Zanzibar Tours

While you're staying at 236 Hurumzi, there are various local tour companies which offer a good service at a reasonable cost. If you have not arranged your tours, we will help you to contact independent, local tour operators and make sure you get a well informed guide. With the growth of tourism in Zanzibar, a culture of hustlers or beach boys has developed. Many of them are very nice, but there are some who are currently using drugs. We recommend that you do not go on tours without informing the hotel as to who is hosting you and at what time we should expect you back. That way, in the unlikely event of a car breakdown or any other problem, we will know when to start worrying.
Tour Listings

Kizimkazi Tour
Mkokotoni Village
Spice Tour
Prison Island Tour
Grave Island
Jozani Forest
Walking Tours


Kizimkazi Tour
A tour to Kizimkazi, taking in the old mosque. This building remains the oldest, unarguable confirmation of colonial settlement in East Africa and bears a Kufic inscription dating it to the 11th Century. More serious historians should include a visit to Uzi island nearby. Small boats may be rented for an almost certain swim with the famous friendly dolphins of Kizimkazi.

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Mkokotoni Village Tumbatu
A trip to Mkokotoni village at the north end of the island. This is the ferrying point to Tumbatu island and the Mkokotoni market is the major point where Tumbatuans sell their fish to Ungujans. For the more adventurous, a trip to Tumbatu Island. where you can visit the only ancient mosque built directly at the sea on the East African coast. The mosque's time of construction is a disputed date anywhere from the 11th to the 17th century. Should you be here at the end of July, you should enjoy the once in a lifetime experience of the celebration of Mwaka Kogua. Dress: festive.

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Grave Island & Slaves and Spices Tour
In the 19th Century, the islands of Zanzibar received a major boost in the spice trade with the Omani introduction of cloves. Zanzibar had a near monopoly on the world trade for a long time and despite the emphasis on the wealth gained from the sale of slaves and ivory, the clove industry was the real foundation of the golden age of Zanzibar. This was however, not the beginning of the spice trade, it was only the climax.

For centuries, there had been introductions and exploitations of different forms of spices between the Zanzibaris and the other civilizations of the Indian Ocean basin. Spices were traded along this coast with the Egyptian Fatmid and Mamiukian dynasties and later with the Byzantine and Ottoman empires. The industry provided a source of the wealth and increased trade and economic growth of the middle east in the middle ages.
The small spice plots owned by individual farmers are a relatively new phenomenon here. Previously, large plantations were worked by slaves. The individual spice farmer is the heir of his slave forefathers.

An interesting route for the spice tour begins at the Anglican Cathedral which was constructed to commemorate the end of slavery in East Africa. The monuments and relics for the past are deeply moving and the building itself is the physical commemoration of one of the greater moments in human history. To pass from this Cathedral through the spice farms and on to the slave caves at Mwangapani, where hundreds of people were packed into a horrible hole to await death or a lifetime of slavery, is a Journey from our finest ideals back to our darkest, cruelest depths.

A side tour, which is very rarely taken is a trip to Grave Island. The cemetery is dedicated to those people who lost their lives fighting against the slave trade. We hope that someone will one day write a book, based on the personal tragedies of the men who lost their lives in that fight.

This is not just a delightful tour of the senses, but also of cultural and universal historical significance.

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Prison Island Tour


This small island, a few kilometers west of Zanzibar town has a horrible history. Safely away from Unguja and yet always within view of Zanzibar town, it was first used by an Arab slave merchant to detain recalcitrant slaves. In the 1890s a General Matthews bought the island and built what was intended to be the prison for Zanzibar. The building was, however, never used as such. Later, it became a quarantine station for Zanzibar, Kenya, Uganda and then Tanganyika.
Today Prison Island is known for its giant tortoises. It offers excellent views of Zanzibar town, fine bathing and snorkeling. We can arrange for an excellent boat captain to escort you. Be sure to have $1.00 to pay admission to the park.

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Jozani Forest Tour
We encourage you to take at least a small walk through the rainforest, which is uniquely beautiful and very peaceful. If you have any doubts about other mammals having personality, character and choice of behavior, make sure you spend enough time in the rainforests to see the Red Colobus monkeys who shun the cheap feasts provided by tourists along the road. Just as in our human community, there are introverts and extroverts -- or normal people and showmen ~ the Red Colobus monkeys along the road will do anything for a banana -- some will even do x-rated porno. Those that remain deeper in the forest, however, maintain a shy dignity and a grace which is poignantly beautiful.

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Real Walking Tours
Walking tours of Stone Town can easily be arranged from our hotel. Refer to our reception and they will direct you to the most well informed guides suited to your needs. John Da Silva was once available for some very interesting historical tours of the Stone Town with many details concerning both the art and history of the town. John still does tours on occasion, but we have another guide named Shabani Haroub who gives excellent tours of the Stone Town and he is well versed in the history and art of the town. Other guides may also be arranged for if you are interested in shopping and touring combined. Our able reception will arrange a tour according to your needs.

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