Our Swahili cooking classes offer a delightful way to find the heart of Zanzibar, known as the Spice Island, for its rich variety of spices that enhance the flavours of traditional dishes.

CHAKO found an original way to make this problem less significant; by up-cycling the waste into beautiful artistic products! These products are made with eye for detail and quality by local people at Zanzibar.

Cultural & Seaweed Tour in Kilimajuu 

Dressed in Zanzibari traditional clothes (very thin, light cotton kanga with Swahili proverbs), Mama Riziki taught us how to cook delicious traditional dishes: chapati, coconut rice, and sugar bean vegetables.

About 20 minutes by boat from Forodhani area lies Changuu, also known as Prison Island. This name is misleading; although the once impressive building, erected in 1893 by Lloyd Mathews under orders of the British administrators, was originally intended as a prison, it never housed criminals.

Bespoke Day Tours & Activities (which can‘t be arranged last minute)

This special day will bring you close to real life in a Zanzibari fishing village. Its rhythms are still perfectly aligned with those of the sea and the seasons, and the small treasures of its beautiful beach provide a livelihood for many families. At low tide, you will walk out to the reef that shelters Zanzibar’s East Coast. You will learn about seaweed farming, how coconut rope is made, how fishermen catch octopus and shellfish and how the village children collect snails and bait. Strolling through the village, your guide will talk about life in this traditional community. If you are interested, you can visit the school and/or a local NGO. A refreshing swim afterwards and a tasty lunch at the beautiful Maalum Cave round off this experience.

Walk with us along the narrowest streets in the world during this half day tour. Within three well-invested hours you will gain a good understanding of the fascinating history of Zanzibar’s capital city and its significant areas, buildings and historical sites. You will soon notice how Zanzibar’s cosmopolitan roots (Arabs, Indians, Yemenis, Persians, Portuguese, British, Chinese and others) blend with African traditions to shape its unique culture. There are distinctive features of Arab and Indian urban architecture to discover at every turn, such as the famous Zanzibar doors, elaborately carved with ornaments and verses from the Q’ran (Arab) orplants and animals (Indian), decorated with brass studs, quaint balconies and verandas, small hidden gardens, saint’s graves, and much more. 

- growing area & soap factory visit -

The legendary Princess Salme sent shockwaves through Zanzibar and remains unforgotten!  Experience the famous Spice Island while following in her footsteps.  Your tour begins in the morning with a visit to the Princess Salme Museum, where founder and curator, Mr Said El-Gheithy will provide a deep and complete insight into Zanzibar's history at the time of the sultans and princesses. You'll be treated to a traditional tea ceremony and enjoy Zanzibari sweets before we take you either by dhow or a short drive will take you to the remains of the Mtoni Palace ruins. This impressive site was once home of the first Sultan of Zanzibar (Sayyid Said)  and the birthplace of his daughter Sayyida Salme, who later eloped with a German merchant to live in Hamburg; her bestselling book gives a lot of interesting details about her life in the palace. Your tour continues with a leisurely walk around a lovely spice plantation, where you will see,…

A spice tour is a wonderful way of exploring the countryside around Stone Town and Zanzibar’s rural communities. Indeed no trip to Zanzibar can be considered complete without a visit to one of our carefully selected spice farms. For centuries Zanzibar's spices, medicinal plants and tropical fruits attracted traders across the Indian Ocean. This 3-4 hour tour will seduce your senses with a mixture of various smells, tastes and textures. Among the many different plants, you will encounter are the henna bush, ylang-ylang, the lipstick tree, iodine plant, cocoa, cassava, dasheen cocoyam and – yes, Zanzibar coffee! Explore the island’s abundance of mouth-watering tropical fruits like jackfruit, pineapples, bananas, green coconut, durian, love apple, rambutan, soursop and starfruit.  We round off the leisurely farm walk with a home-cooked lunch in a private rural ambience. The lunch consists of a wide range of typical Swahili meals prepared to perfection by a local…

The Emerson team adheres to the Swahili and Middle Eastern theme and is offering a full evening dining experience, starting with cocktails, mocktails and an appetizer from 6 pm. The waiters offer an introduction to the menu; the setting and the traditions surrounding celebrations in Zanzibar. At 7 pm the first course of the meal is served and the musicians of the Dhow Countries Music Academy start to play traditional taarab music.  The dinner service continues with a variety of dishes comprising the main course and the evening experience ends around 9 to 9.30 pm with a cup of 'tangawizi' - Zanzibar ginger tea after the dessert has been served. After dinner, we can arrange an escort service back to your Stone Town hotel. For every performance, the musicians are paid and a separate donation goes directly as a contribution to the Music Academy. 

Learn to cook traditional Swahili food and wow your friends with your culinary expertise when you get home! Swahili cuisine is a fascinating (and very tasty!) mix of Indian, Arab, African and European influences. Our cooking lessons offer an authentic, hands-on experience in a real Zanzibar kitchen – and you will learn plenty about the use of all the exotic spices Zanzibar is famous for.  It is a wonderful way to get to know a culture by learning how to cook a traditional meal.  You can participate in a family cooking workshop or join one of the daily cooking classes of the Jafferji House & Spa (maximum of four guests).  Learning  to cook various Zanzibar-style dishes gives you a good insight into daily island life. You choose the dishes you would like to prepare, and you might surprise yourself by making tasty chapatti or cooking coconut curries or pilau rice. It’s a great experience to cook Swahili style, and of course to eat it afterwards!

This tour takes you beyond the picturesque Stone Town and offers deeper insights into urban development from earlier centuries onwards until today. As can be expected in such a cosmopolitan place as Zanzibar, there is a range of distinctive architectural features, reflecting the different ethnical, social and religious backgrounds of her inhabitants. There are modest Swahili family dwellings, imposing Arab-style townhouses with thick walls and inner courtyards, Indian merchants’ houses, elegant palaces with verandahs and intricate decorations, and colonial buildings in a variety of styles – all laid out in winding, shady, sloping alleyways, to make best use of the limited space and to meet the needs of Stone Town’s inhabitants. 

In Kiswahili, “mahanjumati” means a feast of different delicacies. Zanzibar’s cuisine reflects the island’s cosmopolitan spirit. Indian, Arab, Persian, African and Western influences create a wide variety of tasty dishes and snacks. Most of these won’t be served in tourist restaurants; they are prepared in Swahili homes and small local eateries. On this leisurely walk through Stone Town’s alleyways, we will take you to the best (and hygienically safe!) places to sample these local delicacies. Make it a breakfast or dinner experience, depending on your timing!

On this unique, custom-tailored half-day tour you will explore Stone Town, dip into the Zanzibari way of life, experience Zanzibari hospitality and enjoy a lovely lunch at Anjam’s home, where you will meet his family, eat, chat – and learn some Zanzibari cooking secrets. This personalized tour offers an insight into local Zanzibari life and culture amongst the men, women and children on the island, and just how the community deals with all the different issues that arise from day to day. A real treat if you would like to feel Zanzibar on your skin!

We start at Forodhani Park, finding out what are the treasures of the House of Wonders. From there we take our curious “young” guests to the Princess Salme Museum, where our guide will tell fascinating stories of Zanzibar’s history, sultans and princesses. A local school and a wood carving workshop cooperative visit will make us find differences in daily life here and back home. The Hamamni Persian Bath with its intricate layout and its unusual roof offers a fun way to explore a different building style. From there, we stroll to the traditional Mrembo Spa, where your kids will create their very own Tinga Tinga painting to take a self-made memory back home. 

Let us introduce you to the art of traditional Zanzibari beauty treatments at our favourite local spa! Learn about local beauty traditions and blend your very own spice scrub, following time-honoured recipes that have been passed down through many generations of Zanzibari women, using only wholesome, natural ingredients.  You will  blend fresh spices  which are grown organically in Zanzibar’s plantations with precious oils like moringa, baobab and coconut into an aromatic scrub that will refresh, rejuvenate and relax you. Enjoy freshly brewed herbal tea, local baobab sweets and a chat with the friendly therapists. If you wish, you will also be introduced to the art of henna and adorned with a motif of your choice. Then let yourself be pampered with a one-hour beauty treatment and the soothing sounds of discreet Zanzibari Taarab music. You can choose from a range of aromatic massages and scrubs, such as Citrus (with lemongrass, lime, baobab,…

The ceremony is a fascinating introduction to the traditional tea-drinking culture in Zanzibar and to Stone Town, a  melting pot of cultures and religions living harmoniously in this World Heritage Site. Learn how to mix a fine selection of teas and enjoy them freshly brewed, accompanied by a variety of savoury appetizers, delights, and Zanzibari sweets. Every afternoon from 13:00 until 18:00 on the cosy rooftop of Kholle House with views over Stone Town’s maze and the nearby seaport.

A place as vibrant and diverse as Zanzibar is an adventure for all senses, and in the late afternoon and evening when the day's heat subsides, there is a particularly relaxed and sociable atmosphere. Absorb the colours in the streets – the men in their white "kanzus", women in black "buibuis" and colourful "khanga" wraps, the abundance of fruit and vegetables in the market, the play of shadow and light in the narrow streets, and of course the many friendly faces in all shades of complexion. Listen to the sounds of Stone Town - people chatting, children playing, Reggae, Indian and Western music or the melodious recitation of the Quran floating from open doors and windows. Around sunset, the Muslim call to prayer from the numerous small mosques harmonizes with the bells from the Hindu temple for their evening satsang. Round off your evening with a private Swahili dinner on one of Stone Town's beautiful rooftop terraces with a 360° view, a lovely sea breeze and the enchanting melodies…

Old Fort was built by Omani Arabs when they seized the Island from the Portugese in 1698. The Fort overlooks Forodhani gardens and out beyond the Indian Ocean. 

The first ever museum dedicated to the world legend Freddie Mercury is located in the heart of Stone Town on Shangani Street. The museum showcases a detailed accord of the birth town of Farrokh Bulsara, his roots with the Zoroastrian religion, his childhood and upbrining in Zanzibar followed by his schooling in Panchgani and the rest of his journey to becoming one of the greatest stars of all time.