Zanzibar is an archipelago of coral islands off the coast of Tanzania, in the Indian Ocean about 35 km from the East African mainland. Officially a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania since 1964, it has its own president, flag, and a strong sense of being a separate place — which it has effectively been for most of its history. For centuries Zanzibar was the wealthiest and most cosmopolitan city state on the East African coast, built on the trade in cloves, ivory and slaves. At its 19th-century height it was ruled by the Omani Sultans of Muscat, whose descendants ran the islands from the magnificent palace district of Stone Town until the 1964 revolution that overthrew them and killed thousands of Arab and Indian Zanzibaris.
The main island, Unguja (confusingly, also informally called "Zanzibar"), has two faces. The first is Stone Town — a UNESCO-listed labyrinth of narrow lanes, coral-stone mansions with elaborately carved wooden doors, minarets and the former Sultan's palace on the seafront. It is one of the most atmospheric urban spaces in Africa, and a short walk through the lanes takes you past the cathedral built on the site of the old slave market (complete with the original underground slave chambers), the House of Wonders, Freddie Mercury's childhood home (he was born here in 1946), and endless tiny cafés selling strong Arabic coffee. The second face is the beaches — Zanzibar has some of the finest white-sand beaches in the Indian Ocean, fringed by palm trees and a coral reef about a kilometre offshore. Matemwe, Nungwi and Kendwa in the north, Paje, Jambiani and Bwejuu on the east coast each have their own character, from backpacker kitesurf spots to high-end resort compounds.
Between the town and the beaches, the interior is still largely agricultural — clove and nutmeg plantations, small villages, and patches of forest that hold the endangered red colobus monkey in Jozani-Chwaka Bay National Park. Offshore, the island of Mnemba Atoll has some of the best snorkelling in East Africa, and the smaller Pemba Island (accessible by short flight) offers untouched diving and a much slower pace. Most visitors combine a few days in Stone Town with a week at one of the beaches; Zanzibar is also a natural add-on to a safari in northern Tanzania, with direct flights from Arusha and Dar es Salaam.
