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Is It Safe in Zanzibar? Is Zanzibar Safe to Visit? Is Zanzibar Safe to Live? How Safe Is Zanzibar for Tourists?
I can tell you from personal experience that Zanzibar is very safe but if you would like to hear more about it from Redditors, here are some threads for you to read:
- Zanzibar- as beautiful and safe as the internet says?
- Some notes after a vacation in Zanzibar
- Zanzibar – would you guys recommend it?
Keeping on the subject of ‘is Zanzibar safe?’, in the 17 years since I have been visiting Zanzibar regularly, the majority of which I lived a short distance across the Zanzibar Channel in Dar es Salaam, I heard of insecurity in Zanzibar only once around 10 years ago.
For a short couple of months (and I mean really about two) there was brief religious-driven anti-tourist sentiment in Zanzibar, and the primarily Muslim local community complained about the total disregard that visitors showed towards the religious values of most of the local community, especially with regard to the level of body exposure of female tourists.
I remember hearing at the time that two sets of foreign white women had been attacked for indecent exposure, but I had never heard of any such incidents before then nor have I since.
Around this same time, I remember visiting Zanzibar with a gentleman friend who presented like a local Zanzibari.
I, a black Tanzanian woman, was wearing a sleeveless, backless, knee-length dress and for the first time, as I strolled through Zanzibar, I heard locals—male and female alike—comment loudly at my attire and my supposedly inappropriate behavior as a women.
Personally, I had no clue what they were saying, and never did I feel in danger, but my gentleman friend who had spent a lot of time in Zanzibar during his childhood was incensed by what I was being called.
I had never had an experience like that before in Zanzibar, and I have been back many times and I have never had an experience like that again, so I think it is safe to say that it was an isolated season on the island.
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Another situation about which I have heard white (so visibly foreign) friends complain about during visits to Zanzibar is how much they are harassed by locals trying to sell them stuff. This could be curios, jewelry, taxi rides or travel services such as guiding services and day trips.
Although such situations may feel unsafe, there is really little to worry about.
Keep a tight hold of your valuables, keep walking and keep telling whoever is harrassing you that you already have everything you need. Eventually, they will get the message and leave you alone.
Like in many places, especially where there is a crowd such as at the Zanzibar port where you catch or get off the ferry, petty thieving can occur.
If possible keep your valuables hidden, be alert, and get through the crowded situation as quickly as possible.
So…is Zanzibar safe? To that I can answer a big resounding ‘yes’!
Nantenaina Lova
Lova Nantenaina, born 7 March 1977, is a Malagasy film director.
Eva Lova & Endemika Films
Alongside his wife Eva Lova and Candy Radifera, he formed the production company Endemika Films in 2008.
Most of Endemika Films’ output has been short programming for children. The company also produces documentaries.
Lova Nantenaina released his first feature documentary Avec Presque Rien… in 2013, featuring the poverty that he grew up with in Antananarivo, Madagascar. It received the Sustainable Development Award at the Vues d’Afrique festival in Montreal.
In 2014, Lova Nantenaina directed the documentary Ady Gasy, which details Nantenaina’s interviews with Malagasy people about the conditions in their country.
It received the Eden Grand Prize for best documentary at the Lumière d’Afrique festival as well as the Indian Ocean Prize at the International Film Festival of Africa and the Islands.
Photo Credits: François Terrier