Introduction
Pemba Island lies to the northeast of Zanzibar, but is much less visited than its bigger brother on the Swahili Coast. As such this 75 kilometre-long island is a terrific place to get away from it all. Most visitors stay at upmarket hotels situated on Pemba's attractive Indian Ocean beaches - which, like Zanzibar's, have fine white sands and are fringed by a clear, warm sea. Diving and snorkelling are popular activities off Pemba's coast.
Known as the ‘Green Island' in Arabic, Pemba is hillier and more fertile than Zanzibar, and much of the island is given over to small farms, many of them growing cloves. Tours of the clove plantations and the main town, Chake Chake, with its old port and interesting market area, can be organised. Pemba is also known for witchcraft and occasional bullfights, the latter a legacy of the Portuguese.
