We booked the tour through the Spice Palace hotel In Stone Town. Picked up at our hotel drove to Nungwi then took a small boat to what we thought was Tumbatu Island. It was so rough We were soaked when we got close to an Island (Not Tumbatu) the 2 fellows managing the Boat told us we snorkel now and go to beach later. It was very rough water. We snorkeled for about 30 minutes . Got back In the boat, again ,it was very rough water. Took us back to Nungwi. Oh and was offered Fruit in the boat. It was just as rough going Back. Again we were soaked. Nobody Mentioned why we didn't get to Tumbatu Island. We paid the driver $70 USD and the Boat operators $80USD . 3 middlemen along The way , so who knows who got what. A real rip off.

We paid 200 dollars for what we were told was a private tour of the forest. We had 10 people with us on our tour and at one point had to share the private taxi booked at the tour guides insistence. As the others in the tour included young bored children the tour raced through in about 30 minutes. The forest is beautiful and well worth a visit but do not go with this operator.

Booked via Expedia and the company couldn't of been more professional, prior to the tour they contacted me to arrange a pick up from my hotel to take me to the boat. The tour it's self was very enjoyable and the staff couldn't of been anymore friendly and informative. I would definitely recommend using them, especially when your trying to arrange tours prior to your arrival.

I spent enjoyable days with Safanta to visit Stone Town and many beautiful places. It was a pleasant tour in my life, they offer very competitive prices, very friendly guide and take care of us very much, everything is well. Wonderful experience unforgettable, highly recommended !!

My fiance and I had reached out to a few companies regarding a tour of Uzi Island and Safanta was the only ones to get back to us. Their price of $100 pp seemed a bit high, but it is a bit of a drive from Stone Town, snorkeling, and a turtle conservation were included so we went with it. Communication was easy, they adjusted the lunch based on food allergies, and the driver and guide were pleasant and prompt. Upon getting to Uzi Island the tour started off wonderfully. We met with a guide/village elder (not really sure what to call him) and he was talking about the mangrove trees, seaweed farms, birds, all the different things that are important to the island. Once we got into the village is where things really went poorly and the basis for the rating given. First he takes us to the new hospital that was just built in the village to show it off, then he takes us to the current one and pulls a Red Cross volunteer that away from the class she was teaching to come talk to us. My fiance and I move back to the road as we are very uncomfortable with what is going on and we're left standing there for some time while the local guide is busy chatting with others. After the hospital we swing by the school (thankfully it was holiday break so he didn't interrupt classes). The tour continues with a walk through his village, exploiting every person and household along the way. We eventually make it to his house where fruit and water are offered, but he says lunch isn't quite ready yet. So we sit in his yard for almost 2 hours doing nothing. At some point in the 2 hours he does mention the endangered hawksbill turtle and the conservation efforts and we get excited that we may get to the conservation place. Nope, the conservation place is a single turtle that he keeps in a glorified babies bathtub next to his house. Considering this species status as critically endangered we're pretty sure what he's doing is massively illegal (note: we did contact a couple different people upon return to stone town to report this). He comes and goes and eventually asks us if we would like to have lunch where we are or walk a few minutes to have lunch on the beach. We opt for the beach in hopes of being somewhere where there's some air movement. The "beach" he takes us to is a mangrove swamp. He lays out a blanket and we're left to sit and wait another hour while he takes the driver and guide from Safanta to show them some things and talk about his big plans. Finally lunch arrives and it's good. Then we get on the boat (the tour detail said canoe, not motor boat) and he takes us through the mangroves and seaweed farms. But it's still not quite high tide so we're pretty sure that he's damaging the seaweed farms by taking the boat through at that water level. When we get into some of the narrower passage ways he starts pointing out some of the birds nesting in the trees. They are beautiful and we start taking pictures, then he proceeds to run the boat into the one tree that a bunch of nests are in, clapping and making all kind of noise to rile up the birds. We ask him to please stop and let the birds be so he begrudgingly moves on. He tries to take us down another canal and we finally say please just take us back to the vehicle. Turns out in order to do that we have to go down another narrow canal because he had the driver move the van back to the mainland. Yes, the road to the island gets underwater during high tide but it was the winter solstice new moon, even high tide at that point isn't enough to cover the road so we had issues getting the boat to the point on the road he was trying to get us too. The local man also seemed very confused as to why the water levels were what they were and told us he can't control the tides. He is correct, he can't control the tides, but they are predictable. After walking about a half mile back to the van we're asked for payment. My fiance is voicing our displeasure to the local man while I'm voicing it to the driver and guide from Safanta. At no point during our tour was snorkeling gear ever available nor were we in a place where snorkeling is advisable. The guide from Safanta did call back to the office to let them know of our displeasure and they did reach out to me later that day. They had offered us another one of their tours for free to make up for our experience with Uzi Island, but unfortunately that was our last day in Zanzibar and we flew back to the US the next day. The ease of initial communication and the attempt to make it right are the only reason this is not a 0 star review.

We have done a private spice tour with cooking class and had a great time. Communication was really easy through watsup and they have also arranged our transport from nungwi until stonetown together with the tour. They have adapt to our budget and accommodate our requests. Liftia gave us the cooking class and she was also great! Would recommend!

This was the highlight of our time in Stone Town. The crew was awesome. We had two musicians playing Taarab music during the cruise. We were treated to beverages and aperitifs, the captain was skilled, and it was a most enjoyable cruise. The sunset was beautiful. I would recommend it to anyone who likes sailing and sunsets!