Driving in Zanzibar: an honest guide to the roads and the rules

Zanzibar is about 85 kilometres from top to bottom. You can cross the whole island in under two hours, which is the strongest argument for renting a car here. Nothing is far, and the good parts are spread out.

The argument against is that the roads will punish you for treating them like European roads. Speed bumps appear without warning or paint. Children walk on the tarmac because there is no pavement. A goat will step out from behind a wall.

Neither of those facts is a reason to avoid driving here. They are a reason to know what you are getting into before you book. This guide covers the paperwork, the road conditions, realistic journey times, and the cases where you would honestly be better off with a driver.

Should you rent a car in Zanzibar at all?

Start here, because self-drive is not automatically the right call.

A car makes sense if you are staying a week or more, you want to see more than one coast, you are travelling with family and want your own schedule, or you are the kind of traveller who stops when something looks interesting. The cost maths is also straightforward once you take more than about two taxi trips a day.

A private driver makes sense if you are here for four nights, you want to see Stone Town and one or two excursions, and you would rather not think about any of this. A driver for a day costs less than most people expect, and the driver knows which unmarked turning leads to the restaurant.

Taxis alone make sense if you are staying at one resort and leaving it twice. Hotel transfers plus two day trips will cost less than a week's rental.

A scooter is the wrong call for most visitors, and it is worth being blunt about it. Scooter injuries are the most common way tourists get hurt on this island. The combination of loose sand at road edges, no protective clothing and unfamiliar left-hand traffic is unforgiving, and a scraped leg on day two ruins the rest of the trip.

If you have decided a car is right, the rest of this guide is for you.

The permit: your home licence is not enough

Every foreign visitor needs a temporary Zanzibar driving permit issued here on the island, on top of the licence from home. Arranged through us it costs 25 US dollars per driver. The UK Foreign Office says the same thing: to drive in Zanzibar you need a local Zanzibar driving permit, which you can get through your hire car company.

The part that catches most people out is that an International Driving Permit does not replace it. An IDP is a translation of your licence, useful if your licence is not printed in English, but it grants you no permission to drive here.

Any competent rental company will file the paperwork in advance if you send scans when you book, and the permit will be waiting when you collect the car.

Full detail: The Zanzibar driving permit, what it costs and how to get one

Driving on the left, in a right-hand drive car

Zanzibar drives on the left, like the UK, Australia and mainland Tanzania. Most rental cars here have the steering wheel on the right.

If you are coming from continental Europe or the Americas, the first twenty minutes are the awkward part. Two things trip people up more than the driving itself.

The first is roundabouts, where you go clockwise and give way to the right. The second is the windscreen wipers, which sit where your indicator stalk normally lives. You will wipe a dry windscreen at least once. Everyone does.

Pull out of the rental yard slowly and take the first junction at walking pace. After half an hour it stops feeling strange.

What the roads are actually like

The main tarmac routes are better than most visitors expect. The road from Stone Town north to Nungwi and the road east to Paje are both surfaced and in reasonable condition, with occasional rough patches rather than continuous damage.

Away from those arteries, the picture changes quickly.

The last stretch to your hotel is very often unsurfaced. Sand, coral rag, deep ruts, and after rain, standing water. This is where visitors damage rental cars, usually in the final 500 metres of a 60 kilometre journey.

Three things deserve specific attention:

Speed bumps. They appear at village entrances, near schools and sometimes for no visible reason. Many are unpainted and some are tall enough to ground a low car at anything above walking speed. Slow down whenever you see buildings.

Potholes. Common on secondary roads and worse after the rains. They are hard to see in dappled shade under trees, which is exactly where they tend to be.

No shoulders. The tarmac usually ends at a sand edge with a drop. Pedestrians, cyclists, schoolchildren and livestock all use the same strip you are driving on, because there is nowhere else for them to go.

Full detail: Zanzibar road conditions and driving rules

Speed limits and the rules that get enforced

Zanzibar sets its own limits, separately from mainland Tanzania. In June 2023 the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transport announced island-wide limits under section 144(1) of the Road Transport Act 2003:

• 30 km/h in Stone Town, and at pedestrian crossings, markets, schools and hospitals
• 50 km/h in urban areas, meaning the whole of Unguja's Urban-West region
• 80 km/h in rural areas

That 30 limit is the one visitors miss, because it covers the whole of Stone Town rather than a marked stretch of it. Note also that 80 applies to rural roads: the same main tarmac route drops to 50 once it reaches a town.

Posted signs remain the authority, and where a sign contradicts something you read anywhere, including here, follow the sign.

Source: Zanzibar announces speed limits for all roads, Daily News, June 2023.

Beyond speed, four rules are enforced consistently:

• Seatbelts are mandatory for everyone in the vehicle, and this is one of the first things an officer checks.
• Handheld phones are illegal while driving. Use a mount.
• Drink driving is an offence and the practical advice on this island is zero. Roadside testing happens, penalties are serious, and you are driving unfamiliar roads at night if you have been out.
• Vehicle inspection. Your rental should carry a current inspection sticker on the windscreen. Check it before you drive away, because it is one of the things checkpoints look for and it is not your fault if it is missing.

Police checkpoints are routine

You will be stopped. It is normal here, it happens to residents and visitors alike, and with your paperwork in order it takes about two minutes.

Keep four documents within reach rather than in a bag in the boot: your Zanzibar permit, your original home licence, your passport, and the rental agreement with the vehicle documents.

Stay in the car unless asked to step out, be polite, and hand over what is requested. Official fines have set amounts and come with a receipt.

Full detail: What to expect at Zanzibar police checkpoints

Realistic journey times

Mapping apps underestimate journeys here, because they do not model speed bumps, village crawls or the unsurfaced final kilometre. Add a third to whatever your phone tells you.

Rough figures from Stone Town, in normal dry conditions:

Treat these as planning numbers rather than promises. A market day or a herd crossing changes them.

Fuel: fill up before you leave town

Fuel stations cluster around Stone Town and the larger towns. Along the east coast and up north they thin out considerably, and the one you were counting on may be closed or dry.

The habit that saves you: never leave a town below half a tank. Fuel is sold by the litre, both petrol and diesel are available, and many stations take cash only, so carry Tanzanian shillings.

Weather changes the roads, not just the beach

Zanzibar has two rainy seasons. The long rains, Masika, run from March to May and are the heaviest, with April averaging around 410 millimetres and May around 300. The short rains, Vuli, fall around November and December and are more manageable, with showers that pass.

Tarmac copes. The sand tracks to hotels do not, and that is what matters for a rental car. Access roads that are firm in August become soft, rutted or briefly impassable in April.

If your trip falls in the long rains and your hotel sits at the end of an unsurfaced track, take the four wheel drive. It is the single decision most likely to save you a bad evening.

Full detail: Driving in Zanzibar during the rainy season

Do not drive at night if you can avoid it

This is the strongest piece of advice in this guide.

Most roads outside Stone Town have no lighting. Pedestrians walk on the tarmac in dark clothing, cyclists frequently have no lights or reflectors, and oncoming drivers use full beam and do not always dip it. Potholes and speed bumps become close to invisible.

Plan to be where you are sleeping by sunset, which falls between roughly 18:15 and 18:45 depending on the month. If you are going out for dinner, that is exactly what a taxi is for.

What renting a car in Zanzibar actually costs

Daily rates vary more than the headline suggests, and small cars advertise lower than four wheel drive. What decides whether one quote is genuinely cheaper than another is not the daily rate but what sits underneath it: the permit, delivery, the insurance excess, an additional driver, a child seat.

Current rates and what is included: Kusicar pricing

Automatic or manual, and why four wheel drive

Automatics exist here but are scarce, and they are the first cars to go in high season. If you want one, book early. Driving an unfamiliar manual, on the left, through Stone Town traffic, while watching for unpainted speed bumps, is more than most people want on their first day.

Two wheel drive covers the tarmac, and the tarmac is the easy part of driving here. What defeats a small two wheel drive car is the unsurfaced last stretch to most beach accommodation and the tall unpainted speed bumps in the villages on the way, and neither of those waits for the rains.

Four wheel drive is what that last stretch asks for. Soft sand, loose coral and a track rather than a road are a traction problem in any month, and between March and May, when the ruts fill with water, they are the whole story. Ask your rental company directly what the access to your specific hotel is like. A company that actually operates here will know. For most visitors the right vehicle is a compact all-wheel drive SUV rather than a full-size 4x4, which is more capability than these lanes can use: the best car to rent in Zanzibar.

Insurance and the deposit

The car is insured, and the terms of that cover are printed in the agreement you sign at handover. Read them then rather than after, and ask about anything you are unsure of while there is still someone standing next to you. Whoever you rent from, the exclusions are the part worth your attention, not the headline.

With us the part worth your attention is short. Damage to the car costs you at most 500 US dollars, that ceiling is written into the agreement you sign, and nothing is charged without an itemised repair invoice you are given a copy of. The ceiling falls away in five situations, and they are the ordinary ones: a driver not named on the agreement, a driver without a valid Zanzibar permit, driving on a beach, driving against traffic law, and driving after drinking or taking drugs. In any of those the repair is yours in full. Above the ceiling, serious damage, total loss and theft go through the car's insurance.

On the deposit: we do not take one. Elsewhere it varies, so ask what is required and in what form before you book.

How cover and the permit are handled: insurance and permit

If the car breaks down

It will probably be a puncture. Get the car off the carriageway if you safely can, put the hazards on and the warning triangle out, then call your rental company before you accept help from anyone you did not call. Let them arrange the repair, so that nobody is later arguing about who authorised what.

Who to call, and what happens next: Kusicar support

Before you drive away, check these

Two minutes at the rental desk saves a difficult conversation later. Walk around the car with a member of staff and confirm:

1. Photograph every existing scratch and dent, with the staff member present
2. Current inspection sticker on the windscreen
3. Spare tyre, jack and wheel brace actually in the boot, and the spare has air in it
4. Working lights, indicators and horn, because you will use the horn more than you expect
5. Fuel level noted and agreed
6. A phone number that reaches a person, not a switchboard, if something goes wrong at 19:00

Frequently asked questions

Is it safe to drive in Zanzibar? Yes, with adjusted expectations. The recurring hazards are speed bumps, pedestrians and unlit night roads rather than crime or hostile driving. Slow down, avoid driving after dark, and the island is straightforward to get around.

Do I need a 4x4 in Zanzibar? Yes, if you are staying at a beach property, which covers most visitors. The final approach is usually sand or coral rather than tarmac, and the unpainted speed bumps on the way are tall enough to ground a low car. During the long rains from March to May it is not a judgement call at all.

Can I use my phone for navigation? Yes, mounted rather than in your hand. Buy a local SIM at the airport for data, download offline maps as a backup, and add a third to the estimated journey times.

How much does car rental cost in Zanzibar? Enough that the differences between quotes matter more than the headline rate. Check what a price excludes before you compare, because delivery, insurance excess and the permit are handled differently by different companies.

Can I take a rental car to the mainland? No. Rental agreements here cover Zanzibar, and the vehicle ferry is expensive and slow. If you are continuing to mainland Tanzania, arrange transport there separately.

Book a car with the permit already handled.

Once your car is confirmed, add your licence and passport photos on your booking page. The permit is filed in advance, you are met in arrivals and walked to the car, and someone who lives here answers the phone if anything goes wrong.

Road conditions, fuel prices and permit fees change. If something here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.