Hi Edwina,

Just getting back to you after our trip to Zanzibar. Lovely island and lovely people. Stone Town was intriguing. We had a local guide who took us round for nearly 3 hours. Very nice guy , very informative and very polite.

We would recommend him to anyone. We found the outskirts of Stone Town very dirty and squalid, far worse than I expected. The hotel was disappointing.
Rather run down with not particularly helpful staff. When discussing this with the guide he did say that it had a bit of a bad reputation and that the management was continually changing, which could have been the problem.

We should have probably gone with the one you suggested. Ocean Paradise was very good. The staff there were always cheerful and helpful and the food was good, the buffet changing every night. They even did a near normal breakfast buffet at 5 am for the early leavers. Walking on the beach could be a bit of a problem though with the beach boys always trying to sell or beg from you.

The only real problem was our driver who transferred us from Ocean Paradise
to the airport. He constantly drove on the wrong side of the road, including going round right hand bends where he could not see oncoming traffic. Also agood part of the journey was spent going through the villages where children were walking to school and people were walking to work and he drove far too
fast in these situations. Most of the time he was on his cell phone. Numerous times he tried to overtake when there was not enough room to do so and I mean literally having to stop and abandon the manoeuvre. Both Barbara and myself made him aware of our concerns regarding his driving and I advised him that he was so bad that I felt it necessary to report him to Zantours. My personal opinion is that he is not safe enough to carry holidaymakers in the vehicle and is an accident waiting to happen. He was also non communicative at the outset (before all the problems started) and certainly did not represent Zantours favourably. In contrast the driver who collected us from the airport and also transferred us from Stone Town to Ocean Paradise was polite and informative and drove safely. With regard to the incident with the driver are you able to pass our complaint to Zantours or do you want to let me have their contact details

Thanks for all your efforts in putting the whole package together. We know where to come to next time.

Cheers,
Brian

Hope you are well!

Where do I start. What a wonderful time we had! Zanzibar was beautiful. Thank you for all your good advice and tips - they all came in very handy.

Mapenzi Beach lodge was the best place ever! We had a great time there. I've met people on the airport in Zanzibar on our way back who stayed at Karafu Hotel - they weren't impressed at all. (Just a tip for your future customers). Mapenzi - the staff was so friendly (actually everyone in Zanzibar), the food was wonderful (great variety) and every night something traditional (from South Africa) if you do not like their food. It was a good option to take the All Inclusive option. It was very hot, humid and you do need a lot to drink - so all drinks were included in our quote. The people from Karafu said they got a bill at the end of their 5 day stay for R5 000 for drinks and extras!

What was also nice was the fact that Mapenzi had a different theme every night, etc. casino night, Africa night, dinner on the beach, cocktails at the beach, beach party at neighbouring lodge. They went through a lot of effort to entertain the guests.

The trip to Stonetown was a real shocker! But we were very glad that we went to see it. The people are so so poor, you won't believe it. A tip that I would have liked is the fact that all the kids ask for sweets or a pen and I forgot to take any of that sort of goodies.

We went stopped at almost all the other hotels in Stonetown. They were all very nice, but in the end I was so glad that we decided to stay at one lodge and not at a hotel in Stonetown. There's not much to do at night in Stonetown itself.

In stead of taking an arranged tour with the hotel, we took a tour with one of the beach boys. That was much more interesting and worth every cent.

We went snorkelling at Mnemba Island - what an experience (my first time). I had the amazing experience to swim with the dolphins. So there's no need to go all the way down to Kazimkazi in the South to swim with the dolphins. You ALWAYS see the dolphins when you go snorkelling at Mnemba Island. Apparently some people who did go to Kazimkazi on a day trip had very bad luck, their boat overturned, cameras got lost in the sea, etc. (It was a very stormy and windy day).

The sunset cruise was awesome. I will send you a few pics as soon as I get to know how that works!

My video camera got stolen on JHB. Fortunately my insurance covered that! Please recommend to people that they must have their bags "bubble wrapped".

In the meantime, thank you so much for your contribution to our wonderful holiday. It was worth every penny!

Enjoy your weekend. I sincerely hope that I can arrange my next trip to a "new destination" very soon!!!

Regards,
Sonja