Kiteboarding in Zanzibar is exactly how all the pictures and videos online show it..or is it?
Well let’s start start by saying that yes, you can find the beautiful turquoise water and nice breezes but hey choose the season carefully!
Kitesurfing Seasons
Kiteboarding in Zanzibar is only possible in two seasons: the Kaskasi season from December to mid March, the wind blows 16-20 knots on average but stronger days are not unusual, the most used kites are definitely 10s and 12s. The wind blows from North and generally shifts from side shore to side-on shore and strengthen in intensity towards the end of the day.
The Kusi seasons is bit longer and winds are lighter. The average kites are 10s to 14s as the average wind blows around 14-16 knots. The South-Eastern wind kicks in from June until mid October with July and August being the central months.
There are basically three main kite areas on the island:
Nungwi and Kendwa:
in the North: the area is less affected by tides, therefore you won’t find the pitctures and videos kind of scenery, but rather deeper water. These areas are kitable only from December to March as the wind is completely off shore in the other season.
Paje and Jambiani:
Paje is the Mecca for kiting on the island, wind is good in both seasons and people are flooding there! There are many kite centres and gear choice but forget being alone there, on a good day you can kites out in hundreds.
Kitesurfing in Paje
Pwani Machangani and Kiwengwa:
Discover only recently by the kite community is now developing fast, you can count no more than 10 schools around here and here is also where SURFESCAPE is located.
The area receives really good winds in both seasons. In Kiwengwa (in front of Surfescape Beachfront Apartments) there is a huge lagoon, that is mostly kited by our guests, as well as the lagoon in Pwani Mchagani, in front of Surfescape Village Zanzibar.
Pwani Mchangani itself has a lot of different spots, the are sandbanks and lot of corals and sea urchins around. The biggest sand bank area is located in front of Mapenzi, Coral reef and Surfescape Zanzibar where we have chosen to set up our kite centre. It’s here indeed where you can have the full lagoon for yourself free of obstacles in the water.
Check out our drone images from 100 meters above:
Kiteboarding Zanzibar
Kiteboarding Zanzibar
Surfescape Zanzibar view – Kiteboarding in Zanzibar
Surfescape Zanzibar – lagoon view
Can I find waves in Zanzibar?
Yes! Waves are great!! Despite Zanzibar being amous mostly for the shallow lagoons the waves can really be nice in medium to high tide conditions; depending where you are you can find the beaking point anywhere from 1km (Pwani Mchangani, to 2 km in Kiwengwa, Paje and Jambiani).
Check out the video, at the end of this article, shot in front of Surfescape Village Zanzibar and Beachfront Apartments.
Other things to do on the island if you are a kiter:
We organise downwinders from Mnemba to Pwani Mchangani and viceversa, or even longer for iron men all the way to South of the island (2 days!).
Forecast
Kiteboarding Zanzibar
Kiteboarding in Zanzibar with Surfescape Zanzibar
We also bring you the loneliest sandy atolls where you can kite in the middle of nowhere or explore the Zanzibar archipelago on Catamaran trip!
See more here!
Kitesurfing cruise Zanzibar with Surfescape
Got ideas, think you want to ask and can’t really get round it?
Just ask here 🙂
hello@surfescape.com
