Sun, sand and spice in historical Zanzibar

A boat on the beautiful Zanzibar beach

Think of East Africa and it’s likely your imagination will summon up dramatic expanses of savannah and famous safari game like lions, elephants and wildebeest. But while this is the aspect of the region guests usually come to see, there’s a wholly different side to East Africa too. Perhaps the best way to experience this contrast is to journey less than 30 miles off the Tanzanian mainland to Zanzibar Island.
This beautiful spot in the Indian Ocean is the ideal complement to an action-packed safari adventure. With long, white sandy beaches, coconut palms, rainbow-coloured coral reefs and warm, turqouise water, it has all the hallmarks of a tropical island paradise.

An ornate Zanzibari doorway

But while Zanzibar is an idyllic retreat for chilling beside the ocean, what makes it so special is that it boasts such diverse treats besides that. The island’s eventful history has endowed it with a rich and kaleidoscopic heritage. Successive invasions, empires and influences make today’s Zanzibar a fascinating mix of arhitecture, culture and customs. This is most apparent in Stone Town, the island’s historic centre and a UN World Heritage Site. Here, the Arabic influence of Zanzibar is evident in beautiful mosques, palaces and bazaars. Ambling through the town’s narrow, winding alleyways and past its whitewashed buildings is the perfect way to embrace the romanticism and mystery of this unique place.

Another facet to Zanzibar is its long association with exotic spices. From the early nineteenth century it was realised that the island, with its regular rainfall, warm climate and rich soil, offered the perfect conditions for growing a range of spice plants. Zanzibar thus became a globally important supplier of spices that include cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, turmeric and saffron. Spice plantations still operate today, albeit on a smaller scale, and regular tours allow you to visit them to see the process by which these fragrant, exotic crops are cultivated.

The Old Fort in Stone Town

So despite being a small island of less than a million people, it’s unsurprising that Zanzibar, with such tempting and diverse features, has become famous the world over as a luxury holiday destination. If you would like to experience Zanzibar for yourself, we’d love to take you there.

Feline feature

If you want a taster of the African savannah’s unique allure, then Disney’s wildlife movie, African Cats, which has just been released in UK cinemas, is a thoroughly recommended watch. This family film is a dramatisation of real wildlife footage filmed in Kenya’s Masai Mara. The story follows the lives of lion and cheetah families, capturing the ups and downs of their lives and revealing the relationships that bind these groups of cats. We found it a moving and beautiful insight into the personal lives of these magnificent creatures.

As well as offering a compelling story that enables people, and especially children, to relate to the animals, the movie is a striking display of the beauty of African nature. The East African savannah landscape is powerfully shot, and some amazing wildlife moments have been caught for audiences to enjoy.

This movie might serve as a nostalgic reminder of what makes Africa so special if you’ve been before, and if you have yet to visit the region, then watching African Cats might just tempt you to come and experience the wonders of an East African safari for yourself.

The Mara goes live

It seems the world’s cameras just can’t get enough of the Masai Mara! As if the park hasn’t hogged the limelight enough through films like the aforementioned African Cats and countless other documentaries, the Masai Mara one of the locations of a new live BBC wildlife show being broadcast this month.

BBC Planet Earth Live builds on the huge, groundbreaking success of the Planet Earth series by this time presenting the wildlife action in real time. Presented by Richard Hammond and Julia Bradbury, the crew will be tracking the movements of lions and elephants over the coming couple of weeks.

Broadcast times for the episode, which feature wildlife from Sri Lanka and the USA in addition to the Kenya’s wild animals, can be found by clicking here.

Kenya Airways announce expansion

Kenya Airways announced this month that it plans a major expansion to its service over the next five years. The airline, Kenya’s largest, says that it will invest $3.6 billion over the period, predominantly on building aircraft and expanding its route network.

In particular, Kenya Airways is hoping to capitalise on the burgeoning tourist markets of Asia. It plans to introduce flight services to China and India. Routes are also expected to be increased within the African continent and to parts of Europe.

One potential hurdle the airline’s plans could face is the limited capacity of its base, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. There are, however, plans in motion to expand the airport by creating a new terminal. During a recent speech, President Kibaki of Kenya urged airport authorities to press ahead urgently with the project, highlighting the importance of keeping pace with the anticipated increase in demand for travel to Kenya.

Spotlight on Kenya for travel awards

Nairobi has been announced as the host city for a prestigious travel industry awards ceremony due to take place later this year. The Africa and Indian Ocean section of the World Travel Awards, dubbed the ‘Oscars of the travel industry’, will be held in the Kenyan capital for the first time on 26 September.

The World Travel Awards chose to stage the event in Nairobi because of its growing reputation as a centre for business and leisure, and organisers complimented the city on its being ‘vibrant and progressive’. The event will represent a great opportunity for Kenya to show off its assets as a world-class tourist destination.

Some of the places and accommodation settings that Africa House guests might recognise are in the running for awards at the ceremony. Among them, Ol Donyo, Governors’ Camp and Little Governors’ Camp have each been nominated in the category for Kenya’s Leading Safari Lodge.