Questions about the sand and the water

On much of the east and south-east coast, several hundred metres, and it stays out for hours. The seabed there is a very shallow, gently sloping reef flat, so a modest vertical change in the tide moves the waterline an enormous distance.

On the north coast the shelf is narrower and the water deeper close in, so the same tide barely moves the waterline at all.

The north, or anywhere with a serious pool. The question that matters is whether somebody wants to be in water at four in the afternoon, and on the east coast the sea may be several hundred metres away at that hour.

The reef flat is genuinely interesting for children at low water — starfish, urchins, pools — so it is not wasted time. It is just not swimming.

On the north, generally. On the east and south-east, there is seaweed farming on lines in the shallows — a long-standing local livelihood, largely worked by women — plus seasonal drift weed on the sand.

Hotels rake their own frontage. Nobody is going to remove the farms, and nobody should. If a swept beach is what you want, go north and we will say so plainly.

For flat water and diving, the calmer, hotter months. For kitesurfing, the cooler, windier ones. Both are good holidays and they are not the same one.

Avoid the long rains, broadly around April and May, when some hotels close. A shorter rainy period later in the year disrupts far less and is good value.

Ask the hotel for tide times on your dates, and ask what low water looks like at that property in metres and hours rather than adjectives. Any hotel can answer both in one email.

Then look at recent guest photographs rather than the hotel’s own. Guests photograph the afternoon; hotels photograph high water.

Yes, and it works well — three or four nights on the north-east for the reef, then three on the north for easy swimming, or the reverse. The transfer costs a half day.

It is the usual answer for a party where one person wants to dive and another wants the sea to be there whenever they feel like it.

A Zanzibar safari is usually quoted fully inclusive: accommodation, all meals, park and conservancy fees, your guide and vehicle, and transport between parks. Most camps include soft drinks, house wine, beer and laundry.

Not included: international flights, visas or travel authorisation, travel insurance, tips, premium drinks, and extras like balloon flights and spa treatments.

For July to October — the migration months in the Masai Mara — six to twelve months is normal, and the best small camps sell out first. Christmas and New Year book up just as early.

For the shoulder months, three to four months is usually comfortable. Inside eight weeks we can still put a very good trip together, but you are choosing from what is left rather than from everything.

This site is a planning guide. When you send an enquiry it goes to Nomad Africa, our partner travel agency in Kenya, who prepare your itinerary and quote and handle the booking, the payments and you on the ground.

You deal with one team from the first email to the airport transfer home.

No. Sending your dates, getting an itinerary and getting a costed quote is free and carries no obligation. Money only changes hands when you decide to hold space at a camp.

The safari areas themselves are well run, and camps take guest safety seriously. The practical risks are ordinary travel risks: road transfers, sun, stomach upsets and not listening to your guide around animals.

Check your own government’s current travel advice for Zanzibar before you book and again before you fly, and take out insurance that covers medical evacuation. We will not tell you an area is fine if the advice says otherwise.