Zanzibar 
Paradise found

Travel time: 9 days
Travel period: 3 December  (arrival in Zanzibar) - 11 December (fly out from Zanzibar) 2022
Try-out price:  2690 euro 

 

Day 1

Pick up at the airport and transfer by minibus  to your beachfront boutique hotel in Jambiani on the amazing east coast of Zanzibar. 

Here you can relax, soak up the sun, idle around the pool, have a swim in the turquoise water of the ocean and ​rest from you journey. 

If you are not too tired, we take you to see the next new sustainable industry of Zanzibar, mainly run by women: the planting and harvesting of seaweed. The gel obtained from the seaweed is used in cosmetics, food and pharmaceutical products. 

 

Day 2  

After breakfast you get in our minibus for a short drive to the Nature Parc of Jozani Forest where you will meet our guide who will take you into the jungle to spot the Red Monkeys, a rare species of monkeys that can only be found on Zanzibar Island.  

We conclude the visit to the monkey Parc with a walk above the mangroves that encompasses the whole of Zanzibar. 

After a beachside lunch, we take a small boat to a sandbank in the middle of the laguna for some partying with local music: an awesome experience in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

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Day 3

You have safaris on land and you have those on water. The latter is called a blue safari: a daytrip in which we sail with a local fisherman in a traditional dhow sailingboat to a few little islands and sandbanks. If we are lucky we can spot humpback and bottlenose dolphins.

The first stop will be on a sandbank where you can snorkel and admire some beautiful multicoloured marine life: Butterfly Fish, Angel Fish, Clown Fish, coral, shellfish and the odd octopus. After your swim, we take a short break for a tasting of local fruits like fresh coconut, mangosteen, mango, pineapple and banana. 

Those are the appetisers because afterwards awaits us a traditional traditional Zanzibari bbq with  fish, octopus, squid, rice, all fresh and served directly from the grill. 

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Day 4 

Today we get up early to do something out of the ordinary.  

After breakfast we put your luggage in the car because we will leave Jambiana and move to the north of the island.  While your luggage travels by car, you on the other hand will travel by sea; because we will sail the entire east coast of Zanzibar in a dhow. An unprecedented trip, only offered by Rock Travel!  Half way, we stop and have lunch at the famous luxury Rock Restaurant, an icon of Zanzibar with great food in an unusual setting. The Rock is build on -indeed- a rock in the middle of the lagune; sometimes you can walk to it, other times they come and pick you up.  For us, either is good because we come with our own boat. 

After lunch we continue to Nungwi in the north where, upon arrival, your rooms in your beachfront hotel will be ready.

 

Day 5 

Today we take you into Nungwi town after breakfast, where our local guide will take you to the traditional dhow builders of Nungwi, to the aquarium where they shelter tortoise, often confiscated from illegal smugglers and to Nungwi main street where you can do some serious shopping

After lunch you have some free time to enjoy the sun and the beach or to wander some more in the village.

In the evening we invite you to a White Night at the beach. Everybody dresses in white to enjoy an evening dinner and live music

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Day 6 

Since we had a packed programme the last few days and probably a late White Night, today is a resting day in which you can do whatever you want. 

If you long for some more activity, like kite surfing, sailing or snorkelling we will gladly be of help. 

 

Day 7

Today we will discover first hand why Zanzibar is also called the spice island.  We say goodbye to our hotel in Nungwi and we hop on our minibus to take us to the spice farm in the central part of Zanzibar.  Here we are guided trough this huge farm where all kinds of spices and fruits are grown. You will see cardamom bushes and clove and cinnamon trees and our guide will explain you the culinary but also the medicinal qualities of all the spices grown here . You will eat mangoes and jackfruit straight from the tree and you'll drink coconut juice out of the recently harvested coconut. A marvellous initiation into the world of the spices we use so often in our kitchen at home.  After this tour you can enjoy a cooking class, given by Zanzibari women, with typical dishes out of the local kitchen.  And of course, what you cook is also your lunch, which we enjoy in this beautiful jungle like setting. After our copious lunch we roll into our minibus and continue to Stonetown, the magical capital of Zanzibar. Here we will stay in one of Stonetowns heritage hotels, dating back to the colonial times. 

 

Day 8

After breakfast on the roof terrace of our hotel, with views on the ocean and the rest of Stonetown, we meet our guide who will takes us through the narrow streets of this old place which has been a melting pot of cultures, religions and races all of its existence.  Queens Freddy Mercury (real name: Farrokh Bulsara) was born here and his parents belonged to the old Zoroastrianism religion, which originated in Persia.  Zanzibar was conquered by people of the Arabian peninsula, and visited by Persians, Indians, Portuguese and the Germans and English, which all left their traces. 

We'll have lunch in a typical Zanzibari restaurant, where locals and expats alike come to enjoy the specialities of the Stonetown cuisine. In the evening you can enjoy some free time; we'll give you plenty of options to choose from.  

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Day 9 

After breakfast we take a boat to the nearby Changu island, also known as slave island and tortoise island.  The island was used as late as the 19th century to lock up slaves before they were shipped off, but it also served at times as a quarantaine place (how appropriate at these times) for ships and their crew before entering Stonetown on the main island. Nowadays the old prison is a museum and restaurant.  The main attraction on the island though are the giant land tortoises.  Those old (the eldest is 190 years old!) gentle creatures can roam freely here and are descendants from tortoises which where taken as presents from ships that came from the Maldives. 

After this visit you have free time to lunch and to do some serious shopping in Stonetown and to prepare for the final rooftop dinner to top off this enchanting stay in Zanzibar.

 

Day 10 

Breakfast and transfer to the airport.

Includes:

* 10 days, 9 nights hotel based on a shared double room

* All breakfasts
* Dutch/English/French/German/Spanish-speaking guide, plus local guides.
* All entrance tickets to the places we visit

* All boat trips and excursions

* All transfers by minibus and/or boat

 

Rock Travel will provide you of course upfront with all necessary information on e-visa and health requirements for visiting Zanzibar.

The price does not include:

* Flights to and from Zanzibar

- Lunch and dinner
* Alcoholic drinks
* Personal expenses
* Traveller’s visum for Zanzibar (Tanzania)
* Travel insurance
* Cancellation insurance​

* Health tests

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