Top 6 Best Zanzibar’s Islands : Luxury Retreats And Underwater Adventures : The Zanzibar archipelago, also known as the “Spice Islands,” is made up of a necklace-shaped group of islands that bead their way down the East African coast, off the coast of Tanzania. The main island, whose city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, contains sister island Pemba with huge clove plantations and the Mafia Archipelago, which is close by and famous for its magnificent coral reefs and whale sharks. Others provide opulent retreats, diving excursions, and rare marine life. Here are the six best islands in and near the Zanzibar Archipelago:
- Zanzibar (Unguja)
Zanzibar, the largest island in an archipelago of many, is actually called Unguja but is more commonly called Zanzibar. It’s 35 kilometers from the Tanzanian mainland, 85 kilometers long, and 39 kilometers broad at its widest point.
Nungwi, Matemwe, Jambiani, and Bwejuu are thought to be the most attractive of the many magnificent salt-white beaches that line its coasts, which include Chumbe and Mnemba. There are numerous hotels on the island to suit every taste and budget.
The Matemwe Retreat, which is owned by Asilia Africa, is located on Nungwi, at the northernmost point of the island. Flame Tree Cottages may be more affordable for yoga enthusiasts, yet the beautiful Essque Zalu Zanzibar offers the pinnacle of tropical island luxury.
Additionally, there is the luxurious Park Hyatt Zanzibar, which offers the best breakfast in town; the evocative Emerson Spice; and the budget-friendly Stone Town Cafe, a top-notch B&B.
The island’s long history of thriving in the spice trade extends to the unusual; lush, tiny farms abound, and vanilla and pepper plants cling alongside clove and cinnamon trees.
Without visiting Stone Town, the Zanzibar’s capital and a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site, no vacation to Zanzibar would be complete.
The flamboyant capital of the island is rich in culture and filled with magnificent historic structures that bear witness to its fascinating past. The Beit-al-Ajaib, also known as the House of Wonders, commands respect as it towers majestically over the shoreline.
The Old Customs House, constructed in 1865, provides a reminder of the island’s past as a bustling commercial station, while the Slave Market serves as a horrifying reminder of the horrors of human trafficking.
There are a ton of adorable boutiques nestled away in tiny lanes, including one run by a local designer named Doreen Mashika and another called Mrembo Spa that sells flowers, herbs, and spices that are cultivated nearby.
As for restaurants, The Tea House at Emerson Spice is a magnificent rooftop restaurant with views across Stone Town and into the sea, and The Taperia is a lovely verandah tapas café above the former Post Office. Last but not least, dinner at The Secret Garden, tucked within the courtyard of an old Omani palace, is about as unique as it gets. Indulge in the specialty degustation menu.
- Top 6 Best Zanzibar’s Islands : Pemba Island
While the famous clove business of Zanzibar is frequently linked with the main island, Pemba currently produces the majority of the cloves in the region.
Pemba is a 40-minute trip by small aircraft from Dar es Salaam and is referred to as “The Green Island” because it is hillier and more fertile than its sister island. It is tiny and 48 kilometers north of Zanzibar. Additionally, there are fewer hotels and fewer tourists, and it is considerably quieter.
At the island’s farthest northern point, the Manta Resort has a special underwater room that floats offshore, complete with a rooftop deck and lounge.
The hotel’s centerpiece is a glass-walled bedroom that is four meters under the water’s surface and is surrounded by a marine protection zone.
The astounding underwater seascapes and abundant, vividly colored marine life that Pemba is home to are part of what make it a true tropical paradise. As a result, Pemba is a great place to go diving.
Eight kilometers off the west coast of Pemba, the marine conservation area of Misali offers some of the best diving in East Africa and is also a haven for breeding turtles. Tours can be arranged through the Zanzibar Ocean Panorama Hotel in the southern village of Mkoani.
A beautiful colony of the island’s flying foxes, a sizable bat native to the island, is located in the Kidike Sanctuary. The sanctuary’s population is allowed to coexist peacefully because a neighboring local cemetery reduces foot traffic.
- Top 6 Best Zanzibar’s Islands : Mafia Island
Mafia, the third-largest of the isles that dot the Tanzanian coast, gets its name from the Arabic term “Morfiyeh,” which means “group of islands.” Mafia is ruled from the mainland and is a part of another tiny group of islands and atolls in the area, despite the fact that many people mistakenly believe it to be a part of the Zanzibar archipelago.
It is located south of Zanzibar and served as a significant port of call for centuries-old commercial ships from Egypt, Rome, Portugal, and Greece that traversed these seas. Mafia boasts some of the best diving in the world and is far less crowded than Zanzibar, like Pemba.
Due to the Mainland Rivers that flow into the sea here, the waters surrounding the island are incredibly fertile, which means they are a favorite breeding place for humpback whales that return every year to reproduce. They also have an astounding population of whale sharks.
There are several places to stay, but one of the loveliest is the eco lodge Pole-Pole, which is located on the southern end of the island and has easy access to the marine conservation zones. Pole Pole’s name translates to “slowly, slowly,” an invitation to relax and take it easy. The west coast’s Butiama Beach Hotel is another location that is suggested.
Mafia Diving is a superb tiny business around Pole Pole that won’t only accommodate your underwater excursions like snorkeling, reef diving, and swimming with whale sharks. Additionally, they will take you on sunset cruises across the Mafia archipelago, to Juani Island to see turtles hatch, and to Little Chole Island, which is a 10-minute boat journey from Pole-Pole, to visit what may be the only fruit bat refuge in East Africa for the Comoros lesser fruit bat. Explore the beautifully deteriorating 19th-century ruins nearby as well. Then, quench your thirst with a beer at the Red Herring bar while taking in the stunning sea views.
- Top 6 Best Zanzibar’s Islands : Chumbe Island
A few kilometers off the coast of Zanzibar, Chumbe is identified by a large lighthouse that rises high, white as snow, piercing the sky’s blue hue. It resembles a huge “You’re here!” exclamation point. The lighthouse, which was built by the British in 1904, holds a place in the annals of maritime history.
On September 20, 1914, it saw the legendary sea conflict between the “Konigsberg” and the “Pegasus” during the German-British skirmish that came to be known as the Battle of Zanzibar. The lighthouse, which was gas-powered in 1926, is still operational today and beams cheerily all through the night at the dhows that navigate these seas.
In 1994, Chumbe Island Coral Park, the first privately established and privately administered marine protected area in the world, was established for the island and the waters around it. It was established by former German charity worker Sibylle Riedmiller, who first swam in the area’s waters 25 years ago, and is entirely financed by ecotourism.
The coral reefs in this area are incredibly diverse, and J.E.N. Vernon of the Australian Institute of Marine Science called them “one of the most spectacular ‘coral gardens’ anywhere in the world.”
On the mile-long eastern side of the island, 450 different types of fish and more than 200 different hard coral species can be found. Divers are not permitted, which is unusual—and gratifying—for a reef that is popular with tourists. Only observational surface snorkeling is permitted. But Chumbe is not just home to a hidden variety of marine life; it also has large, uncommon Aders’s duikers and endangered coconut crabs.
One of the most endangered species of antelope was given a safe haven on the island in 1998, when the first of these elusive animals was introduced. The sole lodging and dining options are the eco bungalows, a collection of seven exquisite cottages perched on stilts. However, Chumbe is easily accessible from Zanzibar, where you may swim the reefs and explore the coral rag island.
If you choose to stay the night, guides will accompany you while you seek out crabs after dark. The coconut crab, which can weigh up to five kilograms and have a lifespan of 60 years, is the world’s largest land-dwelling anthropoid. To find food, such as coconuts, which they take from trees and split open with their claws like enormous nutcrackers, they use a highly developed sense of smell.
- Top 6 Best Zanzibar’s Islands : Mnemba Island
The “Millionaire’s Island,” according to Beyond, just 4.5 kilometers off Zanzibar’s northernmost point, is Mnemba Island. This tiny island, measuring only 500 meters in diameter and 1.5 kilometers in circumference, is encircled by an oval reef known as the Mnemba Atoll, a marine protected area.
It may be accessed via a 90-minute drive from Stone Town via the luscious spice farms that cover Zanzibar Island, which are tantalizingly close but out of reach of the pockets of common mortals. There is only one lodge in this area, and Mnemba Island is made up of just 10 oceanfront “Bandas,” which provide the height of barefoot luxury.
Even if the lodge is full, you will be one of fewer than twenty guests, and there will be three lodge employees on duty to cater to your every need. This little resort is well-known not only for its price—a night’s stay there starts at roughly $1,155 per person per night—but also for the seclusion it offers and its contribution to marine conservation.
With employees recording all turtle breeding activities, a monitoring and preservation project for the green turtles that nest here has been running for more than 20 years.
While the island offers the ideal setting for lounging on the beach and doing absolutely nothing but gazing at the water and the sky, you may get active if you so desire, owing to a Professional Association of Diving Instructors center nearby as well as options for kayaking and snorkeling.
- Top 6 Best Zanzibar’s Islands : Thanda Island
Along with the equally uninhabited islands of Nyororo and Mbarakuni, Thanda, also known by its original name Shungu Mbili, is sandwiched between Tanzania and the Mafia and is located within its own marine park.
It is owned by Swedish businesspeople and philanthropists Dan and Christin Olofsson, who came across it in 2006 while looking for a private island hideaway. It is a part of the Mafia Island neighborhood.
While doing aerial surveillance along the Tanzanian coast, they came across the little island, which resembled a teardrop with an emerald interior and a salt-white rim of beach in azure waters. It can be easily walked around in 20 minutes and is only 250 by 200 meters.
A large, opulent beach mansion that is more Martha’s Vineyard than tropical exotic is available at Thanda, which offers some of the most opulent island living you will ever discover. Five enormous bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms and additional space for children make up the villa, which you rent in full. It sleeps 10 adults.
The rest of your large group can stay in a pair of Robinson Crusoe-style huts on the opposite side of the island, increasing the total number of bedrooms on the island to nine. Thanda is a good place to launch from because the diving in the sea near Mafia is well-known; Chole Bay is particularly good.
The placid dugong (also known as a sea cow) is believed to find sanctuary in these deeper waterways, while the smaller islands surrounding the archipelago, particularly Shungu Mbili, continue to be important turtle nesting grounds.
Booking Thanda reserves your use of the entire island, including all of its watercraft (skis, jet skis, kayaks, and boats). You will be cut off from the outside world by the more than one kilometer of sea that surrounds it. Even the paparazzi are unable to approach here.
