Zanzibar is part of the United Republic of Tanzania. First and foremost, this island is a place of history and the signs of its long past have not been obscured by the appearance of five-star hotels and world-class tourist resorts. The actual story of Zanzibar goes back many misty legends, preserved only in the songs and oral tradition of the area. The island has been inhabited for millennia, initially by local African people who found a fertile refuge here from the invasions of other cultures with the sea as their protection.

Until the last 30 years or so the local population was undisturbed although frequently visited by traders from far off places. The most important of these were Arab traders and settlers from the Arabian Peninsula and Persia. The Sultan of Oman set his palace in Zanzibar and brought most of the Omani nation with him.

The Omani were slave traders and such was the market for this terrible trade that they accumulated vast wealth in the process. Today, along with luxury hotels, sandy beaches, Crystal Sea and lush vegetation of the interior, the island and particularly Zanzibar town itself contains living reminders of all this history.

This is not just a place to visit for its beauty. It is a place to stop and contemplate all the vast tapestries of history, which has shaped every human being on earth. From the shanty town of Ngkimbo, to Stone Town - the oldest part of the city, to the palace of the Sultan and on into the country villages where fishing and farming continue in the same way they have for thousands of years, Zanzibar is full of beauty and surprises. There is no better place in the world to get away from it all and still be immersed in a society from the pages of history.

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TOUR INFORMATIONS FOR ZANZIBAR