Driving in Zanzibar: Side of the Road, Fuel Stops and Road Conditions

Renting a car in Zanzibar is straightforward, but a few practical details catch first-time visitors off guard. Here’s what you actually need to know before you pull out of our Stone Town or Airport pickup point.

Zanzibar drives on the LEFT-hand side of the road, following mainland Tanzania and the wider East African convention. If you’re used to driving on the right, give yourself a few quiet minutes in a car park or on a quiet side street to get comfortable with a left-hand-drive layout, left-side overtaking, and roundabouts that flow clockwise, before heading into any traffic.

Road conditions vary a lot depending on where you’re headed. The main arteries — Stone Town to the airport, Stone Town north toward Nungwi, and Stone Town southeast toward Paje and the airport road — are sealed, signed, and generally in reasonable condition, though potholes do appear, especially after the long and short rainy seasons (roughly March-May and November). Once you turn off the main routes toward specific beach hotels or villages, expect unsealed, sandy or rutted tracks for the final stretch — this is where a higher-clearance vehicle like the RAV4, Prado TX or Jimny genuinely makes a difference over a low sedan.

A few road-condition habits worth adopting:

– Drive more slowly than the road surface seems to demand, especially at dusk — pedestrians, cyclists, chickens and the occasional goat are a normal part of the traffic mix, even on the busier roads.
– Avoid driving after dark outside of town where you can help it; unlit stretches and unmarked speed bumps are far easier to handle in daylight.
– Expect informal speed bumps near villages, sometimes unmarked. Locals slow down well before you’d expect to — take the hint.

Fuel is easy to find along the main routes: Stone Town, the airport road, and the main road north toward Nungwi all have reliable stations from the major Tanzanian fuel brands, generally open long hours. It’s worth topping up before heading to more remote east-coast villages like Paje or Jambiani, where stations are sparser. Fuel is sold in litres and priced in Tanzanian shillings; card payment isn’t always reliable at smaller stations, so carry some cash.

Finally: every Hamid Car Rentals booking includes standard insurance cover, but do a quick walk-around with our team at pickup and note any existing marks on the vehicle together, just as you would with any rental car anywhere in the world.