Отличный отдых Great stay

We rested at the Palumbo Waves hotel with a friend in the second half of March 2021. There were a lot of doubts in the beginning as this hotel was the last one on our priority list (previous ones didn't confirm the booking) but it exceeded our expectations.

Flight and airport.

We flew with the tour operator Join up, the airline Sky Up. Direct night flight from Kyiv (10 h) with refueling in Luxor. Food is not included in the ticket price, so take it with you or order in advance on the Sky Up website (if you don’t order in advance, you may not have it, only snacks).
Refueling together 40-50 minutes lasted 15 minutes (both there and back), so both times we arrived 40 minutes earlier. Border and visa control went very quickly (although we heard stories about how people stood there for hours), we were probably lucky because the end of the season.

Accommodation.

We arrived at the hotel during lunch, so at first we were sent to eat, and then settled.

And again we were lucky: we were given a room with an ocean view at no extra charge (we indicated this in the wishes when we booked the hotel - 3rd floor, ocean view if possible - that's how it was, so indicate the wishes, they are taken into account! ).

Number.

We had two beds in the room (we indicated twin bed, however, one was large and the second small, as if for a family with a child : ) with mosquito nets, air conditioning (worked all the time, but in the end it started to leak), fan, small refrigerator, safe. There was no TV, we noticed this on the fifth day, since we don’t watch TV at all, but if this is important for you, indicate in your wishes (there are rooms with a TV). There is light on the balcony, you can sit in the evening. The view is beautiful: the village, the ocean and the island.

Nutrition.

Undoubtedly, one of the advantages of this hotel is the food.
We especially liked the grilled octopus, crab pasta, Zanzibar omelet, fish dishes and delicious fruits (every day there was papaya and watermelon, sometimes passion fruit, lime, bananas). Soft AI includes a buffet 3 times a day, fruits at 5 o'clock by the sea / pool and some soft drinks. For money, you could buy local beer (quite tasty), cocktails, espresso (Zanzibar Americano coffee was free, and also quite tasty). In addition to the hotel, you can eat in one of the bars / restaurants on the beach, on the so-called shopping street 5 minutes walk from the hotel, or go / go to Nungwi (there are many restaurants, bars and all kinds of other entertainment). In Kendwa, we can recommend the Sunset Kendwa bar and the Varadero restaurant. In Stone Secret - Zanzibar Coffee House, Taperia 2.0 and Stone Town Cafe

Service and staff.

The staff is friendly, helpful, speaks good English and some speak Russian quite well.
The room was cleaned every day, towels changed every two days. We left tips (1000-2000 shillings, that's about 0.5-1 dollar) and each time we were made different beautiful figures out of towels, sheets and flowers. When they did not leave a tip a couple of times, they also did, by the way: ) A trifle, but nice.
In general, people here are very sincere, sympathetic, open, we met very interesting, smart guys at the bar.

Beach.


The beach in Kendwa is beyond praise! Snow-white sand, which practically does not heat up in the sun, turquoise water like in the Maldives, a calm, gentle ocean, low tides / high tides are almost not expressed ...The only thing to consider is the width of the coastline, it takes a minute or two to go from sunbeds to water, for this time can burn out, so use cream : ) You can get to the beach by dala-dala typewriter in 3-4 minutes, which runs regularly until midnight, but sometimes you need to wait up to 10-15 minutes.
If you don't feel like waiting, you can walk through the village in 7 minutes, we did this almost always. The beach is guarded, we left our things on sun loungers when we went swimming. Maasai and beachboys walk along the beach, sell souvenirs, excursions, fruits ...but they are not as annoying as in Sri Lanka, for example (we had a negative experience there), and quickly understand the words “thank you, I don’t need it. ”

Entertainment.

The hotel has a swimming pool, large enough and there are always few people there. You can also swim at night. Once after dinner there was an entertainment program (African dances, music, gymnasts). Only once, as we understood, because during our stay the president of Tanzania died and all mass entertainment events were banned for 14 days. We were not too upset, as there was still something to do.

What else to do in Zanzibar?
We are active girls, so in 10 days we managed to see and try a lot of things, we liked everything very much, choose to your taste:
- A trip to Stone Town - we went ourselves, read about the sights in advance and put dots on the map (market, Freddie Mercury's house, slavery museum, fort, beautiful houses, mosques, cafes and shops where we wanted to go). From there we sailed to Prison Island (in the port they agreed that we would be taken for 60 thousand shillings in two directions - this is about 26 dollars). A taxi to Stone Town and back cost us $ 50 (there are always taxi drivers in the parking lot near our beach, you can arrange in advance “for tomorrow” to be picked up from the hotel at a certain time).
- A walk along the coastline in Nungwi (it takes 50-60 minutes from our hotel, it is better not to go at high tide, otherwise you can not go by sea, go around the village + 20-30 minutes).
It seemed to us that the beach in Nungwi is a little worse than in Kendwa, but there are more entertainment: restaurants, bars, there are discos (but we were not on them).

- Massage on the beach - on our beach on the second floor above the bar there is a massage room. We really liked it, a 60-hour full body massage with essential oils costs only 20 dollars (or 15 if you come together).
- Excursion Dolphin Tour (boat trip at a point where there are many dolphins) + Jozani Forest + Spice Farm - taken from the tour operator for $ 95, you can take it cheaper on the beach. The tour was good, but expected more. Surprisingly, it was the Spice Farm that turned out to be the most interesting. Although the Jozani forest is worth a visit if only for the mangrove.
- Diving / Snorkeling - There are several diving centers along the coast in Kendwa, we chose Zanzibar Watersports near the Kendwa Rocks hotel. With them we swam to the coral reefs near the island of Mnemba, the water there is gorgeous. A friend went scuba diving (she is a pro), and I snorkeled with a mask and fins.
The coral reef is inferior to the Red Sea, of course, but still very beautiful, a lot of fish, there are jellyfish, starfish, eels and other marine life. Dolphins also often appear near this place, so on the way back we were lucky to stumble upon a whole flock of more than 30 dolphins. The captain stopped the boat and gave us 5 minutes to snorkel with them, it was unforgettable! Overall, this is one of our coolest Zanzibar experiences in terms of value for money (diving costs about $140, snorkeling only $20), the price includes meals on the boat (lunch and fruit) and an instructor for each group. If you are more interested in other types of sea sports, you can also rent equipment there (we took SUPs for $15 per hour).
- Safari - for a long time we doubted whether it was worth flying on a safari to the mainland, but nevertheless we decided and did not wish! We chose a one and a half day excursion to Saadani from Join up.

On the beach, you could find cheaper safari deals, but no one had such a safari deal. Part of the safari we had at sunset, part at dawn and part - rafting on the river. We spent the night in a chic and very atmospheric bungalow on the ocean, food and drinks throughout the safari - all inclusive. The price is quite high ($600), but for such an experience and such conditions, in our opinion, it is quite justified. The disadvantage of Saadani compared to other national parks is that there is the least chance of seeing predators. We did not see them, but we were already pleased with the number of other animals (giraffes, zebras, antelopes, buffaloes, hippos, etc. ).

If you need more advice, here they are:
- The sun is VERY active. Be sure to apply sunscreen several times a day, invest in a good sunscreen, and try to stay in the shade from 10 to 16-17 if possible. And be sure to wear a hat.
- Take corals.
There are hedgehogs in Zanzibar. We were lucky and didn't have any, but friends who also vacationed in Kendwa had an unpleasant experience.
- Look at the sky. Well, firstly, in this part of the island there are unrealistically beautiful sunsets, and secondly, the stars are usually very clearly visible at night. This is the southern hemisphere, so the constellations are different here, there is no Ursa Major and the North Star familiar to us, but there is the Southern Cross and Sirius. I installed the SkyView Lite application and looked at the sky through it, very interesting.
- Install the Tides app which shows the ebb and flow of the tides.
- Take mosquito repellent cream/spray with you. Yes, they say that there is no malaria in Zanzibar, but why take the risk, and there is little pleasant in ordinary mosquito bites.
- If you plan to walk through the village, take sweets, caramels to please the local kids.
- Trade. Usually, the initially overpriced price is called here, so sometimes you can knock it down more than 2 times.
- Don't sit still.
Zanzibar is a very diverse place, it is much more than just a beach and the ocean, there are so many interesting things here, and it is worth seeing with your own eyes!