How we check facts
Sources, in order of trust
Each fact in this Zanzibar guide is taken from a public source you can name and open. The first place to look is an official or government site, or the operator’s own site. If those are silent, the next choices are booking agents, then Wikivoyage, then Wikipedia, then news coverage.
A fact goes on file with four things attached: the link to its source, a line copied from that page word for word, the date the page was read, and a date when it must be looked at again. The copied line is compared with the source page as it stands live. Nothing reaches a guide page unless it is on file like this.
| Source | Facts | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Google Maps | 308 | |
| Wikivoyage | 264 | |
| Wikipedia | 211 | |
| halalbooking.com | 61 | |
| Holidays To Zanzibar | 61 | |
| Expert Africa | 60 | |
| Booking.com | 44 | |
| GOV.UK | 40 | |
| And 166 more sources | 1121 | – |
- Facts on file: 2170
- Checked against their source: 2085
- Last check: October 2026
- Tour links opened and checked before linking: 10 (checked October 2026)
- Places to eat and drink checked on Google Maps: 59 (checked October 2026)
- Attractions checked on Google Maps: 19 (checked October 2026)
- Places to stay with a booking link checked in a browser: 21 (checked October 2026)
- Data refresh: every 2 to 3 months
Following a single fact
A fact is read on its source, its line is copied exactly and compared with the live page, and the guide page that uses it cites it with a small number. Below is a real one from this guide, just as the file holds it.
| Fact | By dala dala from Stone Town, you first take a bus to Mwanakwerekwe and then route 309 to Jambiani, which takes 1–1.5 hours and cost TSh 2,000 in 2018. |
|---|---|
| Source | Jambiani – Wikivoyage |
| Line quoted from the source | the 309 to Jambiani (1-1.5hrs, Tsh 2000 in 2018) |
| Last read on the source | |
| Due for a re-check |
Keeping facts up to date
Every two to three months the site’s data is refreshed. Each refresh sends a batch of facts back to their live pages. The oldest go first, together with those most likely to change: prices, fees, timetables and opening months. The same pass tests the source links, the tour pages and the places to stay.
If a source stops showing a fact, the fact gets a flag instead of vanishing without notice. It is then brought up to date from that source, given a stronger source, or removed from the page.
| Kind of fact | Valid for | Facts | Next re-check due |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prices and fees | 6 months | 417 | April 2027 |
| Timetables | 6 months | 65 | April 2027 |
| Opening hours | 12 months | 48 | October 2027 |
| Seasons and opening months | 12 months | 93 | October 2027 |
| Rules | 12 months | 272 | October 2027 |
| Counts | 12 months | 76 | October 2027 |
| Other facts | 12 months | 603 | October 2027 |
| Places and distances | No set date | 288 | – |
| Google Maps details of places to eat | 6 to 12 months | 215 | April 2027 |
| Google Maps details of attractions | 6 to 24 months | 93 | April 2027 |
Disagreements and gaps
When two sources say different things, the page gives you the spread between them and names each one. If nothing confirms a detail, it stays off the page.
Tours, food, sights and stays
Tours come from the list GetYourGuide shows for Zanzibar. Before a link goes up, the tour page is opened and checked: its title has to name Zanzibar, and it can’t say the tour is unavailable. A tour page that has disappeared gets no link. If more than one booking site is used, the one with the most Zanzibar tours at planning time goes first, then a set default order.
Places to eat and drink were drawn from Google Maps results in Zanzibar’s main areas, and each one was opened in a browser and checked before it could appear. They are grouped by area, then the names people look up, then the order Maps gave. Rating never sets the order. Ratings shown are Google’s, dated to when they were read, and no place paid to be there.
Sights went through the same search and browser check. Opening hours are Google’s. Entry fees, how long to allow and notes for children appear only where a source spells them out. The order follows area and search interest, not rating, and a sight shown as closed on Google Maps is left out.
Places to stay are the ones people search for by name, most searched at the top. Price, what the rate covers and who each suits come from named sources listed on its card. No stay has a booking link yet: one is added only once the link passes a browser check and the booking site accepts this site’s account.
Writing and review
The guide pages are drafted by AI. Claude, a model from Anthropic, works only from the facts on file. Automatic checks then run over every page. The publisher reviews each page before it goes live and again after launch, and fixes whatever turns up. Every page lists its sources, numbered beside the facts they support.
No photo here is AI-made; only the logo and favicon may be. Pictures come from Wikimedia Commons and Pexels, and the image credits page names the source of each one.
Latest changes
- · Zanzibar travel guide: First written
- · About this guide: First written
- · Affiliate disclosure: First written
- · Areas: First written
- · Fumba: First written
Each guide page also closes with a history of its own edits and their dates.
If you find a mistake
Use the contact page to tell us. Say which page and which fact, and include a source if you can.
Page history · last changed 21 October 2026
- First written