Nungwi Beach is a popular tourist area on the island of Zanzibar (just off the coast of Tanzania). It’s where all the tours pass through, and with good reason — the beaches are spectacular and the water turns various shades of turquoise depending on the sunlight. It’s closer to what you might expect to see in Thailand or Bali, not Africa.

The weather isn’t fabulous during our two days / two nights in paradise, but for the most part the rain holds off and we have a nice time. Here are some shots of the beach in front of our hotel compound:

We’re staying at Amaan Bungelows, which is located right on the beach (they have rooms without ocean views that are budget-friendly). It’s a very nice compound — I’ll explain in a moment why I keep using that word — with a pool, massage parlor, multiple restaurants, a coffee and ice cream shop, a scuba diving business, and lots of areas to lounge.

Our room is quite nice. After the snake incident, you can bet that my sister and I check every inch of the place before settling in.

It’s connected to other resort-style properties so that guests can eat at a variety of restaurants during their stay. This is the private path for tourists to access other areas:

But it feels isolated. Like the developers of each resort decided to build concrete walls around prime beach property and only allow people with enough money inside. There is such a divide between the tourists and the locals here, which I don’t recall being so pronounced in similar beach destinations like Thailand and Bali.

The resorts are closed off to locals — well, any non-guests, but that’s the same thing as saying locals since there’s no other accommodation in this immediate area — however, the beach is public. When tourists venture down to the beach, they’re hassled by local teens to buy snorkeling trips or jewelry. It’s hardly a relaxing way to spend an hour, much less a whole day — so then tourists go back inside the resort and hang out by the pool or dine at a restaurant, looking out at the beach instead. It feels segregated. Yes, it’s normal for a resort in a developing country to stake out privacy for its guests, and normal for locals to hock items to tourists, but this particular divide is more extreme that I’ve experienced before. Perhaps this is related to security concerns in Zanzibar? Violence is unfortunately a common occurrence throughout the island so maybe that tension has escalated over the years to create this current dynamic.

But as you can see from these photos, Nungwi Beach is pretty spectacular. So despite the occasionally uncomfortable vibe, we make the most of our time here.

I order iced coffee each day at Pearl Cafe. That drink on the right below is one of my many Happy Hour cocktails; I think it’s a passion fruit mojito. Can you see that thick layer of sugar at the bottom of the glass? Yikes!

The TV in the bar / restaurant is always tuned to a channel that plays racy music videos — not what I would expect to see on a conservative island.

I wander down to the other resorts to check out their beachfront views.

Local women collect shellfish in the shallow water:

This was a relaxing place to get work done. Internet is painfully slow, which is typical for Africa. I enjoy editing photos while sipping half-priced drinks.

Allow me to introduce our new friends from the Netherlands — two sisters and their aunt. We are all together for the first 10 days of this tour and they are lovely people. (My sister and I think it’s so neat that these sisters are traveling with their aunt — we love to travel with our uncle!)

This red curry with seafood hits the spot — a simple, super tasty meal. There’s even a side of chapati!

Nighttime shots of our resort:

The beach can be dangerous at night, but the resorts are well-guarded (as you might expect from my earlier comments).

Check out this array of various lobsters on sale for dinner:

On our last night in Zanzibar I order a surf and turf meal. It’s fairly meager (there’s maybe two bites of lobster) but it feels luxurious to dine by the ocean.

The sun peeks out during our final morning; I rush down to the sand and snap photos.

There are some really great people in our tour group. In addition to the Dutch sisters, that’s Robin (also from the Netherlands) on the left, and he and I will be on the same overland truck for the next few weeks all the way to Victoria Falls on the border of Zambia / Zimbabwe. So glad to have met these people!

Robin, myself, and most of the group head back to Dar Es Salaam to continue our travels. But the Dutch sisters and their aunt, as well as my sister Bethany, will stay in Zanzibar and then fly home to their respective countries.

I snap a few shots on the ferry ride back to Dar Es Salaam:

For what it’s worth, I’d encourage you to visit Zanzibar — including Nungwi Beach — if you travel to East Africa. It is definitely worth seeing, and I don’t want to dissuade anyone considering traveling here. Just keep your expectations in check and you’ll enjoy it.

I know this looks like a wrap on Zanzibar, but tomorrow I have one final post — I spent a day scuba diving around the Mnemba Atoll, one of the most popular spots on the island, and I’ve got photos to share.

Thanks to Nomad Tours for discounting this tour in exchange for blogging and photography. Opinions are my own.