Nungwi Beach sits at the very northern tip of Unguja, the main island of the Zanzibar archipelago in Tanzania, about 56 km north of Stone Town. Administratively part of the Kaskazini A district in the Unguja North region, the village that gives the beach its name is now the island's second-largest settlement, with 30,762 residents recorded in the 2022 census.
Before tourism arrived, Nungwi was known chiefly as a fishing village and a dhow-building centre — the traditional wooden sailing boats still used along the East African coast. Local resistance to tourism development held out until the 1990s, but growth since then has been dramatic: hotel capacity in the area rose 129% between 2008 and 2013 to around 1,000 rooms, and in 2014 the beach was named on CNN's list of the world's 100 best beaches. The main stretch of sand is known locally as "Jambo Square."
Unlike Zanzibar's east and south coasts, where low tide can pull the sea hundreds of metres out across a shallow reef, consistent visitor and guide reports single out Nungwi and neighbouring Kendwa Beach as the island's least tide-affected beaches, with swimming possible for most of the day. The sand is fine and pale, backed by coconut palms, mangroves and casuarina trees, and the calm, clear water makes Nungwi one of the north coast's favourite spots for diving and snorkelling.
At the beach's northern point, next to the old lighthouse that gives the site its name ("Mnarani" means "place of the lighthouse" in Swahili), sits the Mnarani Marine Turtles Conservation Pond, a community-run project founded in 1993 to rehabilitate sea turtles injured or caught in fishing nets. The sanctuary uses a natural tidal pool cut into coral rock and separated from the ocean by a reef ledge, with smaller pools for hatchlings and juveniles and a treatment area for sick animals; rehabilitated turtles are released back to the sea every February. Since 2016, the project has also run a recycling initiative, "Trash to Treasures," in partnership with the organisation World Unite.
From Stone Town, the cheapest way to reach Nungwi is by dala-dala (shared minibus) route 116 or public bus route 14, for a fare of around 2,000 Tanzanian shillings. Travellers looking for the same calm, tide-friendly water elsewhere can head just over 3 km south to Kendwa Beach, part of the same stretch that makes up the Zanzibar North Coast.
Unlike much of Zanzibar's east and south coast, where low tide pulls the sea far from shore, consistent visitor and guide reports place Nungwi (and neighbouring Kendwa) among the few beaches on the island where swimming is possible for most of the day, regardless of tide.
By dala-dala (route 116) or public bus (route 14) for about 2,000 Tanzanian shillings, covering roughly 56 km.
A community-run sea turtle sanctuary founded in 1993 next to Nungwi's lighthouse, which rehabilitates injured or net-caught turtles and releases them every February.
Yes — hotel capacity in the area grew 129% between 2008 and 2013 to around 1,000 rooms, and the beach was named on CNN's 2014 list of the world's 100 best beaches, a fast transformation since the 1990s when the local community still resisted tourism.
Real historical monthly sea temperature averages.
