The temperature is about 35C, the ocean is lukewarm and my beer is so happy
that tiny tears of joy are rolling down the bottle. I look at my watch: 16
hours ago, I was in cold, grey, damp London. Then I take off my watch,
because it’s irrelevant here. Locals keep Swahili time, according to which
the hours of the day are counted from sunrise. Thus, two o’clock is two
hours after sunrise - or 8am - and six o’clock is noon.
I discover this after pedalling a Chinese boneshaker for three miles along
dazzling-white Bwejuu beach to go fishing with a bloke I gave a lift to on
the way in from the airport. I’m told he waited and waited, and eventually
set off without me at four o’clock. Or 10am. Or whenever. To compensate, I
wade out into the bath-warm sea to join the laid-back ladies of Pingwe
village for an impromptu reenactment of the parable of the loaves and the
fishes. They do the loafing and I do the fishing.
For many visitors, Zanzibar is an afterthought, a few days’ R&R
tacked onto the end of a safari - the island lies just 20 miles off the
African coast - but coming here after you’ve seen the Dark Continent is the
wrong way to do it. Zanzibar is the historical launch pad for the great
expeditions, the base camp from which Burton, Speke, Livingstone and Stanley
set off on their scramble for Africa.
Standing on the sparkling white sands of Fumba beach, staring across the
straits to where the thunderheads tower over the Tanzanian coast, I feel the
awe the explorers must have felt. Those who arrive postsafari are denied
this feeling. They look up from their paperbacks and say: “Africa? Seen it,
done it.”
In a world that has been seen and done, there remains a thrilling sense of
discovery about the island. It hits you in that delicious waking moment when
you realise you’re in Zanzibar. The name rolls off the tongue, like
Timbuktu, Kathmandu or Shangri-la, a fairy-tale destination of magical
allure. If you visited the Caribbean in the 1930s, Goa in the 1960s or the
islands of Thailand before they went mass-market, you will know the feeling.
It flows like a spring tide as you lurch down dusty, potholed tracks, across
an unpromising littoral of goat-munched scrubland to emerge on yet another
of God’s finest coastal developments. The jetsam of international tourism -
from the plastic lounger to the concrete mega-resort - has yet to choke the
Spice Island’s perfect beaches, but that doesn’t mean you have to rough it.
Nowhere does imaginative barefoot luxury like Zanzibar. Want to take a rooftop
bath beneath the stars? Or picnic on a desert island? Or dine by candlelight
on the beach as the moon rises over the Indian Ocean? Or lie for hour after
glorious hour watching the dhows doing what they’ve done for century after
blessed century? Hakuna matata - no problems - as they say in these
parts, but that’s only taken care of today. What about tomorrow?
Zanzibar: the smart guide
Where to stay:if the Facebooking, hair-braiding, beach-party vibe is
what floats your dhow, stay in the backpacker resorts of Nungwi and Kendra,
where Bob Marley and Che Guevara lurk in every bar. The lovely Flame Tree
Cottages (00 255-242 240100, www.flametreecottages.com
; doubles from £61) offer white linen, hand-carved beds and perfect sea-view
terraces, right on the beach and at a slight remove from the heart of the
scene.
If it’s peace you seek, head south to Fumba Beach Lodge (777 860504, www.fumbabeachlodge.com
; sea-view rooms from £150), which ticks every tropical fantasy box, unless
that fantasy includes shopping, nightlife and WiFi access. It has an
infinity pool with views of the African coast, a bar built from a beached
dhow and dolphins in the bay.
For the best beaches, head to the east coast, although the prevailing kaskazi
wind can ruffle the ocean during dry season. Seemingly miles from
anywhere, you’ll find the intimate, secluded Echo Beach hotel (773 593260, www.echobeachhotel.com
; doubles from £168, including dinner), which has just nine rooms around a
pool on a dazzlingly beautiful beach overlooking the milky-blue Indian
ocean. Bring some books and sunscreen, and be prepared to stay put.
Further up the east coast, perched on a coral cliff above magnificent Kiwengwa
beach is the delightful Shooting Star Lodge. Home of the rooftop, starlit
bathtub, it’s run by Zanzibari Elly and his wife, Lesley, who used to do
interiors at the Savoy. Sea-view rooms here start at £129, while the
magnificent three-floor Kusi and Kaskazi suites go from £241 (777 414166, www.shootingstarlodge.com
).
Getting there:with no direct flights from London, getting to Zanzibar
involves flying to Tanzania’s largest city, Dar es Salaam, then grabbing a
puddle-jumper across the Straits. British Airways (0844 493 0787, www.ba.com
) flies to Dar es Salaam three times a week; from £795. For the 20-minute
flight to Zanzibar, book with the excellent Coastal Aviation (00 255 222
117959, www.coastal.cc ), which offers
scheduled departures to meet BA flights from £66 return. Or try Trailfinders
(0845 058 5858, www.trailfinders.com), which offers returns to Zanzibar via
Nairobi from £495.
The best packages:Expert Africa (020 8232 9777, www.expertafrica.com
) has a week at Fumba Beach from £1,535pp and a week at Shooting Star from
£1,424pp. Audley Travel (01993 838100, www.audleytravel.com
) has a week at Echo Beach from £1,480pp, half-board. These prices include
flights.
Which cocktail?Piles of young green coconuts, called dafu, lie
in heaps on every street corner and at half-mile intervals on every road on
the island. Choose one, ask the salesman - usually a rheumy-eyed local with
a big smile and an enormous chopper - to lop off the top, pour in your own
rum and stir. Best drunk through a straw.
When to go:the dry seasons in Zanzibar are June to October and
December to February, but don’t expect wall-to-wall sunshine. The dry season
on Zanzibar is more of a dryish season - short, sharp showers can happen any
time, but you’ll get spectacular sunsets in return.
Beyond the beach:Stone Town is the labyrinthine heart of Zanzibar, but
to get under the skin of the place, you need to spend the night here and
wake to the call of the muezzin, before heading through the dusky streets to
the Creek Road market. The Zanzibar Palace Hotel (00 255 242 232230, www.zanzibarpalacehotel.com
; doubles from £70) is the place to stay - ask for the Sultana room,
which has a balcony.
And you’ll need some spices, so spare a morning for a trip to one of the
plantations, most of which lie around the villages of Kizimbani and
Kindichi, half an hour north of Stone Town. The tour should be free - an
hour or so spent strolling through the countryside while your guide picks
shoots and leaves, stuffing them in your face and asking you to guess their
name. He makes his money at the end, when you overspend on ginger, cinnamon,
cloves and the excellent Zanzibari black pepper.
Chris Haslam travelled as a guest of Expert Africa
MORE INDIAN OCEAN HOT SPOTS
Lamu archipelago, Kenya:famous for its safaris, Kenya also has miles of
tropical coastline and offers good value, with prices pegged to the US
dollar. There are no cars on Lamu - no nightlife, either - but if this
coral-fringed Indian Ocean paradise still sounds hectic, try Manda island, a
half-hour boat trip to the north. Go in February - when the kaskazi wind
has dropped and temperatures are about 35C - and stay at the languorous
Manda Bay, a 12-room luxury beach lodge on its own palm-fringed sands.
Original Travel (020 7978 7333, www.originaltravel.co.uk
) has seven nights at Manda Bay from £2,290pp, full-board.
Quilalea, Mozambique:an island fantasy, uninhabited but for the staff
of the nine-room Quilalea lodge. Yes, there’s a pool, and yes, you’ll be the
only people at your next dinner party who’ve been there. The Ultimate Travel
Company (020 7386 4646, www.theultimatetravelcompany.co.uk
) has a week for £3,285pp.
Oberoi, Mauritius:if you’re not averse to others dipping their toes in
your ocean, and fancy a slightly less adventurous break, try Mauritius,
where a sevennight stay at the 20-acre Oberoi resort has been cut by up to
£515pp; from £2,780pp, with Seasons in Style (01244 202000, www.seasonsinstyle.com
).
