'When you play on a flute in Zanzibar all Africa dances... Arab proverb

Zanzibar- a name impregnated with Eastern exoticism and history, where Swahili is at its most melodious and a history simultaneously grand and notorious has enchanted travellers till today.

Although officially part of Tanzania, seems to be another place altogether. Zanzibarians will correct you if you refer to, say, Freddy Mercury (whose house has been turned into a museum) as Tanzanian-'He's Zanzibari', they'll emphasize.

The staging grounds for Livingstone's exploits, Zanzibar,  a place of intricately carved doors hiding the island's secrets, of scimitars and the poetic billow of dhows, today lures travellers with its historied Old Town and its luxury beachside resorts- professing an aesthetic alternating between 'Zanzibaroque' and an old world gentility.

Luxury travel to Zanzibar could be in the form of a relaxing few days' by the beach post-safari or a combination of stays in the Old Town with the idyllic beachside retreat. Urbane Nomads has come up with an itinerary linking the slave route on coastal eastern Africa, referencing Zanzibar's unfortunate notoriety as a slave depot. This would start in the charmingly laid-back coastal town of Lamu, based in a luxury Swahili home, travelling by dhow to Zanzibar. As the dhow journey would entail nights spent on the dhow, rather detracting, perhaps from more luxury element, this multi-day trip would be reserved for intrepid seafarers, keen on tracing the slave route in coastal Africa.