Nakupenda Sand Bank Picnic – Zanzibar, Tanzania

Overview

After a pickup at your hotel, you’ll start this fun day with a visit to the Nakupenda beach – Nakupenda means “I Love You”, and you will feel loved there – gentle sand spilling over your feet while walking, mellow waves caressing your body and super-friendly personnel tending your needs. Swim, sunbathe and snorkel the crystal clear waters. After a dive, you’ll surely be ready for a sumptuous beach lunch, including grilled shrimps, squid, octopus, lobster, and langoustine – depending on the daily catch. Filled with energy for a new adventure wave goodbye to Nakupenda beach and board a boat for a good-half-an-hour ride to Prison Island, Also Known As Changuu Island or Quarantine Island. In 1893 the former British prime minister of Zanzibar purchased the island and built a prison complex on it, but it never served to its intended use! It was used as a quarantine station for yellow fever cases.

Today the building is a ruin, but it serves as a guesthouse for tourists. You will the giant tortoises’ reserve, where you will admire, pet, and even feed these magnificent, ancient, peaceful creatures. In 1919 four Aldabra giant tortoises, a gift from the governor of Seychelles were brought here. They find Prison Island a great environment and bred freely. Today, many tortoises are welcoming you, and the first settlers are still among them! There is also a nursery for baby tortoises, where you can see baby tortoises of different ages. A great encounter for everyone, especially for kids!