The New Nungwi

Best location, best food: Sexy Fish beach restaurant of Z hotel

New Z2

Kibanda open air bar in the middle of Nungwi

Nowhere in Zanzibar is the sea more turquoise and the crowd more mixed than in Nungwi. After 15 years of rather chaotic growth, the fishing-village-turned-hotspot is getting somewhat more polished.

The biggest palpable development is a more structured beachfront with the first and very popular beach club Nanasi. The second big change are more and more second and third-row developments. Similar to what happened in Majorca in the 80s, hotels and even open-air bars are springing up in the hinterland – making tourism areas almost as densely populated as the local village of 30,000 itself. One of the new and nicer bars is Kibanda, next to the Nungwi stables of the Zanzibar Horse Club, highly recommended for rides along the beach. The striking round bar counter with modern lighting was simply placed in the middle of a developing shopping complex, open from late afternoon, and popular especially with Italian.

Nice to notice that major tourism icons aren’t resting on their laurels. Longtime favourites like Z Hotel, the premier London-inspired hotel on the village’s beachfront, and the Mama Mia pizza restaurant, also directly on the beach, have constantly refurbished and reshaped their premises – looking better than ever. Deservedly, they draw large, and rather different crowds every night. Z’s al fresco Sexy Fish restaurant, a sophisticated white-table-cloths dream above the ocean, offers an interesting dining concept of main courses or 3-starters-only for $36 – perfect to taste a variety of exquisite small bites. I had chicken paté, lobster lollypop in crispy bacon and anchovies, and tandoori octopus with mint dip – to die for. Exploring the second-row trend, a top-modern 26-room garden annex with spectacular penthouses, Z 2, opened  in June – save the date!

With Nungwi and Kendwa less tidal than the east coast and swimming possible throughout the day, the north coast ranks among the world’s top ten beaches. Every night, crowds of tourists, travellers and Maasai celebrate the sunset. Nightlife – on top of the list the legendary Kendwa Rocks Full Moon parties – is still abundant as the corporate might with RIU Jambo and others is flexing its muscles on the once pristine beach.