Zanzibar

Kiteboarding Zanzibar

“Best place to be, especially during the corona pandemic”

The whole world is locked up. People keep social distance, stay at home, get bored and depressed. But there’s still one place in the world, where it seems all this corona pandemic does not exist. It seems unreal, but there’s a little paradise called Zanzibar. The island in Tanzania, eastern Africa claims to be healed from corona through a three day prayer.

It’s 30 degrees, perfect white beaches, turquoise blue water and a decent wind.

My name is Johannes (german, 26) and I’m using my sabbatical to live on beautiful beaches and kiteboard as much as possible. Currently staying in Paje, Zanzibar, Tanzania.

When I landed here at Zanzibar airport on 10.01.21, instantly almost everybody removed their face mask after leaving the aircraft. By taxi you can get within one hour to Paje on the east coast of Zanzibar. It’s the main spot for kitesurfers. There are lots of accomodations along the beach, so you can directly live at this incredible kitesurf spot.

There are two seasons during the year. You can kite from June to September and from December till March. Zanzibar is a lite wind spot. Usually there are 12 to 16 knots, maximum maybe 20. So better bring your bigger kites. I’m using a 13 and a 10 square meter kite, which is totally enough for my 75 kg.

Just in case you want to try different stuff, there are lots of schools on the beach where you can take lessons or just rent other equipment. In general I would say you can kitesurf around 4 to 5 days per week. If you’re using a foil board, almost every day, but only during high tide.

If there’s no wind, or you are just too sore from kitesurfing, there are lots of other activities. You can do diving, snorking, swimming with dolphins, watch turtles on Prison Island or just explore the rest of Zanzibar island. You can either move around by Taxi or the more interesting way, with the local bus, called dalladalla. There are rarely real bus stations or timetables, so you just go to the main roads and wait a bit. Usually after 10 to 15 minutes the dalladalla will come by and pick you up. And no matter how many people are already in the bus, it’s never full, there’s always a space

In Tanzania there are no restrictions like wearing masks or lockdowns or curfews. Everything is open. People meet on the beach, in Bars and Restaurants. Everyday there are different parties around Paje with local and european DJs and also live music.

Zanzibar and my favourite place Paje is a great destination for kitesurfing or just a nice beach holiday. But especially right now during this world wide pandemic, Zanzibar is a unique paradise which is definitely worth visiting.