Stepping out of Zanzibar’s low-key airport terminal and into the bright afternoon sunshine, we pondered our options. Squeeze into a hot, heavily-laden daladala? Or hire private taxi?

Daladalas are to Zanzibar  what matatus are to Kenya – transport for the people. Swarming around urban centres and tearing along rural highways, these brightly-painted minibuses and vans may appear chaotic to the uninitiated, but they’re strictly regulated, with set fares and a set number of passengers per vehicle. The trouble is, that number is high, with almost everyone seemingly carrying a great deal of luggage, from small miscellaneous bundles wrapped in cloth to huge baskets of jackfruit and bananas.

We settled on the luxury of a taxi, and as our car swerved around a succession of moving obstacles – wandering livestock, men blinkered by huge loads on their heads, careering daladalas – it felt like the right decision.

Our driver, who spoke good English, claimed to be fluent in Italian as well. “It’s useful!” he said. “July, August, we see many, many Italians here for their holidays. But now I’m speaking English most days. More and more English people are coming over.

It’s the exotic romance of the islands that draws visitors to Zanzibar. The very name conjures up poetic images of spice chests, perfumed courtyards and dhows with billowing sails. The beaches are soft as icing sugar and in the towns and villages, life moves at a musical lilt. The archipelago “mesmerised” David Livingstone in the 1860s and to new arrivals today, the island vibe is instantly seductive. Even the little airport, its tarmac fringed by slender palm trees and dotted with island-hopper planes, looks like something out of a rum advert.

Unguja, also known as Zanzibar Island, is the most visited island in the archipelago. Long and lovely, it’s a patchwork of coconut palms, spice plantations and banana fields, edged by dazzling white sand and some of the most spectacular coral reefs in the East African Indian Ocean.

We skirted the capital, Zanzibar Town, and drove east, passing through villages where chickens scurried and scratched and men with silver-stubbled jaws sat in the shade playing bao, the Zanzibari version of the African game of holes and seeds. Walking along the verges were women and girls carrying large bundles, their heads and shoulders wrapped in bright cotton kangas printed with nenos – carefully chosen proverbs and riddles.

On a freshly surfaced road through thick tropical woodland, our driver braked, stopped the car, and leapt out. Striding over to one of the trees beside the road, he yanked down a small handful of leaves, rubbed them between his fingers, sniffed them, and presented them to us with a triumphant look. “Can you guess what this is?”

We inhaled the scent. It reminded me of Christmas, mulled wine and old-fashioned pomanders.

“Clove?”

“Top marks!”

Delighted, he rushed off to find another botanical sample and  soon our dashboard was laden with his discoveries.. Warmed by the sun, they filled the car for the rest of the journey with rich aromas of cinnamon, nutmeg, lemongrass and Christmassy cloves.

The Best of Zanzibar Island

A wander through history: Stone Town on foot

If you’re feeling moderately adventurous, leave your map behind and set off on foot into the heart of old Zanzibar Town. Each twist in the labyrinth of alleyways will yield new discoveries – intricately carved teak or sesame wood doorframes, elaborate balconies, Swahili doors studded with ornate brass knobs and souk-like shops piled with textiles, beads and paintings.

Don’t worry about getting lost; instead, enjoy the thrill of total immersion, safe in the knowledge that you’re never more than ten minutes from a main road.

There’s a strong echo of the ancient towns of the Middle East in Stone Town’s medina-like streets and grand Arab-style mansions. It’s no coincidence – by far the strongest influence on the city came from the Omani Arabs, not least Sultan Seyyid Saïd who shifted his capital here from Muscat in 1841. At this time, Zanzibar was fast becoming a leading clove producer, its wealth growing rapidly; it was also the haunt of notorious slave traders.

Stone Town’s inglorious glory days as an engine room of the slave and ivory trade began in the late 18th Century and continued for almost a century. Human cargo and other commodities were brought here from the Tanzanian mainland, then sold and transported by dhow to Arabia, India and the French Indian Ocean islands. At the trade’s peak, 60,000 slaves were ‘processed’ here annually, with the ruling Sultan of Oman receiving a tax on each sale – and investing proceeds in showy architecture. Zanzibar was the most important and impressive commercial centre on the Swahili coast.

In the late 20th Century, post-independence, Stone Town neglected its grand mansions and palaces, leaving their hand-plastered coral limestone facades to the mercy of the punishing tropical climate. While many have fallen into a state of picturesque disrepair, very few have been totally lost, and the city’s 150-year-old layout remains virtually intact. In 2000, UNESCO awarded Stone Town World Heritage status, adding impetus to an already highly motivated local conservation movement.

While exploring the winding alleyways will give you a fascinating glimpse under the city’s skin, the best way to appreciate the sheer ambition its founders is to stroll along the seafront west of the harbour. Impressive by any standards are the restored four-storey Old Dispensary; the Old Customs House; the Arab-style Palace Museum, former home of the Sultans; and the famous Beit al-Ajaib or House of Wonders, a vast late 19th-Century palace.

A perfect – and delightfully eccentric – place to stop for lunch or a cocktail is Mercury’s on Mizingani Road, named in honour of Freddie Mercury, who was born in Stone Town in 1946 and was named Farok Bulsara by his well-to-do Zoroastrian Parsee parents. His memory lives on, with memorabilia decorating this relaxed waterfront restaurant and bar. Queen often also plays on the stereo.

Come sunset, Forodhani Gardens, the little wharfside park near the House of Wonders, springs into life as market traders set up their stalls. Here you can browse through piles of beads and other trinkets, but the main attraction is freshly cooked food, from seafood kebabs with spicy naan bread to goatmeat with sharp, rhubarby tamarind sauce. Come hungry.

Sand and Sea: Sunbathing, snorkelling and scuba diving

With pale sand, arching palms, deep blue waters and clear skies overhead, Zanzibar’s best beaches come close to the tropical ideal. Among the most beautiful are those at Nungwi, Kendwa and Matemwe in the north, and Paje and Jambiani in the south east.

There’s a blot on this perfection: the accumulation of tide-line debris such as seaweed, driftwood and, in the areas that aren’t cleared by resort staff, plastic bottles. However, it’s not enough to deter  sunbathers, or honeymooners enjoying lantern-lit dinners à deux – and it can make for rewarding beachcombing.

Most of the beaches in the north and east have an extremely gentle gradient, with the coral reef some distance offshore. The ebbing tide exposes expanses of sand that can shimmer like silver. You may see spear-fishermen loping out into the water for some distance before the water reaches their knees.

Although more coastal land has been parcelled up for development, to the distress of those wanting to keep things low-impact, the beaches are protected, with relatively little encroachment directly on the waterfront. Some areas are still home to local fishing communities, the more enterprising of which also sell curios. Look out for brightly coloured tingatinga paintings of silhouetted safari animals and elongated warriors, a Zanzibari speciality.

Beyond the beach, there’s a rich marine ecosystem to explore, home to lionfish, barracuda, eagle rays, sharks and a rainbow of colourful reef fish. Unguja’s coral has largely been spared destruction, and many reefs, particularly in the south east, are excellent for diving and snorkelling. Pull on a mask and a portal is opened into a new, luminous world. Glide among the butterflyfish and snappers, search the nooks for tiny nudibranchs, gobies and shrimps, or just drift and dream.

Favourites among divers are the turtles, which are reasonably common in this corner of the ocean, thanks in part to a determined conservation drive. When the turtles begin to lay their eggs in the sand in April and May, volunteers excavate and preserve them, hatching each under controlled conditions before releasing them.  They also educate fishermen in the ecological value of turtles.

Mangroves and monkeys: Jozani-Chwaka Bay National Park

Central Unguja was once covered from end to end in tropical forest and mangrove swamps. Much of the island has long since been cleared for cultivations of one sort or another, but there’s still a fine tract of indigenous forest just over 35km east of Stone Town. This 50-square-kilometre protected area comprises Jozani Forest and the mangroves of Chwaka Bay.

Considerable thought has gone into making the park accessible to visitors. With a guide, you can tour the less-boggy paths of Jozani Forest, admiring the old-growth mahogany trees, and meet its most famous residents, the wild but far-from-shy Kirk’s red colobus monkeys. This species is unique to Zanzibar, with calls, coat patterns and eating habits that differ from those of their mainland relatives. Their name in Swahili, kimi punju, means ‘poison monkey’: legend has it that if a dog eats one, it will lose all its fur. It’s thought that this may be due to the monkeys’ uncanny ability to digest leaves which are highly toxic to other animals. With their inquisitive, Yoda-like features, they’re highly charismatic and entertaining.

Nearby, a stroll around the boardwalks built among the mangrove trees of Pete Inlet allows you a close-up view of an intricate habitat. The fresh green of young sprouts stands out vividly against the dark mud and, if you look very carefully, you will see crabs scuttling about, and perhaps schools of young fish – the protected creeks serve as hatcheries.

Hot stuff: Touring a spice plantation

Zanzibar is rightly synonymous with spices – the islands’ climate produces perfect conditions for cultivating  a wide variety plants.

The islanders have been growing and trading their sweet-smelling leaves, flowers, seeds and bark for centuries. For the Omanis, spices were a significant money-spinner. Cloves, the dried buds of a myrtle tree whose leaves also smell of clove, were highly prized; today they remain one of Zanzibar’s signature spices. As well as clove trees, commercial plantations or shambas grow cardamom bushes, cinnamon laurels, cumin plants, ginger plants, jasmine trees, nutmeg trees and basil plants, among many others.

To find out more, book yourself onto a guided tour of a shamba designed specifically for visitors. These have a large variety of plants spread over a relatively small area, so you don’t have to trek great distances between species.

Spice tour guides tend to be highly entertaining, with much teasing and game-playing as they cajole you into smelling or tasting and guessing the identity of each new leaf, flower or fruit.

While many plants you’ll be shown have a culinary purpose, others are grown for their cosmetic or medicinal uses. Expect plenty of camp jokes when you get to the lipstick bush, whose seed pod contains a vivid red dye. Your guide will show you plants which can act as an antiseptic, a decongestant, a soap, a perfume, or, with much coy smirking, a Viagra substitute.

Swimming with dolphins: Kizimkari

In the Menai conservation area near Unguja’s southern tip, the local fishermen have found themselves a lucrative day job as tour guides. What they have to offer is something rather special: this stretch of water is frequented by bottlenose and Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins which, remarkably perhaps, seem unfazed by the intrusion of human visitors.

Many dream of swimming with wild dolphins, and travel great distances for the opportunity to do so, without success, but the Kizimkani dolphin guides boast an impressive hit rate: they claim to find dolphins reasonably close to shore in around eight or nine trips out of ten.

Typically, a small fleet of fishing boats heads out from Kizimkani beach in the morning with a gaggle of tourists on board, snorkels, masks and fins at the ready.

As soon as somebody sights a pod, your captain takes you as close as is safe, then gives you the word to jump. Your encounter might last just a minute or two, or as long as half an hour. Magically, the dolphins may circle you close to the surface, mimic your movements, or let you follow them as deep as you dare as they dive towards the sandy bottom.