TRAVELSPECIAL
Spice up your life !
Simon Rogerson visits the African island of Zanzibar to check out the dive sites that lie beyond one of the world ’ s greatest beaches
Fishing boats moored at Bwejuu-Paje
As our plane banked for the final approach to Zanzibar ’ s airport , the purser intoned a warning that plastic bags are not permitted on the island . My first reaction was one of admiration - that ’ s progress for you - followed by a pang of guilt as I remembered I had at least three such offending items in my luggage . It ’ s an old traveller ’ s trick to isolate leaky toiletries . Nevertheless , I made it through customs quickly enough , and with no plastic shaming .
I was visiting Zanzibar as a guest of Baraza Resort & Spa , one of a group of four luxury hotels along the Bwejuu-Paje beach , called The Zanzibar Collection . Diving is central to the resorts ’ offering - some of the directors are active divers and they also operate the Rising Sun Dive Centre , based at Breezes Beach Club .
The hour-long drive from the airport took us past villages , farmland and spice plantations , the major industry on the island . Zanzibar was at one time the centre of the East African slave trade . Malindi was the Swahili Coast ’ s main port for slave trade with the Middle East , and during the mid-19th century as many as 50,000 slaves passed annually through it .
Today , Zanzibar is an autonomous territory of Tanzania , known for the spice industry , raffia palm and tourism . Its white sand beaches are among the most beautiful in the world ; indeed Bwejuu- Paje was rated as one of the top 30 best beaches by Conde Nast magazine . Zanzibar isn ’ t exactly famous for its dive scene , but nor had I ever heard any criticism of it . In my experience , every reef has something special , a little unadvertised jewel that makes it unique in some way . I was hoping to unearth such a gem in Zanzi .
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