Carts pulled by cows. Happy monkeys. And shores of the purest white sand: Discover the delights of Zanzibar

Halima greets me with a smile, a towel and a pair of paper panties. ‘Jambo!’ she says – ‘hello!’.

The turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean lap at the blinding white sand in front of the cabana as I lie on my back in the outdoor spa. In the distance, women wade in the low tide, collecting seaweed that will be exported around the world for medicine, food and cosmetics. That seaweed is also used by Halima.

I sip a glass of tamarind and beet juice while she mixes it with coconut oil and salt to make a body scrub. It was a long flight and I walked into the spa exhausted, but I leave in a state of bliss.

The four of us are in Zanzibar at Lux Marijani, a new resort with 82 rooms on the northeast coast. It’s the ideal place to refresh and refuel before exploring this remarkable island that is as rich in history as it is in natural beauty.

The next morning, after a delicious breakfast, we drive north along the coast, our driver weaving past carts pulled by cows with young children. “We call them Zanzibar Ferraris,” he laughs.

Sarfraz Manzoor travels to Zanzibar, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean. Sir Richard Burton described the beaches of Zanzibar as a ‘cocoa-fringed coast of purest white’

Sarfraz takes a boat to Mnemba Island (above), the ‘best place for snorkeling in Zanzibar’

Above – a red colobus monkey, unique to Zanzibar

We take a boat to Mnemba Island, known as a favorite holiday destination for billionaire Bill Gates and the best place for snorkeling in Zanzibar.

“Pole, pole,” (slowly, slowly) says Ali the skipper as he lowers my seven-year-old son into the sparkling water. I don’t swim, so instead I watch Ali chop mango, watermelon and pineapple, which we feast on when the others return from snorkeling with zebrafish, parrotfish and scorpionfish.

The 19th century explorer Sir Richard Burton described Zanzibar’s beaches as a “cocoa-fringed coast of purest white.” And while he was right, there’s more to Zanzibar than just beaches.

South of Lux Marijani you will find Jozani Forest. Our guide leads us through the dense mangrove and mahogany trees. We are looking for red colobus monkeys, which are unique to Zanzibar. He points out a few squirrels and millipedes with undeserved enthusiasm, before suddenly shouting: ‘I smell monkey!’

We wander through the forest, following the scent, and then we see them – three monkeys crossing a telegraph wire strung between two poles. One jumps from the wire to a tree branch, misses and falls before landing on a lower branch. We gasp in pleasure.

Then we drive west along roads lined with banana trees and fields of sugar cane. A minibus full of passengers passes by. “We call them dala dala,” our driver explains, “because the fare used to be one dollar each way to Stone Town.”

Sarfraz checks into Lux Marijani, pictured above, a new 82-room resort on the northeast coast

A street market in Stone Town, which Sarfraz describes as the ‘vibrant, beating heart of Zanzibar’

Stone Town is the vibrant, beating heart of Zanzibar. Our base is the Neela, a recently opened boutique hotel a stone’s throw from the Freddie Mercury Museum.

The Queen star grew up in Stone Town and his old home is now a somewhat disappointing museum.

“Stone Town is all about getting lost,” says Zak, the hotel manager. He’s right, and it’s certainly easy to lose yourself in the old winding alleys where Zanzibar’s stew of African, Indian, Arab and European histories is present behind every ornate wooden door.

Men and women with charcoal crosses on their foreheads emerge from the Anglican Cathedral, a late Gothic building built on the site where 60,000 slaves were once sold each year.

To our horror, it turns out that the altar stood on the spot where the flogging post used to be.

Zanzibar was the center of the Arab slave trade. There is an excellent exhibition next to the cathedral, but for a better insight you can visit the dungeons where the slaves were held as they prepared to be sold. Here the past feels painfully present.

While in Stone Town, Sarfraz visits Freddie Mercury’s former home, pictured above, which has been converted into a museum

We drive to the southeast of the island one morning to visit Kuza Cave, where my family goes swimming. Instead, I join a group of musicians who play ngomas – traditional goatskin drums – and sing a song called Jambo Jambo.

Our last evening in Stone Town is spent walking at sunset in Forodhani Gardens, a waterfront park. The distant call to prayer blends with the sound of a musician playing the oud in the square, while a Rihanna song drifts from a bar.

Young children kick a soccer ball around while mothers paddle in the shallows. An old man clatters shells while older boys play makachu, a sport that involves running off the sea wall and jumping into the water.

We drink it all one more time before returning to the hotel.

Zanzibar is amazing and I hope it won’t be long before I can say ‘jambo’ to this special island again.