Zan Maldive Tours and Safaris

Travel style: Group travel

  • 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.

  • 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 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.

  • Zanzibar Zipline Adventure

    The zipline course runs on steel cables strung high above the forest, and it is the only way to see the Zanzibar canopy from above. You are fitted into a full harness, briefed by the ground crew and then sent out along a series of connected lines, some of them linked by suspension bridges.

    Between the runs there is a guided walk on the forest floor, where the guides point out the trees, the birds and the small wildlife living in the canopy you have been flying over. The mix of adrenaline and quiet forest walking makes the session more interesting than a pure adventure ride.

    Guides handle every clip and check personally, run the safety briefing before anything else happens, and stay with the group throughout. No experience is needed and first-timers make up most of each session.

    The activity works well for families with older children, for couples and for groups looking for something active between beach days.

  • 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.

  • 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, Prison Island and Nakupenda Sandbank

    The walking spice tour is one of the most popular excursions in Zanzibar, and for good reason. The island was once among the world’s leading producers of clove, nutmeg and cinnamon, and the organic farms still grow a wide variety of plants through the year.

    This day starts there, on foot in a shamba, with your guide showing you how the spices, herbs and fruit grow and are harvested. You smell and taste clove, lemongrass, nutmeg, cinnamon, turmeric, vanilla, coconut, papaya, chilli, black pepper, jackfruit, cardamom, cassava and orange as you walk.

    From the farm you go on to Prison Island, where you hear the history of the 1893 building and meet the colony of giant tortoises. Then the boat sails to Nakupenda Sandbank for a seafood lunch, swimming and time in the shade on a strip of white sand surrounded by turquoise water.

    It is a long day covering land and sea, and the best value combination we run for anyone with a single free day.

  • Stone Town and Dhow Sunset Cruise

    Combining the Stone Town walking tour with a dhow sunset cruise gives you the best of the town and the water in one afternoon and evening, and finishes with the part most day tours miss.

    The walk starts in the afternoon, when the light in the old lanes is at its best. Your guide covers the former slave market, the Old Fort, the House of Wonders and the seafront, mixing the history with the stories of the people who lived here, and helps you bargain in the craft shops.

    As the afternoon closes you board a traditional dhow. The boat heads out along the coast and turns so everyone has a clear view as the sun goes down over the water. Soft drinks and seasonal fruit are served on board.

    Back on land the day ends at Forodhani Gardens, where the night food market sets up along the seafront: grilled seafood, Zanzibar pizza, sugar cane juice and a crowd of local families. Missing it would be a shame, and this is the tour built around not missing it.