Nungwi

We spent just under a week in Nungwi, Zanzibar, a beach town at the northern tip of the main island of Zanzibar in August 2024.

As with many other places we have visited, it’s a tale of 2 cities; two very different economic realities for the tourist zone and the local residents.

The locals homes are typically concrete or coral/rock block with galvanized sheet roofs. While not the literal shacks we’ve seen in other countries, modest is a generous term. Goats, chickens, and cows roam fairly freely.

Nungwi tourist lodging, by contrast, runs from modest to luxurious/extravagant. We stayed at Palm Tree Villas, which billed itself as a B&B on booking.com. It fit our budget at the time, but our experience was mixed. You should be able to find find perfectly nice accommodation around $50USD per night, to upwards of several hundred per night.

Nungwi: It’s all about the beach.

But the beach(es)….. Ohhhh the beach. If you love lying on the sand, soaking up rays and relaxing, Nungwi may steal your heart.

The people are friendly and kind, welcoming strangers with a hearty “Jambo!” The sand ranges from crystalline to almost powder-sugar fine, with wide open stretches and small private rooms when the tide is out.

In August of 2024, we wouldn’t say it was crowded, at all. Midweek, we felt as though we had it to ourselves! Except for the hawkers… the beach boys… the Masaai Warriors!?
Yes, you will see dozens of these guys moving up and down the beach, asking you your name, where you’re from, sometime where you’re staying. Obviously, be thoughtful about your responses. They often want to “help” you book a tour or sell you a bracelet or… or…

We actually had a good time with some of these ersatz Masaai; we kindly made it clear we weren’t buying, but often asked questions about them in return and in some cases had nice conversations. Most of these guys know a decent amount of English, and often… Italian.

For whatever reason, the tourists were mostly young Italians professionals in their late 20s and up. The age range increases the further down the coast you go, as the modest hotels give way to chains then to luxury resorts. Nungwi, Zanzibar doesn’t seem to be a “backpacker” hotspot; few hostels, no surfing (that we saw) and no real party scene.

In fact, this may be Nungwi’s best selling point, if you’re looking for chill, relaxing beach time. In contrast to say Negril, Ibiza, etc., there are no full-moon parties, no foam bashes. Just a full days on the sand or water, a decent meal, and relaxation. [Well, we did find one mention of a Full-Moon party, down at Kendwa beach, but that’s technically not Nungwi, so we stand by our reporting. ;)]

Unless you’re into soccer…errrr futball. Then, at 6pm, anything goes on the beach with locals and tourists alike playing massive whatever-on-whatever (seriously, like 20 per side) pickup games with the breakwater as one out of bounds line and the surf the other. Sometimes, even the surf is fair play.

Speaking of sunset, you’ll find some good ones, and of course they’re best enjoyed with a cocktail.
Here we are at Zee Bar, part of the Nungwi Beach Resort by Turaco (which looked lovely).
Mr. Nomads is sipping a “Dawa”, which means “medicine”, and is good medicine indeed.
The football game was right out front.

TO DO Diving

There is decent diving nearby, with two protected marine areas; one off Tatumba Island and the other off Mnemba. There are numerous PADI-certified operators, and prices for 2-tank dives are pretty consistent; we paid $110 each for a half-day/no lunch option. Out at 830, back by 130 or 2pm.

We’re pretty new to diving, having gotten our Open Water certification in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, in July so a LOT is still new to us. We used East Africa Divers for a half-day to Tatumba and found the equipment to be good, the service on board excellent, and the diving interesting.
Visibility wasn’t as spectacular as in the Red Sea, but we found plenty of interesting coral, anemones, nudibranchs (a first for us), octopuses, cuttlefish and more. It’s best to go early while the tide is low.

We had differing reports about going to Mnemba island for diving: once couple we met said they did and loved it, but the folks at East Africa said it had been ruined by too many boats and inexperienced people breaking coral etc. You may want to check out these sites for more opinions:

Fishing

There are plenty of boats which will take you out fishing, and while we saw tremendous hauls of Tuna and Kingfish by locals, we didn’t see any tourists take the bait. (sorry). We asked about it, and prices ranges from a half-day at 70USD to a full-day at 400USD, depending on boat size and amenities. The cheaper option is generally a local fisherman’s own boat and you don’t go out as far as the reef. The big buck option has multiple outboards, fighting chairs etc. and you’re geared to catch big stuff. Though make sure you know who keeps the fish over certain sizes.

Snorkeling

You can also book a snorkel tour to Mnemba, but this is one we’d caution you understand completely before you do so. Most of the hawkers are just selling space on someone else’s boat, and your actual experience can vary wildly from what you THOUGHT you were getting. Even after long negotiations the evening before, such was our case: the price changed, we could no longer pay with a card, and we got lumped onto a larger boat with other groups. As a result, we recommend NOT booking with “Captain Jackson” / Jackson Tours.

Most of the snorkeling tours are packaged with a “swim with the dolphins” option. While you will *see* dolphins, the likelihood of actually swimming with them is pretty small; by the time you’re in the water, they’re 100 feet away and unless you’re Aquaman, you’re got catching up.
This means the boats do a bit of chasing that we frankly felt uncomfortable with. That said, it literally happens every day, and the dolphins still come around, so maybe they don’t mind.

There are also numerous day-tours offered to spice & coffee plantations, Stonetown (worth a few days on its own – but NOT for beach!), and other Zanzibar activities and sights. Most of these are better served from Stonetown.

TO EAT

Those tremendous hauls of fish mean that nearly every restaurant on Nungwi Beach will have a super-fresh catch of the day. We ate fish, octopus or shrimp our entire stay. It’s generally simply prepared- usually grilled.

Prices were typically around 20000 TZS for a whole fish or 15k for fillet, with rice and/or chips (french fries) as a side. Vegetables are unobtanium. Interestingly, we found almost no “Tanzanian” food or preparations in the beach restaurants. This was disappointing, for an island known for its spice trade. But the freshness and reasonable pricing makes up for it.

The Nungwi locals eat grouper, baitfish, triggerfish, parrotfish (!), and other fish the tourists don’t like, (they don’t want to mess with the bones) we were told… so almost every menu we saw was the same: tuna, kingfish, octopus, calamari, snapper.
Want a lemon with that? Nope. Salsa? Ceviche? Nope and nope. Lobster? Yep, everywhere, at a premium.

If you’re just not into fish, you can find pizza (remember those Italians we mentioned) and burgers almost everywhere.

If you’re more adventurous, there is a “town” area, a block or two off the beach… a couple of them in fact. There you’ll find one of only a couple liquor / beer stores (much cheaper than on the beach) and any number of locals restaurants. Wit the big Mt. Meru hike just days away, were not so gastronomically-adventurous here as in Egypt, Madagascar or elsewhere.