Zan Maldive Tours and Safaris

Tour type: Private tour

  • Stone Town Historical Tour

    Stone Town is the cultural and historical heart of Zanzibar, and the oldest continuously inhabited quarter on the island. Its lanes were built from coral stone through the 19th and 20th centuries, and in 2000 the whole quarter was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

    Arab, African, Indian and European influences sit side by side here. Streets run too narrow for cars, so the town is best seen on foot, and mosques, churches and Hindu temples stand within a few minutes of one another. Your guide leads you through the old slave market and its memorial, past the House of Wonders and the Old Fort, along the seafront to the former British and German consulates, and into Darajani market, where the produce, fish and spice stalls show how the town feeds itself.

    Along the way you hear the stories of the people who shaped the island: Princess Salme, who left the Sultan’s palace and wrote her memoirs in Germany, and Farrokh Bulsara, born in Stone Town and later known to the world as Freddie Mercury. The walk ends near Forodhani Gardens, which comes alive after sunset as one of the best street food markets in East Africa.

    The tour runs as a private walk with your own guide, or as a small shared group. Either way the pace stays relaxed, with time to stop, ask questions and photograph the carved doors Stone Town is known for.

  • Nakupenda Sandbank with Seafood Lunch

    Nakupenda means “I love you” in Kiswahili, and the sandbank earns the name. It sits a short boat ride off Stone Town, a strip of pure white sand surrounded on every side by shallow turquoise water. At high tide it shrinks to a sliver. At low tide it opens into a wide beach with nothing on it but your group, the shade tents and the sea.

    The day starts with a boat from Stone Town. On the way out you stop to snorkel over the reef, where the water is clear enough to see the coral and the tropical fish without effort. Masks, fins and life jackets come with the trip, and the crew stays in the water with anyone who wants support.

    On the sandbank your team sets up shade and serves a seafood barbecue: fresh fish, calamari, prawns and rice, with tropical fruit and soft drinks. After lunch the afternoon is yours to swim, walk the length of the bank or lie in the shade until the boat heads back.

    Morning and afternoon departures both run. Morning trips catch the calmest water and the best light for photographs. Afternoon trips work well if you are combining the day with a Stone Town walk.

  • Zanzibar Spice Farm Tour

    Zanzibar has been called the Spice Island for two centuries, and a morning on a working farm shows you why. Families here have grown spices for generations, and the plots outside town still produce cloves, vanilla, nutmeg, cardamom, cinnamon, black pepper, lemongrass and turmeric alongside jackfruit, papaya, coconut and citrus.

    This is a walking tour rather than a museum visit. Your guide, who grew up on this land, pulls a root, scrapes a bark or splits a pod and hands it to you. You smell each spice before you are told its name. You learn which plants go into the local dishes you have been eating, which go into herbal remedies still used across the island, and which appear in weddings and ceremonies.

    Along the way the farm team demonstrates coconut climbing and weaving, and lays out a tasting of seasonal tropical fruit. Most guests leave with a small bag of spices bought directly from the growers, at farm prices rather than market prices.

    The farm sits a short drive from Stone Town, so this excursion combines easily with a Stone Town walk, Prison Island or Jozani Forest to make a full day.

  • Prison Island Tour

    Changuu Island lies about thirty minutes by boat from Stone Town, and almost everyone knows it as Prison Island. The name is a small historical joke. The island was bought by General Lloyd Mathews and a prison was built there in 1893, but no prisoner was ever held in it. Instead the buildings became a quarantine station during yellow fever outbreaks, and the ruins still stand today.

    What draws visitors now is the tortoise sanctuary. A colony of Aldabra giant tortoises, originally a gift from the Seychelles, lives on the island under the care of a conservation team. The oldest animals are well over a century old. You are able to walk among them, feed them and photograph them at close range with a keeper present.

    After the sanctuary and the prison ruins, the rest of the visit belongs to the water. The island is ringed by a shallow reef and a small white beach, so there is time to snorkel, swim or sit in the shade before the boat returns to Stone Town.

    Prison Island runs as a half-day trip and pairs naturally with Stone Town, the spice farm or Nakupenda Sandbank for a full day.

  • Jozani Forest Tour

    Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park is the only national park on Unguja, and the last substantial piece of the groundwater forest once covering much of the island. It is also the only place in the world where the Zanzibar red colobus monkey lives, an endemic species named after the British consul Sir John Kirk.

    The monkeys are habituated and unafraid, so sightings are close and reliable. Troops feed and move through the canopy directly above the trail while your guide explains their social structure, their diet and the conservation work keeping the population stable. Sykes’ monkeys, bush babies, Ader’s duiker, butterflies and a long list of birds share the same forest.

    The second half of the visit follows a raised boardwalk through the mangrove swamp on the edge of Chwaka Bay. The walkway carries you over the tidal channels and root systems, and your guide explains how the mangrove protects the coast and feeds the fishery the villages depend on.

    The park sits about fifty kilometres from Stone Town on the road toward the east coast, so it combines easily with a spice farm morning or a Stone Town walk.

  • Mnemba Island Half-Day Tour

    Mnemba is a small private island off the north-east corner of Unguja, ringed by a marine conservation area with the healthiest coral and the clearest water on the island. The island itself is a private resort and closed to visitors, but the reef around it is open, and it is the best snorkelling ground in Zanzibar.

    Boats leave from the beach at Matemwe or Kiwengwa in the morning, when the water is calmest. On the way out the crew look for the resident pods of bottlenose and spinner dolphins. Sightings are common but never guaranteed, and the crew keep a respectful distance and follow local guidelines on how to enter the water.

    At the atoll you snorkel over the coral gardens. The reef here drops away gently, so the shallows suit beginners while the edge rewards confident swimmers. Angelfish, parrotfish, moray eels and turtles are all seen regularly. Gear and life jackets are provided.

    At low tide the boat will also stop at a sandbank near the atoll before returning. Fruit and soft drinks are served on board, and you are back at your hotel in time for lunch.

  • Safari Blue Zanzibar

    Safari Blue is the classic full-day dhow excursion in Zanzibar, and it earns its reputation. The day runs from Fumba on the south-west coast, out into the Menai Bay Conservation Area, on a traditional wooden dhow with a local crew.

    The first stop is the reef, where snorkelling gear is handed out and you spend an hour over live coral and shoals of reef fish. From there the dhow sails on to a mangrove lagoon of extraordinary colour, then to a sandbank that surfaces as the tide drops.

    Lunch is served on an uninhabited island: a seafood barbecue with grilled fish, calamari, rice, salads and a spread of tropical fruit, eaten under the palms. The afternoon is free to swim, walk the shoreline or sit in the shade. On the sail home the crew raise the sail properly, and if conditions allow the day finishes with the sun going down over the water.

    The day is long, roughly eight hours door to door, and it is the single best value excursion on the island for anyone who wants sea, food and sailing in one trip.

  • Zanzibar Aquarium and Caves

    Zanzibar sits on ancient coral rock, and where the rock has collapsed inward the island has opened up a set of natural freshwater caves. Three of them are open to visitors and each has its own character: Kuza Cave near Jambiani, tied to Swahili cultural heritage; Maalum Cave near Paje, a deep blue swimming pool under an open roof; and Salaam Cave at Kizimkazi, small, dark and lit by candlelight.

    The water in the caves is fresh, cool and still, filtered through the coral rock. Swimming in them is a different experience from the ocean and a welcome break from the heat.

    The tour pairs the caves with a visit to the natural turtle aquarium, a large tidal pool set in the coral rock behind the beach. It began as a rehabilitation and study site for marine turtles and now works to protect the local population. A keeper explains the work, and you are able to feed the turtles seaweed or get into the pool for a closer encounter.

    The visit takes two to three hours and works well as a half-day for guests staying on the east or south coast.

  • Zanzibar Quad Bike Tour

    Most visitors see Zanzibar from a minibus on the tarmac road. A quad takes you off it. The route runs on sand tracks and field paths through rice paddies, banana and sugar cane plots and small villages in the island’s interior, on ground no ordinary vehicle reaches.

    The morning opens at the quad base with a safety briefing and a lesson on the controls. The machines are 450cc automatics, so no gear changing is involved, and beginners are common. You ride solo or two up with a companion.

    An English-speaking guide leads the group, sets the pace and stops regularly for photographs, questions and a stretch. One stop is at a village, where you meet people going about their day and see rural Zanzibar as it is, away from the beach hotels.

    The ride takes about half a day including the briefing. Complimentary fruit and soft drinks are served, and safety equipment is provided.

  • Sunset Dhow Cruise

    Sunset over the Indian Ocean is the one thing every visitor to Zanzibar remembers, and the best place to watch it is from the water rather than the beach.

    The cruise runs about two and a half hours from start to finish. You are met with a non-alcoholic welcome drink and taken the short distance to the launch point, where your captain and guide explain the route and what to look for. The boat then heads out along the coast, with the guide talking through what you are seeing and stopping wherever the view earns a photograph.

    Light refreshments and snacks are served on board at the viewpoint. As the sun drops the crew turn the boat so everyone gets an uninterrupted view, and after sunset you sail back in the last of the light.

    The cruise suits couples, families and anyone wanting a relaxed end to the day. It also pairs well with a Stone Town walking tour, where the town visit fills the afternoon and the boat takes the evening.

  • Nungwi Village Tour

    Nungwi sits at the northern tip of Unguja and is the last place on the island where ocean-going dhows are still built by hand on the beach. Local people call the village experience the Thousand Hands of Zanzibar, because everything you see here is made by hand: the boats, the rope, the mats, the nets and the fish traps.

    The visit is a guided walk through the village at an easy pace. You meet the boat builders working on hulls under the palms, and see how a dhow is shaped without plans, using knowledge passed down through families. You watch coir rope being twisted, palm leaf being woven into mats and baskets, and the fishermen bringing in and sorting the catch.

    Your guide introduces you to the people you meet, translates and explains the daily rhythm of a fishing village: how the tide sets the working day, how the co-operative works and how the crafts feed both local use and the tourist trade.

    The tour takes about half a day and includes refreshments, bottled water and, on the extended version, a picnic lunch of traditional village food. It is one of the most straightforward ways to meet Zanzibaris rather than only see the island.

  • Zanzibar Cooking Class

    Zanzibari food is the clearest record of the island’s history. Indian spice, Arab technique, Portuguese ingredients and African staples meet in dishes like pilau, biryani, urojo soup and coconut fish curry.

    This class puts you in the kitchen rather than at the table. A local chef takes you through ingredient selection, preparation, the order in which spices go into a dish and why, and how the flavours are balanced at the end. The teaching is hands-on and unhurried, and the group stays small enough for everyone to cook rather than watch.

    Beyond the cooking, the session includes the wider setting: Swahili dress, local music and dance, and conversation with the family hosting you. You then sit down and eat what you have made.

    The class works for complete beginners and for confident cooks. It is a good option for a rainy afternoon, for families, and for anyone who wants to take a genuine skill home rather than a souvenir.

  • Horse Riding Experience

    Riding a horse along an empty Zanzibar beach at low tide is one of those experiences people plan a whole trip around. The stables run guided rides for complete beginners and for experienced riders, matching the horse and the pace to your level.

    The route follows the shoreline and inland trails through coastal woodland and small settlements. Guides ride with you throughout, and for beginners they lead from the ground until you are comfortable.

    The highlight for most people comes near the end: taking the horses into the shallows and swimming with them. It is a calm, gentle thing, and the horses are used to it. Bring a waterproof camera.

    Sunset rides are the most requested option and suit couples and honeymooners. Morning rides are cooler and better for families with children.

  • The Rock Restaurant Experience

    The Rock sits on a coral outcrop in the Indian Ocean, a short distance off the white sand of Michamvi Pingwe on the south-east coast of Unguja. It is one of the most photographed restaurants in the world, and the setting is genuinely as unusual as the pictures suggest.

    How you reach it depends on the tide. At low tide you walk across the sand and rock from the beach. At high tide a small boat runs you over from the shore, usually at no extra charge, and the building appears to float.

    The kitchen focuses on seafood, and the atmosphere is relaxed and romantic rather than formal. It suits a long lunch, a sunset dinner, an anniversary or a proposal, more than a quick meal.

    We handle the part most visitors find difficult: the table. The restaurant is small and books out well ahead in high season. We reserve for you, arrange return transfers from your hotel anywhere on the island, and time your arrival to the tide.

  • Transparent Kayak and Drone Experience

    A transparent kayak turns a paddle into a viewing platform. The hull is clear, so the coral, the fish and the sand ripples pass directly beneath you while you stay dry on top. In the shallow, calm water off Nungwi and Kendwa the visibility is good enough to see everything without putting your head under.

    A local instructor briefs you on paddling and safety, then goes out with you. No experience is needed and the kayaks are stable enough for complete beginners, including children paddling with an adult.

    What makes this trip different is the drone. A professional operator films you from above throughout the session, and you receive the footage and stills afterwards. On clear water at the right time of day the aerial shots are the best photographs most guests take home from Zanzibar.

    The session lasts about an hour on the water and works best in the calm hours of the morning or late afternoon.

  • Jozani Forest and Butterfly Centre

    This half-day trip pairs Zanzibar’s only national park with the community butterfly project next door, and covers most of the island’s land wildlife in a single morning.

    Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park comes first. The forest trails carry you into the territory of the endemic Zanzibar red colobus monkey, found nowhere else on earth. Sykes’ monkeys, bush babies, Ader’s duiker, butterflies and forest birds share the same trees, and your guide finds them and explains how the conservation programme works.

    The Zanzibar Butterfly Centre sits beside the park entrance. It is a community project: local farmers rear butterfly pupae for the enclosure and for export, which gives villages an income from keeping the forest standing. Inside the netted garden dozens of native species fly around you, and the keepers show you chameleons, bush babies, elephant shrews and other small residents.

    The combination works particularly well for families and for anyone with an interest in conservation, since both sites explain what protecting the forest actually pays for.

  • Stone Town and Prison Island

    The two best-known half-day excursions in Zanzibar, joined into one full day with a single transfer. It is the most popular combination we run, and the natural choice for anyone with only one free day.

    The morning belongs to Stone Town. Your guide walks you through the coral stone lanes of the UNESCO World Heritage Site: the former slave market and its memorial, the Old Fort, the House of Wonders on the seafront, the Sultan’s Palace and the produce stalls of Darajani market. Along the way you hear the stories of Princess Salme and Farrokh Bulsara, the boy from Stone Town later known as Freddie Mercury.

    In the afternoon you take the boat out to Changuu Island. Despite the name, no prisoner was ever held there. The building went up in 1893 and became a quarantine station instead. Today the island is known for its colony of Aldabra giant tortoises, some over a century old, and you are able to walk among them and feed them with a keeper present.

    The island is ringed by a shallow reef and a small white beach, so the day ends with time to snorkel or swim before the boat returns to Stone Town.

  • Stone Town and Spice Farm

    One of our most requested full-day combinations, and a good introduction to what makes Zanzibar different from any other beach destination.

    The morning covers Stone Town on foot with your own guide: Darajani market, the former slave market, the Old Fort, and the seafront views of the House of Wonders and the Sultan’s Palace. Your guide fills in the people behind the buildings, from Princess Salme to Farrokh Bulsara, and helps you bargain in the craft and souvenir shops tucked into the narrow lanes.

    After a morning of history the afternoon explains the island’s other name. A short drive from Stone Town brings you to the spice farms, where pepper, cloves, nutmeg, vanilla, cinnamon, cardamom and turmeric grow alongside tropical fruit. This is a walking tour on a working farm: your guide pulls, scrapes and splits the plants as you go, so you smell each spice before you are told what it is.

    You finish knowing how the spices you have been eating all week are grown, used in local medicine and used in ceremony, and usually with a bag of them bought at farm prices.

  • Stone Town and Jozani Forest

    Wildlife and history in one day, running the forest first while the monkeys are active and the day is still cool.

    You arrive at Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park in the mid-morning. The trails lead into the territory of the endangered Zanzibar red colobus monkey, a species living nowhere else on earth. Bush babies, Ader’s duiker, Sykes’ monkeys, butterflies and forest birds share the same trees. Your guide finds the troops, explains their behaviour and takes you across the mangrove boardwalk on the edge of Chwaka Bay.

    The afternoon moves to Stone Town. This UNESCO World Heritage Site carries African, Indian, European and Arabic influences in a few square kilometres of coral stone lanes. Your guide leads you past Darajani market, the former slave market and Forodhani Gardens, with views over the House of Wonders, and fills in the stories of Princess Salme, Farrokh Bulsara and Bi Kidude.

    The day finishes at the Old Fort with time for craft and souvenir shopping before the drive back to your hotel.

  • Spice Farm and Prison Island

    Land and sea in one day, and a good pairing for anyone who wants the island’s two signature experiences without a long drive.

    The morning runs in the countryside, on a working spice farm where cloves, vanilla, nutmeg, cardamom, cinnamon and black pepper grow beside tropical fruit. The two-hour walk is hands on. Your guide handles the plants as you go, and explains how each spice is used in Zanzibari cooking, in herbal medicine and in ceremony. Fruit is cut and served as you walk.

    In the afternoon you head to Stone Town to catch the boat over to Changuu Island, about thirty minutes across the channel. There you visit the foundation caring for the colony of Aldabra giant tortoises, walk through the 1893 prison and quarantine buildings, and then have time to swim, snorkel and sunbathe on the small white beach.

    Pack your swimwear under your clothes in the morning so the afternoon runs without a change of plan.

  • Prison Island and Nakupenda Sandbank

    A full day at sea, pairing the island’s most famous wildlife with its most photographed sandbank.

    The morning boat takes you across to Changuu Island, better known as Prison Island. There your guide introduces the colony of Aldabra giant tortoises, some more than a century old, and walks you through the 1893 prison and quarantine buildings. There is time to feed the tortoises, photograph them and hear the story of how they arrived from the Seychelles.

    From there the boat sails on to Nakupenda Sandbank, a strip of white sand surrounded by shallow turquoise water and nothing else. Your shade tent is set up and a seafood barbecue is served with tropical fruit and soft drinks. The rest of the afternoon is yours: swimming in exceptionally clear water, snorkelling the reef nearby, walking the length of the bank or lying in the shade.

    The boat returns to Stone Town in the late afternoon, and your driver takes you back to your hotel.

  • Prison Island, Nakupenda Sandbank and Stone Town

    Three of the island’s signature experiences in a single day. It is the busiest tour we run and the best answer for anyone with one day and a long list.

    You start at Forodhani Park in Stone Town and take the boat across to Changuu Island. There you walk the 1893 prison and quarantine buildings and meet the colony of Aldabra giant tortoises, with time to feed and photograph them among the island’s trees and birdlife.

    The dhow then sails on to Nakupenda Sandbank, a stretch of white sand surrounded by turquoise water. You swim, snorkel and relax while a fresh seafood barbecue is prepared on the beach and served with tropical fruit and soft drinks. Free photographs of the day are included.

    In the afternoon the boat returns to Stone Town for a guided walking tour: the Old Fort, the House of Wonders, the Slave Market Museum, the cultural sites and the local markets. The day ends with the transfer back to your hotel.

  • Spice Farm and Jozani Forest

    The best land-based day on the island, and the right choice for guests more interested in nature and farming than in boats.

    The morning starts in Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park, home of the endangered Zanzibar red colobus monkey and the last substantial piece of the groundwater forest once covering Unguja. Bush babies, duikers, butterflies and forest birds live in the same trees. Keep your eyes on the canopy and your guide will find the troops. The walk finishes on the mangrove boardwalk crossing the tidal forest.

    The afternoon runs on a working spice farm a short drive from Stone Town. Pepper, cloves, nutmeg, vanilla and cinnamon grow here alongside herbs and tropical fruit. Your guide handles the plants as you walk, so you taste and smell everything at the source, and explains how each spice reaches the local kitchen, the herbal medicine chest and the ceremonies at the heart of Zanzibari culture.

    Fruit is cut and served, and there is time at the farm shop before the drive back.

  • Jozani Forest and Prison Island

    A full day of nature across two very different habitats, the forest and the reef.

    The morning walk goes through Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park, the only national park on Unguja and a safe haven for the famous endemic Kirk’s red colobus monkey. Your guide leads you along the nature trail and helps you spot the troops, along with the forest’s other residents: Sykes’ monkeys, bush babies, duikers, butterflies and birds. The route also crosses the mangrove forest on the raised boardwalk.

    Later in the day you are driven to Stone Town to catch the boat over to Changuu Island, a crossing of about thirty minutes. On arrival your guide sets out the story of the prison built in 1893 and never used to hold prisoners, and introduces the famous giant land tortoises.

    The rest of the afternoon is free to relax, swim, snorkel the shallow reef or sunbathe before the boat returns.