Stone Town and Spice Farm Private Tour

Posted By : 328pareshd
The town has narrow streets alleyways where you can wind through little tiny shops on both sides selling anything from wares, trinkets, souvenirs, meat, fish, spices etc etc. At one point or another you come across some historical monument which has some significance to history buffs and of interest to others.
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Posted On : 2024-04-09 09:41:11

Posted By : Jolahna
I visited the spice farm first. The guide was ok, but the visit felt a bit rushed. Also lots of people expected tips (guide, guide's "assistant", guy who climbed a coconut tree, guy who cut fruit for us) which was very awkward. I was happy to buy some spice to support the local community, but bear in mind that they are triple the cost of local market.

Stone Town was a great visit! The guide was super knowledgeable and nice, I saw lots. I can't unfortunately remember his name but he was great.

The transport (from hotel and back) was good!
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Posted On : 2024-02-24 12:31:10

Posted By : Trail02047351722
Everything went really well. The guide spoke very good German. He adapted the length of the tour to my needs.
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Posted On : 2023-12-30 12:33:47

Posted By : Michelle_M
It was good but the transport, seat belts were not working, no water supplied. Guide was good and also driver
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Posted On : 2023-09-21 03:49:46

Posted By : H2852WYdavidb
Siad was an excellent tour guide and extremely knowledable. We asked allot of questions and he spent allot of time with us. Great tour of Stonetown. 5 Stars.

Spice tour was interesting and they tried hard to make it as fun as possible. Only 4 stars since way too much pushing for tips throughtout the tour.
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Posted On : 2023-08-29 21:02:42

Posted By : christiankZ517LO
German-speaking guide who tried very hard to give us an authentic impression. Highly recommended, as without a local guide we would have felt uncomfortable in the dense crowds in the fish market and the narrow streets of Stone Town.
It was very relaxed and we learned a lot about the history and the current situation in Tanzania and Zanzibar.
Our guide was Hafidh Mchezo, who accompanied us for several hours.
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Posted On : 2023-08-09 11:05:53

Posted By : Caetano_R
I had booked this tour months ahead of our trip to Africa. As I booked it, there was a dropdown window, listing the places that could be selected as the pick-up point for the tour. As my wife and I would be staying at the Melia Zanzibar Hotel, at the beach, and one hour away from Stone Town, this hotel was not shown in the list of available pick-up points. Therefore, when I checked in at the Melia, I spoke to the front desk about booking a transfer from the hotel to the pick-up point I had selected in Stone Town. In the morning of the tour, I got a text message from Ahmed, the tour manager, asking where I was staying. I replied that I was at the Melia and that I had booked a round trip transfer from the Melia to Stone Town. Then Ahmed said that this was illegal, that I could not use any means of transportation other than his company to go to the pick-up point. If I had booked my transfer with any other organization, including the hotel, the person who booked the transfer for me could end up in jail. That was obviously a bunch of BS because there is no way it would be illegal for me to go from my hotel to whatever point I wanted in Zanzibar and that was nobody else's business but my own. Of course, what Ahmed wanted was to provide the transfer as an added product to his tour, considering that a round trip from the Melia to Stone Town costs US$100. Obviously, he wanted to get that extra money. After a lengthy discussion with him and the driver who was already waiting for me, and after making sure that I could cancel the transfer with the hotel without being charged for it, I agreed to let Ahmed send me a vehicle to pick us up at a cost of US$50 for the round trip. So, this tour started on shaky ground and extra stress that could have been avoided if the tour company had listed on its website that beach hotels could be selected as pick up points. However, all this confusion ended up being good because Spice Farm is halfway between the beach and Stone Town and we first went there. The Spice Farm was very interesting, as Omar, our local guide, was very knowledgeable about all the spices, fruits and trees. There's quite a lot to see and if you like botany, you will be very pleased. Omar even knew the names of all the fruits and plants in my native language Portuguese, and a lot of these fruits and spices also exist in Brazil. So, that was very interesting. During a tour of the Spice Farm expect to do a lot of tipping, because your local guide, like our Omar, will enlist the help of several assistants, who will be performing different things, and they all expect to be tipped during the one and a half hour that the tour will last. At the end, they offered us a tasting of the different fruits that they produce, and they were all very delicious. They’ll also try to sell you a variety of products, such as perfumes, essences and spices themselves. From there we proceeded with our driver to the pick-up point in Stone Town, where our guide, Said, was waiting for us. Said is not just very knowledgeable about everything in Stone Town and Zanzibar, but he is an excellent storyteller. The walking tour through Stone Town lasted about five hours and at lunchtime Said took us to a local restaurant, The Secret Garden, where we had a decent meal, and then we proceeded with the tour through the narrow streets and alleys of old Stone Town. Going through the markets, the fish market, the meat market, the fruit market, etc., reminded me of the Medinas in Fez and Marrakech, in Morocco. Almost at the end, we passed in front of the house where Freddie Mercury grew up, which is now a museum. The entry fee to the museum is not included in the tour price but if you have time and interest, you can buy a ticket to visit it. A couple of blocks down the street we finally met our driver, who drove us back to the Melia. Overall, and despite the initial stress caused by the transfer, the tour was pleasant and very interesting because Said was an excellent guide and an attention-grabbing storyteller. I would recommend this tour and Said to anyone visiting Zanzibar.
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Posted On : 2023-08-01 15:07:07

Posted By : LSD81
We found 'Sultans Tours' through a Google search. It has very good reviews and a broad range of excursions/trips available at competitive prices. We found the exact excursion we wanted and the price, which included all taxi transfers, was really good value.

We enjoyed a day of seeing the sights, whilst feeling comfortable, safe and secure. Our guides- at both spice farm and Stone Town- were friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. They were adaptable where needed (we had our two young children with us), and met all our expectations.

Thank you for a great, easy. We discovered so much and would definitely recommend Sultan Tours, again!
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Posted On : 2023-04-16 15:54:22

Posted By : tisserande35
We arrived in Zanzibar in November 2022 by cruise ship and had booked two Sultan tours - one tour to the Spice Farm and one walking tour of Stone Town. The port area is a bit chaotic and we were advised to wait for our tours at the nearby Mizangani Seafront Hotel, which has several convenient benches outside under their balcony.

The Spice Farm tour was fun and very good. Basically Sultan Tours provides a driver who takes you about half an hour out of town to a spice farm, run by the local community. At the spice farm, you are shown around and given opportunities to see, taste and smell several dozen different spices. There are tipping opportunities for the driver, the spice farm guide, the spice farm assistant, and a guy who climbs a coconut tree and sings a song. At the end of the tour, there are opportunities to benefit the community by purchasing various soaps, flavored with spices and herbs, as well as spices, teas and coffees. There is a fruit tasting at the end, as well, but we were tired and opted out.

The next day we took a private walking tour of Stone Town with our guide Said. Said was excellent and, drawing on his teaching background, gave us a background into the history and architecture of Zanzibar, which we greatly appreciated. I would highly recommend Sultan Tours, either to cruise ship passengers or those staying in Zanzibar.
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Posted On : 2022-12-31 17:16:08

Posted By : WorldWidePlayer
Mr. Ali the driver was extremely careful and very knowledgeable about highlighting things along the was to each location.

Mr. Mohamed from the Stone Town was very very professional, knowledgeable and just a great guide all the way around.

The young man from the Big Boy Spice Farm was awesome as well. He and his assistant really put on a show. Not only was it a serious herbal learning experience, but the guide themselves made the experience an enjoyable and funny time.

All of these knocked it out the park….. A pleasure doing business and encountering these guys!!!!
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Posted On : 2022-10-23 08:11:01