Times in Tanzania: Zanzibar: Paje Beach

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Zanzibar: Paje Beach

The Indian Ocean, as seen in Paje.

I was based in Stone Town for my trip to Zanzibar (Unguja) but I knew that Zanzibar was known for having world-class beaches. I was surprised at how small the island was and how easily one could get around with public transportation. After browsing the guide book and listening to people's opinion (everyone seemed to have a different "favorite spot") I decided to head to a small coastal village called Paje.

I decided on Paje mainly because it was on the opposite side of the island and I was curious to see more of the island outside of Stone Town. I was planning on taking a dala dala to Paje, though my friend warned me they are quite slow. The dala dalas were different than those on the main-land and I quite liked them as they used the top for storage and only had two long benches on each side of the truck bed.

The dala dala trip was unremarkable other than the fact that yes, it was very slow. The first quarter of the journey was full of stops and starts, loading up products and goods, unloading, picking up school kids, dropping them off, etc. However, after we got out of the more densely settled part of the island, we moved quickly to Paje.

Zanzibar dala dalas.

I didn't know where to get off in Paje but saw a sign for "beach", called for a stop, and started walking towards the beach. As soon as we reached the beach we could see white sand beaches until the horizon. Apparently Paje is the hotspot for kite-boarding and there were a handful of amateur kite boarders surfing in the shallows.

The beach was sparsely populated and lacked any big resort hotels. There were mostly small B&B types of places and enough space on the beach to feel comfortably spread out and relaxed. We went for a swim in the shallow water, enjoyed a lunch at a nearby restaurant (fish of course!) and then headed back to Stone Town in time for our evening activities.