During our three week holiday on Zanzibar Island, we spent our first three days in Stone Town and decided to take some of the traditional tours before exploring the four corners of the island. We found Eco & Culture Tours on the web and in our guide, and we contacted them. They were very quick to respond to our many questions, and we organised a selection of private tours.
The first morning we visited Prison Island, an island not far offshore from Stone Town, home to Zanzibar’s Giant Aldabran Tortoise that were introduced on the island from the Seychelles. This was an incredible experience and we really could spend hours alone with the Tortoises. We went on the island with a local fishing boat, along with our guide Osman, who spoke French which was great for our kids :-)
That afternoon, we did the Stone Town City Tour with our private guide Osman, who took us through the town, visiting all the special places. We walked for four hours through the small streets. Osman was always full of knowledge and informed us about all the attractions. It was fascinating to learn about local culture, religion, beliefs and customs.
The second morning, we left really early and drove to Kizimkaze in the South of the Island. We then embarked on a local fishing boat and were looking for the Bottlenose Dolphins. We were patrolling the ocean for nearly two hours with no signs of Dolphins, when we finally spotted them! We then had the chance to hop into the water and snorkel with the Dolphins. The pod included probably 25+ Dolphins and they were at first surprisingly curious towards us. Unfortunately several other tour boats joined us, and it became chaos. The Dolphins were obviously less curious the more people jumped into the water. We, my partner, myself and our two kids, 10 and 13 years old, jumped in the water. But be careful as this is a potentially dangerous situation if there are many boats. This was an unforgettable experience however and the Dolphins are free to stay or leave. This is their playground! And after a while they indeed left. Upon our return to shore, we were treated to a delicious meal at the local restaurant. This was probably the best fish I ate in Zanzibar :-)
In the afternoon, on our way back to Stone Town, we did the Spice Tour. Our guide and driver took us to the centre of the island, and we met up with another specialised Spice guide who showed us around the Spice gardens for several hours, showing us all the delicious spices that grow on the island. Again, our guides were full of knowledge and our Spice guide made some really cool and fun things out of the leaves he found along the way. I gave him a Swiss Wenger knife when I left as he probably will make the best use this knife as nobody else would have :-)
The third day, we visited Jozani Forest and the Zanzibar Red Colobus monkey sanctuary... a wonderful walk in this forest... the sun creating some wonderful impressions and atmospheres.
Eco & Culture Tours really organised everything perfectly. We paid everything beforehand without any trouble. The guides were always on time and full of knowledge. They are using local contacts in all the different places we visited. The vehicles and drivers were fantastic also. We can recommend this company to all our friends and to anyone travelling to Zanzibar. They really offer a vast range of tours. We asked for private tours, and it was really great to visit Zanzibar through these famous tours as a family. I really dislike group tours, so this was perfect!
During the rest of our three week holiday, whenever we walked on beaches nearby large hotels, we were asked many times by, mostly fake, maasai and locals, if we would like to go on one of these tours. I was happy to have done these tours through Eco & Culture Tours for their ethical, environmental and sustainability contribution.