Nungwi
The northern tip of Zanzibar, the one stretch of coast where you can swim at every tide — and a dhow-building village that became the densest hotel strip on the island
- When to go
- October 26° · 17 rainy days
- Per day
- €€€price 3 of 5
- How many days
- 5days
- For you
- 6 questions →
- Nearest airport
- 56 km Zanzibar · 75 km Tanga
- Right now
Nungwi is the beach chosen for one thing the east coast lacks: a sea that does not leave. On Zanzibar's east the low tide takes the water a kilometre out and half the day is spent looking at sand; on the northern tip you swim through the whole tide. That is why Nungwi is the fullest and dearest, and why for quiet you go two kilometres on, to Kendwa.
The island has three beach coasts and they differ by tide. The east — Paje, Jambiani, Bwejuu — has the finest sand and the wind for kite, but at low tide the sea withdraws a kilometre and you swim only a few hours a day; the north — Nungwi and Kendwa — has the reef close in, so you always swim, and for that reason it has the most hotels. Anyone choosing by photograph chooses the east; anyone choosing by swimming chooses the north. From Stone Town it is an hour by taxi on tarmac through villages and plantations, or a dala-dala minibus for a few thousand shillings and two hours.
Nungwi was a dhow-building village, and boats are still built on the beach south of the hotels — with an axe and without plans, and that is the one reason to leave the beach for the village. The hotels line the western shore of the tip, with restaurants on the sand and bars that run late; the lighthouse and the turtle aquarium are at the very tip. Kendwa, two kilometres south, is the same beach with fewer people, better sunsets and the full-moon parties that are the only loud event on the island.
The trips are the sea: Mnemba, an hour by boat, a private island with a reef around it where you snorkel and dolphins are seen in the morning; and the sandbanks that appear at low tide, where you go for lunch. Everything is priced per boat and shared with others on the beach — captains offer from the morning. Scuba diving is the best on the island here, with centres on the beach; a course fits into a week. Anyone wanting more goes to the south of the island to Jozani forest, the main refuge of the Zanzibar red colobus, an hour and a half's drive, half a day.
Guides for Nungwi
Shorter, practical pages for one concrete question each — how many days, how much money, where to sleep, where to escape the city.
Day trips from Nungwi
→Mnemba by boat, a sandbank that surfaces at low tide, Jozani with the colobus and Kendwa on foot — four trips from…
What to see in Nungwi
Swimming at every tide
The reef is close and the sand steeper than in the east, so you swim all day. That is what Nungwi is paid for; the tide table here decides only when you go to the sandbanks, not when you swim.
Mnemba
A private island with a reef around it, an hour by boat from the beach, where you snorkel over coral and dolphins swim in the morning. Per boat, shared with others; leave at seven, back by lunch. You do not land on the island.
The dhow builders
The beach south of the hotels where sailing boats are built by hand, with an axe and no plans, as for centuries. You walk up, watch and ask; this is the one thing in Nungwi not for tourists.
Kendwa
Two kilometres south, the same beach without the crowd and with the best sunsets on the island, because it faces west. The full-moon party happens once a month, on the Saturday closest to the full moon; other Saturdays are quiet. Twenty minutes' walk along the beach at low tide.
Sunset from a dhow
A sailing boat from the beach from five until dark, along the shore towards Kendwa, without an engine. Per boat, with others; the cheaper, quieter version of the sunset than a beach bar.
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Jozani forest
An hour and a half south, the island's main refuge for the red colobus — a monkey found nowhere else in the world but Zanzibar — seen from two metres off the path. Half a day with the mangroves; done on the way back to Stone Town, not as a day trip.
Two things you probably did not know
The tidal range is small at the north of Zanzibar, so you can swim all day at Nungwi, unlike the east coast where the sea withdraws for hundreds of metres. That is also why the dhow boatyards are here.
Dhows are still built by hand in Nungwi, without drawings, from memory. The same hull sailed the Indian Ocean for over a thousand years, carrying goods between Africa, Arabia and India on the monsoon winds.
Ready for Nungwi?
Within reach from here
Places sorted by straight-line distance from Nungwi — day trips or weekends.
Tanzania
→The Serengeti, Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar in one country — and three different bills: the safari by the day, the mountain by the night, the island by an insurance paid at the door
Kenya
→A safari charged by the day, not by the trip — a reserve whose gate fee doubles in July, while a whole trip costs only half as much more
Mauritius
→An island where you do not choose a hotel but a coast — west for sunsets and calm sea, north for nightlife, east for wind, south for kitesurfing
South Africa
→A country of long distances and reversed seasons, driven on the left throughout
All 277 places we write about sit on one page — narrow them down by continent, country, price or what you are travelling for.
Within reach from here: Stone Town, Dar es Salaam and Diani Beach
See how much of that actually suits you — or pin Nungwi if you have been.
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