Is Zanzibar a country? What being part of Tanzania changes for your trip

Is Zanzibar a country? The short answer

Zanzibar is not an independent country. It is a semi-autonomous region of the United Republic of Tanzania, which it formed together with Tanganyika on 26 April 1964. Tanzania is the country, the one with a seat at the United Nations, an army and an embassy network.

Zanzibar sits in the Indian Ocean off mainland Tanzania. Unguja, the main island, is 36 km from the coast at its nearest point and about 75 km north of Dar es Salaam, with Pemba further north, opposite Tanga. Same time zone as the mainland, UTC+3. For the beaches, Stone Town and the airport, see our map of Zanzibar's beaches.

The semi-autonomy is real, though. Zanzibar has its own president, its own parliament, its own flag and its own laws on everything the Union does not cover. Its constitution, adopted in 1984 and amended in 2010, even describes Zanzibar as one of the two states that make up the United Republic, while the Union constitution calls Tanzania a single sovereign state. That tension has never been settled, and it is why the question keeps getting asked.

For a traveller, the useful version is this: you enter Tanzania, and then you follow Zanzibar's rules. Most of them you will never notice. Four of them cost money or a bad moment at a desk, and they are laid out below.

How Zanzibar became part of Tanzania in 1964

Zanzibar was an independent state for exactly thirty three days. Everything that makes its status odd today comes from four months at the turn of 1964.

1. 10 December 1963

   The Sultanate of Zanzibar becomes independent from Britain, as a constitutional monarchy under Sultan Jamshid bin Abdullah.

2. 12 January 1964

   The Zanzibar Revolution overthrows the sultan. The Afro-Shirazi Party takes power, Abeid Amani Karume becomes president, and the violence against the Arab and South Asian minorities leaves thousands dead. The airport still carries Karume's name.

3. 26 April 1964

   Karume and Julius Nyerere of Tanganyika sign the Articles of Union. The two countries merge, and the name Tanzania, from Tanganyika and Zanzibar, follows in October.

The Articles listed eleven "Union matters" to be run from the mainland: defence, foreign affairs, citizenship, immigration, currency and a handful of others. The list has since grown past twenty. Everything outside it stays with Zanzibar, which is where the practical differences come from.

What Zanzibar's semi-autonomy changes for your trip

The rule of thumb: anything to do with getting into the country is Tanzanian, anything to do with what happens once you are on the island can be Zanzibari.

Visa: the Tanzanian one, there is no Zanzibar visa

Immigration is a Union matter, so the visa is Tanzanian. It costs fifty dollars for most passports and a hundred on a US passport, it is valid ninety days, and it covers the island and the mainland alike, whichever you land in first. A website selling a "Zanzibar visa" is an intermediary charging a markup on the same form. The details, and the official portal, are on our Zanzibar visa page.

Insurance: the ZIC policy only Zanzibar requires

This is the clearest sign that Zanzibar governs itself. Since 1 October 2024, every foreign visitor must hold a policy from the Zanzibar Insurance Corporation, the island's state insurer. It costs forty four dollars a person for up to 92 days, is bought online before arrival and is checked at immigration. Mainland Tanzania asks for nothing of the kind, so a Serengeti safari needs no such policy until the moment you cross to the island.

The ZIC policy is a local emergency cover. It does not refund a cancelled trip and it pays nothing on a diving or kitesurfing accident, which is why a proper travel insurance policy is still worth having on top of it.

Immigration at the ferry from Dar es Salaam

Travellers going from Dar es Salaam to Stone Town by fast ferry, about two hours with Azam Marine, are surprised to find a passport check at a port inside their own destination country. It is a consequence of Zanzibar's status: the crossing between the mainland and the islands is still handled like an entry point, with immigration officers on both sides. Your passport and visa are looked at when you board in Dar and again in the arrival hall at Zanzibar port, and that is also where the ZIC insurance is asked for.

Currency: the Tanzanian shilling on both sides

Currency is a Union matter, so Zanzibar uses the Tanzanian shilling and the same banknotes as Dar es Salaam. What differs is habit: hotels, dive centres and excursions on the island quote in US dollars far more than on the mainland, and the rule on dollar notes printed before 2013 applies at every counter. Cash, cards and the note rule are covered on our money in Zanzibar page.

Alcohol, dress and Ramadan: Zanzibar's own rules

Zanzibar is overwhelmingly Muslim, much more so than the mainland, and its laws show it. Alcohol is served in licensed hotels, resorts, restaurants and bars, which is nearly everywhere you will eat, but not in most shops and not in the street. Drinking on a public beach or walking through a village with a beer is badly received and occasionally fined.

During Ramadan the government suspends alcohol sales outside licensed tourist venues, and eating or drinking in public during the day is avoided. Away from the beach, shoulders and knees are covered. None of this applies with the same force in Arusha or on a mainland safari, which is why travellers arriving from one are caught out on the other. The Zanzibar safety guide goes through what is and is not allowed.

Driving: a Zanzibar permit on top of your licence

Road rules are Zanzibari. To drive a hire car or a scooter on the island you need a local Zanzibar driving permit, about ten dollars, in addition to your own licence. Police checkpoints on the main roads ask for it. The rental company usually arranges it, as explained on our Zanzibar car rental page.

Zanzibar government, president and flag

Who runs Zanzibar

Zanzibar is governed by the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar, the name dating from 1964. At its head is a president elected by direct vote for five years, alongside a parliament called the House of Representatives. The current president, Hussein Ali Mwinyi, was first elected in 2020 and re-elected on 29 October 2025 with 74.8 percent of the vote. Zanzibar also sends members to the national parliament in Dodoma, which legislates on Union matters.

In practice, the island's tourism policy, its hotels and beaches, its roads, its health system and its ports are run from Stone Town, not from the mainland.

The Zanzibar flag

Zanzibar adopted its own flag on 9 January 2005. It has three horizontal bands, blue for the ocean, black for the people and green for the land, taken from the Afro-Shirazi Party flag of 1964. In the top left corner sits the flag of Tanzania, which says in one piece of cloth that the island governs itself inside the Union.

You will see both flags on the island, often side by side on government buildings in Stone Town. The Tanzanian flag, with its green and blue triangles split by a black diagonal band edged in yellow, is the national one.

A national football team that FIFA does not recognise

Zanzibar's half-country status shows most clearly on the football pitch. Zanzibar has its own football federation and its own national team, an associate member of the African confederation, CAF, since 2004. It was briefly admitted as a full member in March 2017, then lost that status four months later, because FIFA recognises only one federation per country, and that one is Tanzania's. Zanzibari clubs play in African club competitions. The national team cannot enter a World Cup.

Zanzibar capital: Stone Town, Zanzibar City or Dodoma?

Three names get mixed up. Zanzibar City is the capital of Zanzibar and the seat of its government, on the west coast of Unguja. Stone Townis its historic core, the old quarter of coral stone houses listed by UNESCO, and it is what most people mean when they say they are going to "Zanzibar town".

Dodoma, in the middle of the mainland, is the capital of Tanzania. Dar es Salaam is the largest city and where most embassies still sit, which is why many people assume it is the capital. If you are visiting, the one that matters is Stone Town.

Unguja, Pemba and the Zanzibar archipelago: which island is which

"Zanzibar" means two different things depending on who is talking. Politically, it is the whole archipelago: two main islands and some fifty smaller ones, home to about 1.9 million people. For travellers and airlines, it usually means just the main island.

• Unguja is the main island, the one people call Zanzibar. About 85 km long, with Stone Town, the international airport and the beaches almost every visitor comes for.
• Pemba lies about 50 km to the north, greener, hillier and far less visited, with some of the best diving in East Africa. It is half an hour by small plane. Our Pemba Island guide has the rest.
• The islets around them include Mnemba, Prison Island and Chumbe, all part of Zanzibar.

Questions people ask about Zanzibar and Tanzania