Roughly half of Pemba's interior is planted with clove trees, the long-stemmed flower buds picked, sun-dried, and shipped that have made the island's name for two centuries. Spice tours organised through Chake-Chake guesthouses walk visitors through working plantations — Pemba's are smaller and less staged than the equivalent tours on Zanzibar — and through stands of nutmeg, cinnamon, pepper, lemongrass, and vanilla cultivated alongside.
The 90-minute tours typically end at a clove drying yard, where the buds are turned by hand on woven mats. A guide and transport from Chake-Chake costs around $20 a head. The picking season is heaviest June through August and December through February.