Zanzibar - Spice Tour, Jozani Forest - help with logistics
 

We arrive at the Zanzibar airport (from Pemba) at 11 AM, and will be traveling to Breezes Beach Club where we will stay for a few days. Does it make sense (and is it possible) to (1) do the Spice Tour and/or Jozani Forest en route from the airport to Breezes, (2) do either or both of these tours starting and ending at Breezes or (3) do either or both of these tours on our last day, when we have a 1pm flight out of the Zanzibar airport? I'm having trouble finding a map showing the locations relative to each other. Are options (1) and (3) possible on a tour or should we hire a private guide. Thanks your help in advance!

You can certainly do the Jozani Forest tour on the way to Breezes, thus arriving at resort late afternoon. I'd save the Spice Tour for another day.

If you wish to do the Jozani on arrival, I'd pre-arrange with your land operator, so after airport meet/greet you'll tour and then head to Breezes.

The Spice Tour can be arrange with your ground operator or thru the hotel.

Thank you - we're doing this without a land operator, but I imagine Breezes can help book the Jozani Forest tour as well.

I agree that you'd be better off doing these activities on different days, if you're not arriving at the airport until 11am. We did a Spice Tour and the Jozani Forest on the same day, en route from Stone Town to Pongwe Beach, but we got an early morning start and it was a VERY full day. We enjoyed them both very much, but wished we'd had more time at Jozani.

I wouldn't recommend trying to do these tours before catching a 1pm flight, because you'll be really rushed.

If doing this on your own, who's meeting/transferring you on arrival? The hotel? If so, arrange with them for Jozani on the way. If private vehicle, arrange with them. Check prices ahead of time.

If only an airport taxi, beats me whether they will and what the charge.

I was planning on booking transportation through the hotel, but any recommendations for a private car and guide would be much appreciated!

Our hotel has quoted us 50 Euro for the transfer (for both of us) plus 20 Euro each for the Spice Tour en route. Does this sound reasonable? Any recommendations for Zanzibar tour operators I can contact for a similar service? Thanks

With the high fuel costs even in Africa, everyone has raised prices so the transfer cost while a bit higher than 1/yr ago, is within reason. Remember, the vehicle has to drive both ways... from hotel to airport and then back to hotel. The price for the Spice Tour is good.

My wide and I just did the Jozani Forest tour about 2.5 weeks ago and weren't too excited by it. We might have just had a bad guide, but all we did was look at the red colobus monkeys for a while (which were right at the entrance of the park and not even in the forest) then did a short walk through the forest, followed by a short walk through a mangrove forest.

I'm sure it would have been more interesting with a guide who could have given us some more interesting information though. If you want to know exactly where the forest is located, take a look at this picture at the following link: http://picasaweb.google.com/grumby24...90678937820322

The picture is from our trip and is geotagged with the exact location where it was taken. You can play with the map at the bottom of the page to get an idea of where it is in relation to the airport and your hotel.

Thanks for the info - maybe we'll do the spice tour en route and then decide later if we want to do the forest depending on how we're feeling.

By the way I looked at some of your Zanzibar pictures (which are great) - we're staying at the Zanzibar Palace hotel too. What'd you think of it?

Jessup,

We loved the Zanzibar Palace Hotel! It was a very nice place and the staff were great. I believe it is owned by a Dutch woman and a couple of men work the front desk and are very helpful and friendly. Don't be afraid to ask them about anything.

It is located kind of near the "big tree" and is kind of easy to locate since it's near an internet cafe also named Palace. The internet cafe has signs pasted to walls all over Stonetown, so you can follow them to find your way to the hotel.

One drawback is that you have to climb stairs to get to your room. Our room was on the top floor so we had to climb 4 or 5 flights of stairs every time, but it wasn't too bad.

The breakfast was good which a decent selection. You can get dinner there for an extra cost, but we ate elsewhere so I can't tell you anything about that.

The rooms were very artfully decorated. You can check their website for photos of their different rooms or my pictures to see our room. It's not exactly in the heart of all the activities in Stonetown, but the walk is not too far.

Hope that helps.