Where
Tip of the Fumba peninsula, south west Unguja
From Stone Town
30 to 40 min by road
Known for
Safari Blue boat days on Menai Bay
Marine park fee
$10 adult, $5 child, non-EAC visitors
Fumba Town
A housing development, north of the village
Time to allow
A full boat day, or one night at the lodge
What is Fumba? The village, Fumba Town and the port
Search for Fumba and you get four different things. For a traveller, Fumba is the village at the end of the peninsula, inside the Menai Bay marine reserve, and the launch for the best-known boat day on the island. Fumba Town is a separate place, a housing project several kilometres up the coast.
| Name | Where | What it is | Go for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fumba village | Tip of the peninsula, facing Menai Bay | A small village, 981 people at a 2017 count | Boat days and the beach lodge |
| Fumba Town | A few km north of the village | Housing development by CPS Africa, 3,000 homes planned | A meal, or a furnished rental |
| Fumba Port | East of the village | A commercial roll-on roll-off port, being expanded | Nothing for visitors |
| Fumba Superstore | Online, delivering in the UK | A supermarket that only shares the name | Not in Zanzibar at all |
Is Fumba worth visiting?
Yes for a day on the water, less so as a beach base. There is no village centre to browse and very little to eat outside the lodge and Fumba Town. Most people see Fumba for an hour at each end of a boat trip. If you want sand, bars and a choice of restaurants, stay on the north or east coast and come here for the day.
Things to do in Fumba: Safari Blue and Menai Bay tours
Safari Blue is the reason most visitors know the name. The original operator has run full days out of Fumba since the mid nineties. Its own site listed $85 an adult and $45 for children aged 6 to 14 when we checked on 9 November 2026, with snorkelling gear, lunch on Kwale island and drinks included. The first card below is a Safari Blue lagoon trip with snorkelling and lunch: check which operator runs it before you book, because several companies use the name.
Pungume island and dolphin watching is the other way to spend a day in the bay, with a barbecue lunch on the listing. Sightings are never guaranteed, and our guide to the dolphin boats explains why a watching trip is better than one sold as a swim.
The Nakupenda sandbank is off Stone Town, not off Fumba, so it is a separate outing. The tour below pairs it with Prison Island and a barbecue. Our Nakupenda page covers the tides and what you pay. Divers can also reach the reefs around Chumbe from Stone Town or Fumba.
Tours and activities around Fumba
Safari Blue lagoon trip. The classic full day in Menai Bay: a dhow, snorkelling, a sandbank and a seafood lunch, with hotel pickup. It leaves on the tide, so confirm the departure time the evening before.
Dolphin watching and Pungume Island. Dolphin watching in the south, then Pungume Island with a barbecue lunch. This one is about watching from the boat, not swimming with the animals.
Prison Island and Nakupenda sandbank. A boat to Prison Island, home of the giant tortoises, then on to the Nakupenda sandbank with a barbecue. The sandbank is mostly a low tide feature, so the departure time matters.
Safari Blue Lagoon Trip with Snorkeling and Lunch
- 7 hours
- Hotel pickup included
- Free cancellation
4.6(682 reviews)
from$90per person
Check prices & availability
Pungume island-dolphin watching - BBQ Lunch
- 6 hours
- Hotel pickup included
- Free cancellation
4.4(35 reviews)
from$73per person
Check prices & availability
Prison Island & Nakupenda Sandbank Boat Tour +BBQ
- 2 to 9 hours
- Hotel pickup included
- Free cancellation
4.5(855 reviews)
from$17per person
Check prices & availabilityAll activities in Zanzibar
Boat trips from Fumba: where they leave from and when
Tour listings give a hotel pickup in Stone Town between 8:30 and 9:30 and about 40 minutes on the road. The tide sets the real departure. The channel out of Fumba is too shallow at low water, and high tide moves roughly 50 minutes later each day, so the boat time shifts through the week. Read the Zanzibar tide guide and confirm the time the evening before.
No operator we checked publishes an exact jetty, Safari Blue included. Get the meeting point in writing. Fumba Port is a commercial port, and nothing we read names it as a departure for tourist boats, so do not head there on a guess.
Transfers cost extra unless the listing says otherwise. If you are staying on the east coast, Fumba is about an hour from Paje, which makes a transfer worth having.
Menai Bay Conservation Area: the entry fee and what it protects
Fumba and the whole coast of the free economic zone sit inside the Menai Bay Conservation Area, which is also listed as an Important Marine Mammal Area. Since 1 September 2025 visitors from outside the East African Community pay $10 per adult and $5 per child, and under fives go free. Non-EAC residents pay $5 and $3.
Is the Menai Bay fee in your price?
Fumba beach: can you swim there?
At Fumba Beach Lodge, the sand is about a five-minute walk from the cottages. Fumba Town had no natural beach to begin with: its developer built wooden decks over the coral rock, with steps down to the sea, and says swimming depends on the tide. The decks were described that way in 2022.
We found no published tide figures for Fumba itself, so treat it like the rest of the island: check the table before planning a swim. If an all-day beach matters more than the boats, look at Kizimkazi or the north coast instead.
Fumba Town, Zanzibar: what it is and whether visitors can go
Fumba Town is a private housing development by CPS Africa, under way since 2014 with 3,000 homes planned on 149 acres and about 1.25 km of shore. The developer calls it the fastest selling project in Zanzibar, and that is the developer talking. If you came here to buy, this page will not help with prices: it covers the place as a visitor sees it.
Non-residents were welcome for a meal and a swim when the developer last wrote about it, in 2022, and a direct road runs from Zanzibar City. To stay, furnished apartments and villas are let to short-term guests, and our guide to villas and boutique hotels covers what that involves. One listing also mentions a supermarket, a butcher and a clinic on site. We have not confirmed those, so check before relying on them.
Restaurants in Fumba: where to eat
We can point you to two places: the seafood restaurant at Fumba Beach Lodge and Kwetu Kwenu at Fumba Town. The developer’s 2022 write-up has Kwetu Kwenu serving pizza and steaks from a container kitchen, with decks over the water and shisha on the roof, open 5 pm to 11 pm on weekdays and all day at weekends. That is four years old, so call first.
Tripadvisor lists a few small cafés in the area, each with only a handful of reviews. We could not confirm that any of them is still open, so we are not naming them. Eat at your lodge or bring food if you are here outside a boat trip, since lunch is included on the Safari Blue day.
Fumba hotels: the beach lodge and Chumbe Island
Fumba Beach Lodge has 26 separate cottages inside the conservation area, with a pool, a spa, kayaks and diving on site, and it is the one hotel in the village we could confirm. Chumbe Island Coral Park is the other choice if you would rather sleep on the protected reef, off the same coast. For a longer stay with a kitchen, look at the rentals in Fumba Town.
Photo: Expedia GroupFumba Beach Lodge
Fumba village, Menai Bay
9.417 Hotels.com reviews
Twenty-six separate cottages inside the conservation area, with a pool, a spa and a seafood restaurant, a short walk from the beach.
See prices for my dates
Photo: Expedia GroupChumbe Island Coral Park
Chumbe Island, off the south west coast
10.023 Hotels.com reviews
Sleep on the island beside the protected coral reef, a different stay from anything on the main coast.
See prices for my datesHotels.com ratings recorded in November 2026. Partner links to Hotels.com: prices and availability depend on your dates, and we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
How to get to Fumba from Stone Town and the airport
By car or taxi, allow 30 to 40 minutes from Stone Town. Fumba Beach Lodge quotes about 15 km and under half an hour, tour operators allow 40 minutes, and Wikipedia puts the village about 20 km from the airport. City traffic adds to that, so leave a margin before a boat.
For a boat day, take the pickup or book a private transfer: our getting around guide sets out the options, and hiring a car makes sense only if you plan to explore the south as well.
We could not find a published daladala route or fare for Fumba. Minibuses heading south generally leave from the Mwanakwerekwe terminal, so ask there, and do not rely on one to catch a boat.
Questions people ask about Fumba
What is Fumba?
Fumba is a small village at the tip of the Fumba peninsula on the south west coast of Unguja, the main island of Zanzibar. The name is also used for Fumba Town, a housing development a few kilometres north, and for Fumba Port, a commercial port east of the village.
Where is Fumba Town located?
On the Fumba peninsula on Zanzibar's south west coast, a few kilometres north of Fumba village, with about 1.25 kilometres of shoreline. There is a direct road from Zanzibar City, and the developer says its waterfront restaurant is open to non-residents.
What are some things to do in Fumba?
The main reason to come is a boat day into Menai Bay, usually Safari Blue, with snorkelling, a sandbank and a seafood lunch on Kwale island. On land there is a beach lodge with a pool and spa, and a waterfront restaurant at Fumba Town where you can swim when the tide allows.
How far is Fumba from Stone Town?
Allow 30 to 40 minutes by road. Fumba Beach Lodge quotes about 15 kilometres and under half an hour, while tour operators allow 40 minutes from Stone Town. Wikipedia puts Fumba about 20 kilometres from the airport, so expect the longer figure at busy times.
Does Safari Blue leave from Fumba?
Yes, the original Safari Blue has run out of Fumba since the mid nineties. The departure time moves with the tide because the channel is too shallow to leave at low water, so confirm the time and the meeting point with the operator the evening before.
Is there an entry fee for Menai Bay?
Yes. Since 1 September 2025 the Menai Bay Conservation Area charges visitors from outside the East African Community $10 per adult and $5 per child, with under fives free. Some tour prices include it and some do not, so ask before you pay.