The narrow, bumpy streets of Zanzibar City are an assault on the senses after a five-and-a-half-hour flight. But then, kaleidoscopic markets, speeding mopeds and unruly riders on crotchety bikes slowly make way for lofty coconut palms, swaying calmly as if to welcome us to their exotic home.
For those looking to escape the UAE's summer heat, Zanzibar is a tonic. Proximity to the equator means both main islands forming the Zanzibar archipelago – Unguja and Pemba – have temperatures ranging from the mid-20°C to the low-30s year-round and, as you’re never far from the coast, humidity is tempered by a refreshing sea breeze.
A reliable rainy season from March to May nurtures lush, green vegetation and abundant wildlife.
We hadn’t allowed ourselves to get too excited about our Zanzibar trip until we had two negative PCR results in hand, the new norm for overseas travel. Dubai International Airport was eerily quiet and any queues moved fast. Before we landed in Abeid Amani Karume International Airport, five kilometres south of Zanzibar City, we had to fill out a travel visa document and a Covid-19 health form. Zanzibar visas cost $50 (Dh180) per head.
It’s a 90-minute drive from the airport to The Residence Zanzibar, near Kizimkazi on the south-west coast. Steeped in spice-scented sea air, our European-style villa comes with indoor and outdoor rain showers and a private pool.
Bikes are parked outside. I strap in my son, 2, and cycle through tropical gardens that are home to wild red colobus monkeys, a Zanzibar native. They dance through the palms overhead, delighting our children. One scampers over to snatch a banana from an outstretched hand.
Both boys happily ensconced in the kids' club, we explore the mile-long beach. It's too shallow for swimming so instead, we paddle in a glass-walled infinity pool. There’s also an on-site spa, gym and open-air yoga studio.
Boasting coconuts, cloves and cardamom, mangoes and mangroves, lobster, lemongrass and limes, these Spice Islands may seem worlds from the UAE, but their intertwined trading histories explain the startling similarities. As well as Swahili and English, Arabic is spoken here and 95 per cent of the island’s 1.5 million residents are Muslim.
A 40-minute drive takes us east to Zanzibar White Sand Luxury Villas & Spa, the only Relais & Chateaux property in Tanzania, on the kitesurfing haven of Paje beach. This boutique hotel offers 11 luxury villas; ours is beachfront with its own dining lounge, sun deck and pool. We’re invited to WhatsApp our private butler Joseph with any requests and so, when our youngest has a fever, we ask for a doctor, who arrives in 20 minutes. Harvey is fine after a good sleep and a dose of Panadol.
No expense has been spared in the rooms, which are fitted with Bosch speakers, a Smeg kettle and designer fittings. The hotel sits on four hectares of plush gardens – 100,000 tropical plants planted only six years earlier are thriving. There’s a spa and gym, a games room, a shaded outdoor playground and a zoo where my boys lose themselves, plus babysitting for $15 (Dh55) an hour that gifts us a modicum of peace. European-trained chefs serve a bounty of local seafood.
It’s almost possible to forget about Covid-19. Masks are compulsory only for staff, temperatures are generally not recorded.
“It’s difficult to put a finger on why Zanzibar has escaped the brunt of Covid,” says White Sand Villas' general manager, Adriaan Erasmus. “We closed for four months in 2020 but not due to Covid; instead because of a lack of tourism. Tanzania never went into lockdown. The hospitals show no strain. Vaccinations are rolling out now with frontline workers.”
The all-inclusive Baraza Resort & Spa is one of four private resorts that make up The Zanzibar Collection along the eastern coastline. Staff are preparing to host Tanzania’s president in the royal villa as we depart.
Here, white stone arches and billowing curtains contrast with majestic carved hardwood doors, brass lanterns and antique coffee pots that hark back to an Omani sultan’s palace.
The five-star resort is opulent but also welcoming for a young family. Our sweeping two-bedroom villa is one of 30 set among seven hectares of gardens, rich with jasmine, frangipani and bougainvillaea. We have a garden and plunge pool, a day bed and two bathrooms.
It’s a two-minute walk to the beach where kayaks and stand-up paddle-boards can be borrowed, and kite and windsurfing lessons are an option. A shallow reef stretches 1km from the shore, so it’s safe for my toddler in the gently lapping waves.
Hesitantly, we all venture out on a catamaran. This small, wide-open boat is a little confronting with children in the face of a strong sea wind, but our confident Swahili captain, Moussa, ensures a smooth 45-minute trip. So smooth, in fact, that my 2-year-old falls into a deep sleep.
I sample an early-morning reef walk at low tide. Donning reef shoes to protect my feet from cactus-like sea urchins, I become transfixed by a coral display that’s normally camouflaged by deeper waters: cucumber snakes, giant clams, blue starfish, spider fish and purple urchins. Zanzibaris are bent over the same waters as they attempt to catch octopi nearby.
We take our boys to the well-equipped kids' club after breakfast. There’s a splash pool and mini foosball, as well as pool and air hockey tables for shorter legs. A babysitting service and daily itinerary are on hold owing to Covid-19. We’re invited to cooking and craft workshops. I try both, weaving my own bag from coconut palm fronds, now my most prized souvenir, and preparing a local fish curry.
Before departing, we must again present two negative PCR tests and register them on a government app 72 hours prior. Our resort handles all this; a doctor visits and our results are printed out for us. The test costs $120 (Dh440) per person. My sons aged 4 and 2 are exempt, as are all children under 10 in Tanzania.
I am keen to visit a turtle sanctuary on the north coast, but we decide against a four-hour return drive with little ones. We also miss exploring the labyrinthine alleyways, forts, museums and Portuguese churches of Stone Town, a Unesco World Heritage Site on the west coast, established by Sultan Said as the capital of Oman in 1840.
Stone Town also serves as a reminder of Zanzibar’s scarred history as the centre of the East African slave trade for 200 years. We vow to return to this spice-scented idyll for more adventuring when our children are older.
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
What sanctions would be reimposed?
Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:
- An arms embargo
- A ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
- A ban on launches and other activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic missile technology transfer and technical assistance
- A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
- Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
The five pillars of Islam
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The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
INFO
What: DP World Tour Championship
When: November 21-24
Where: Jumeirah Golf Estates, Dubai
Tickets: www.ticketmaster.ae.
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
DUBAI WORLD CUP RACE CARD
6.30pm Meydan Classic Trial US$100,000 (Turf) 1,400m
7.05pm Handicap $135,000 (T) 1,400m
7.40pm UAE 2000 Guineas Group Three $250,000 (Dirt) 1,600m
8.15pm Dubai Sprint Listed Handicap $175,000 (T) 1,200m
8.50pm Al Maktoum Challenge Round-2 Group Two $450,000 (D) 1,900m
9.25pm Handicap $135,000 (T) 1,800m
10pm Handicap $135,000 (T) 1,400m
The National selections
6.30pm Well Of Wisdom
7.05pm Summrghand
7.40pm Laser Show
8.15pm Angel Alexander
8.50pm Benbatl
9.25pm Art Du Val
10pm: Beyond Reason
Tips for job-seekers
- Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
- Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
States of Passion by Nihad Sirees,
Pushkin Press
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
War 2
Director: Ayan Mukerji
Stars: Hrithik Roshan, NTR, Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana
Rating: 2/5
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
THE BIO
Age: 30
Favourite book: The Power of Habit
Favourite quote: "The world is full of good people, if you cannot find one, be one"
Favourite exercise: The snatch
Favourite colour: Blue
The specs: 2018 Nissan Patrol Nismo
Price: base / as tested: Dh382,000
Engine: 5.6-litre V8
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 428hp @ 5,800rpm
Torque: 560Nm @ 3,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.7L / 100km
Jewel of the Expo 2020
252 projectors installed on Al Wasl dome
13.6km of steel used in the structure that makes it equal in length to 16 Burj Khalifas
550 tonnes of moulded steel were raised last year to cap the dome
724,000 cubic metres is the space it encloses
Stands taller than the leaning tower of Pisa
Steel trellis dome is one of the largest single structures on site
The size of 16 tennis courts and weighs as much as 500 elephants
Al Wasl means connection in Arabic
World’s largest 360-degree projection surface
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Squid Game season two
Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun
Rating: 4.5/5
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
