Zanzibar Islands - Exotic Holiday Destination

Zanzibar 'Unguja' Island: General Information

The capital of Zanzibar, located on the island of Unguja, is Zanzibar City, and its old quarter, known as Stone Town, is a World Heritage Site and one of Zanzibar holiday's finest historical hot spot.

The main industries are spices, raffia, and tourism. It is still sometimes referred to as the Spice Islands (a term also associated with the Maluku Islands in Indonesia), because of the significance of its production of cloves, of which it used to be the world leader, and also nutmeg, cinnamon and pepper. Your visit to Zanzibar should definitely not miss the aroma of the Spice Island.

Zanzibar Island photo: The Bixa orellana fruit opened (lipstick tree). The dye obtained from the pulp of the seed (called bixin) is used all over the world as a red-orange dye for coloring rice, cheeses, soft drinks, oil, butter, and soup.

The ecology is of note for being the home of the endemic Zanzibar Red Colobus and the elusive Zanzibar Leopard. The word "Zanzibar" probably derives from the Persian, Zangi-bar ("coast of the blacks"); ultimately from the Arabic words of the same meaning, however it is known in Arabic as Zanji-bar.

Pemba Island: General Information

The island of Pemba known as 'Al Jazeera Al Khadra' (the green island, in Arabic) is an island forming part of the Zanzibar archipelago, lying off the east coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean. It is situated about 50 kilometres to the north of the island of Zanzibar.

n the 1960s Zanzibar was united with the former colony of Tanganyika to form Tanzania. It lies 50 kilometres east of mainland Tanzania. Together with Mafia Island (south of Zanzibar), they form Zanzibar. In 1988, the estimated population was 265,000, with an area of 980kmsq.

Most of the island, which is hillier and more fertile than Zanzibar, is dominated by small scale farming. There is large scale farming of cash crops such as cloves - there are over 3 million clove trees. Pemba is also becoming a well-known Zanzibar holiday spot for its dive sites, with vertiginous drop-offs, untouched coral and very abundant marine life. Great place to visit!

Zanzibar Islands photo: Filming a lionfish in its territory. A lionfish is any of several species of venomous marine fish in the genera Pterois, Parapterois, Brachypterois, Ebosia or Dendrochirus, of the family Scorpaenidae.

The most important towns in Pemba are Chake-Chake (the capital), Mkoani, and Wete. Pemba is with the exception of a strip along the east coastal area a very fertile place; beside clove trees the locals grow mainly rice, coconut, bananas, cassava and red beans called maharagwe in Kiswahili.