The Zanzibari Hotel in Zanzibar

After a wonderful, week-long safari on the mainland, we flew to Zanzibar and spent four wonderful nights at the Zanzibari. The property is located in a quiet part of Nungwi and away from the hustle and bustle of the touristy stuff.

Our first meeting with The Zanzibari was when we were picked up at our hotell in StoneTown. It was an interesting drive for us since the driver, because we were interested, explained everything we saw from StoneTown to Nungwi.

We wanted a place where we could have some private time if we wanted, but also get to know other people. This is such a place. If we wanted privacy, we could go into one of the many “hiding” places on the sand and stay there. On the sand front (on top of the cliff, facing the laguna) there were sunbeds and some big koozy chairs which you could climb into and just stay there.

The staff was very friendly and took great pains to meet all of our needs. The food was not typical of hotel meals and was so good that we rarely ate off-site.

The small size of the property gave it a home-like feel and we felt more like residents than guests.

This may not be the ideal location for high energy people who need every minute of their time filled.

However, it was perfect for some like me who enjoys just relaxing while I am on vacation.

The tides, rocks, and sea urchins can sometimes make this a challenging beach, but there are several pools on the grounds and it's possible to walk to other beaches.

Additionally, plan to get up early to watch the sunrise of forget time while lounging in the sand and watching the fishermen go out to see in their homemade wood Dhows.

The open air dining and bar areas made for a truly island feel. I stayed in one of the villas and enjoyed sleeping alfresco.

Yes, there is a few thing to remember. There is stairs down to the water, and at this time of the year we had to check the tide table (on a blackboard at the pool) to see when we could go out or not. So it is not a place if you want to go swimming all the time, or want sand under the water (we had rocks). We were told with a different wind the sand would be washed up on the beach.

You could on the other hand, have that experience of walking to the barrier between the lagoon and the open see. You could walk on the riverbank to the village or take one of the canoes of for a spin.

All in all: It is a lovely place, and a place we want to go back to (and we normaly don’t say that). The staff takes care of you and does what they can for you. This is not a place for party and disco, but if you want peace and a friendly place in Africa – this is where you should go!