Five things worth doing, and one worth not

Jozani forest

The Zanzibar red colobus lives here and nowhere else on earth. It is a short, easy visit — a boardwalk through mangrove, a walk in the forest, and monkeys that are entirely used to people.

It takes half a morning, it is inexpensive, and it is a genuine wildlife experience rather than a consolation one. If you have come from a safari it will not compete on scale, and it does not need to.

A spice farm

This sounds like a coach trip and frequently is one. Done privately, with somebody who knows the agriculture rather than the script, it is much better than that.

Cloves are the reason this island’s history went the way it did, and standing in a clove plantation while somebody explains the economics of it is a more useful hour than the tasting at the end suggests.

The northern reef

Snorkelling and diving around Mnemba and the northern reefs is properly good rather than politely good — clear water, good coral in places, and reliable fish.

The atoll itself is privately leased and access to the island is restricted, but the surrounding water is where the diving happens and it is open. Go early, before the day boats.

A dhow at sunset

The cliché. Also lovely, and cheap, and the best hour of the day on the water.

Take a private one rather than a shared sunset cruise if the budget allows. The difference between a dhow with your party on it and a dhow with forty people and a sound system is considerable.

Kitesurfing

The south-east coast — Paje and around it — combines a shallow lagoon, consistent wind in the windier monsoon and a well-established teaching scene into one of the better places in the world to learn or to ride.

It is a genuine reason to choose that coast over the north, and it is seasonal: the calm months that suit divers are the wrong months for it.

The one we would rather you skipped

The dolphin trips at Kizimkazi.

In practice they frequently amount to a number of boats pursuing a pod, with swimmers put into the water in front of animals that are trying to move away. Some operators behave considerably better than others, and the underlying format is difficult to do well.

If seeing dolphins matters to you, ask for an operator who keeps distance and does not chase, and accept that you may watch from the boat. We would rather lose the excursion booking than arrange the other version.

Two more, briefly

Prison Island, for the giant tortoises, which is pleasant and busy and works well as a half day from Stone Town.

A cooking class or a village walk, arranged properly, which for a lot of people turns out to be the thing they talk about afterwards.