After some weeks of gray and cold Paris, I was ready for sunshine and warmth. Unfortunately, the Mediterranean is still too cold for me this time of year so I started looking further afield. I eyed Cape Verde (Cap Vert) but found flights less-than-convient. A couple of stunning photos of Zanzibar beaches caught my eye, further research piqued my easily-piqued curiosity, and when I discovered I could book us reasonably-priced award flights in Qatar Airways business class with an overnight layover in Doha, I was all in.
Zanzibar is the name for both a multi-island “state” of Tanzania and a name for the main island of that state. Stone Town, Zanzibar, is about an hour ferry ride to Dar es Salaam on the mainland of Tanzania. Although Tanzania is primarily Christian, Zanzibar is Muslim and was the former home of the Sultans of Oman and Zanzibar. The Omani influence on architecture can be seen throughout historic Stone Town. Zanzibar is known for spices and was a former hub of the slave trade. Its Swahili culture reflects the influences of Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Swahili is the main language, but at least some English is widely spoken.
After reading that driving across Zanzibar is subject to the vagaries of weather and traffic, I decided to break up a 10-night stay into 4 nights on the east coast (beautiful beaches and smaller hotels), 4 nights on the north coast (more beautiful beaches and bigger resorts) and 2 nights in Stone Town (historic and closest to the airport).
A quick search through our available points and free-night certificates yielded happy results: in addition to flying on miles and using a free night certificate at the Intercontinental West Bay in Doha, we could book a well-rated Marriott resort in northern Nungwi with points and two nights at the premier and historic Park Hyatt Zanzibar with certificates and points. This left us with only the 4 nights on the east coast to pay for in cash. This trip was clearly meant to happen!
I settled on the F-Zeen Boutique Hotel (formerly Tamarind Beach Hotel) in Uroa for our first four nights on the east coast of the main island of Zanzibar. F-Zeen consists of a number of oceanfront traditional-style, thatched-roofed, air-conditioned cottages (both one-story duplexes and two story quads) and a number of un-air-conditioned (but still pretty) cottages further back from the water behind a swimming pool. Air-conditioning is essential for us and I chose one of their best waterfront cottages.
Our Zanzitaxi driver was waiting as promised at the airport near Stone Town. When he started driving south instead of straight east towards Uroa (per Google Maps on my phone), he explained that the usual route was blocked due to the funeral procession of a former president of Tanzania who’d been a native of Zanzibar. Fortunately, the detour took us along nice roads and we arrived at F-Zeen Boutique Hotel after about an hour.
We were greeted by a friendly hostess, a welcome drink, and two sleeping cats on the small sofas in an outdoor area that serves as a small lobby. We were led to the cottage the farthest to our left along the oceanfront. Although pretty enough, I wasn’t thrilled with the location just beside a neighboring small bar where dogs barked and music played. Happily, our hostess found us a short time later on the beach, to offer us a choice between two other rooms and we quickly settled on an upstairs unit (Room 22) with big windows on two sides and a large porch facing the beach a few steps away. The bedroom was lovely and spacious, only lacking much in the way of storage space. Mosquito netting could close off the sleeping area from the front door and a small vanity area and bathroom although we saw no mosquitoes while there.* The bathroom was basic with a curved rebar creating a shower curtain. We lost power a few times, but never for more than ten minutes. It is Africa and Zanzibar is a poor island, so this wasn’t unexpected and not a problem.
Our four nights at F-Zeen passed quickly although we spent most of our time lounging on the beach, swimming in the wonderfully warm water of the ocean and the pool, and walking along the beach. I’d chosen Uroa Beach after reading that it was more laid back than Nungwi and that we wouldn’t be plagued by beach peddlers. This turned out to be accurate, although occasional Masai passed by offering sandals for sale and a few women offered massages. They did not press when we declined and left us in peace. More often, we saw locals going about their business, women passing with bundles of sticks on their heads, children playing, men wade fishing with seine nets.
We brought masks and snorkels, but there wasn’t much to see near the shore and the water is very shallow. Fine sand makes the beach a pleasure despite scattered seaweed, but there are spiny urchins further out and we were glad we brought water shoes. Zanzibar is known for big tides and the water recedes a fair amount for periods of the day. F-Zeen Boutique Hotel sits atop a sandy rise that forms a natural barrier to the sea although the water never came all the way to this slope while we were there. It made for a nicer beach than some of the hotels we walked to that either sat much further back from the ocean, narrow strips of beach or had rocky barriers between them and the water.
Our room included breakfast which was served buffet-style in an open-air dining room. We absolutely loved the selection of fresh tropical fruits, and I became a passion fruit junkie. We planned to try some of the little independent and hotel restaurants we saw on our beach walks, but ended up taking all our meals at F-Zeen. The food was good local fare if not gourmet and it was just too easy to walk the short distance to the dining room. Friendly and cheerful staff sealed the deal.
We wanted to visit Jozani Forest before we moved to our second hotel on the north shore, much farther away from the forest. F-Zeen was happy to arrange a driver and guide. The drive was just under an hour and well worth our time. We loved wandering under the trees as Zanzibar red colobos monkeys (only native to Zanzibar) and blue (Sykes’) monkeys moved in the trees above us, groomed babies, fed on ripe guava that littered the forest floor, and generally went about their lives totally unconcerned about the humans among them.
All-in-all, we really enjoyed our laid-back start to Zanzibar at Uroa Beach and F-Zeen Boutique Hotel.
______________
*Although we saw no mosquitoes, Zanzibar is still a known malaria zone so we got prescriptions pre-travel and were taking anti-malarial medicine before, during and for a week after our trip. We probably saw no mosquitoes because we were in Zanzibar just before the main rainy season (which usually begins late March). However, many people mentioned how bad the mosquitoes can get after the rainy season and anyone planning to travel there should educate themselves and take appropriate precautions.
2 thoughts on “Uroa, Zanzibar”