All spiced up: Two hundred years ago there were three good reasons to travel to the tiny East African island of Zanzibar: to buy spices, to trade slaves, or if you were Stanley or Livingstone, to set off into the dark heart of Africa exploring.  These days, you can still go there to buy and try spices, but forget slaves and the only exploring you’ll do is more than likely between the covers of a good book while lazing in the shade on a white sandy beach somewhere. Story by Lee Atkinson

On Zanzibar time: The best way to explore Zanzibar is slowly, slowly.  Take the time to wander around the old streets of Stone Town. A UNESCO World Heritage site, the city is a labyrinth of narrow, twisting, cobble-stoned alleyways, where each new turn brings you out at a bustling bazaar or tranquil mosque, past a school with children chanting lessons or an ancient, crumbling mansion of one of the rich Arab traders that built the city, overhanging balconies so close they almost touch.  In those days, the more ornate the entrance to your house the better and today you’ll wander past countless intricately carved wooden doors with rows and rows of gleaming brass studs.  Legend has it that these doors were built to protect against elephants – but the fact that there are no elephants in Zanzibar seems to have escaped their notice. Story by Lee Atkinson