Seychelles or Zanzibar?
 

Hi Everyone - I am planning a 3 week trip to Africa in September of this year (hopefully!) We are thinking of a 2 - 2 1/2 week safari in Tanzania & Kenya, followed by several days in either the Seychelles or Zanzibar? Any advice on which might be a better back end destination?

Also, if your recommendation is Seychelles, which island? Thanks so much!

Seychelles are wonderful, but 3-4/days maybe difficult as flight schedules might not be daily between East Africa/SEZ (3/hr flight w/ 1/hr time difference, so minimum 5/hrs till you're at your hotel if staying on Mahe [main island] or Praslin [an outer island]). You'd also probably have to fly from Nairobi, so coordinating your int'l flights will have to be taken into consideration.

From Tanzania mainland, it's much easier to visit Zanzibar, Pemba (ZNZ's sister island), Mafia (for great Scuba). Or, still on the mainland, south of DAR by road or short flight is Ras Kutani resort, with some new suites. Flight time is about 1/hr to ZNZ and 30/min to 1/hr transfer to hotel/resort.

If you could afford 7/days for the SEZ, then I'd consider this. There are lovely resorts, at all budgets on all the islands; the most expensive being Fregate and North Islands each w/ single lux resorts. There's also a Banyan Tree and Lumuria Resort on Mahe and Praslin Islands, a tad less expensive, but you save on the private heli transfer.

Just for the record, Pemba is not ZNZ's sister island. Zanzibar is the collective name for the group of islands off the coast of mainland Tanzania. Unguja is the largest and is sometimes incorrectly called Zanzibar. In addition to Unguja and Pemba, there are many smaller islands.

A similar situtation exists for Fiji, where many people confuse the name for the group of islands with one island.

tuckeg -

Yup, my error. Zanzibar the name of the chain of islands.