Tanzania is, without a doubt in my mind, Africa’s most enchanting country.
From Pemba’s powder-white beaches, to five-star golf experiences in Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar, all before driving into their breathtaking national parks, visiting the Ngorongoro Crater or attempting to summit the world’s highest (free-standing) mountain. Booked your ticket yet?
Over the past few months I’ve visited Tanzania on three occasions and can’t wait to touch down at either Zanzibar or Kilimanjaro International again. My adventures there started just over a year ago, with an invitation from an old Zimbabwean school friend, who is now the general manager at Kilimanjaro
Golf and Wildlife Estate.
Before that, I had no idea there were golf courses up there, let alone what I can now only describe as Africa’s most engaging and rewarding championship layout. Off the back tees, ‘Kiligolf’ boasts a course record of only one under par (71), which, from experience, I can say would still have taken some impressive play from tee to green.
Sunshine Tour tournament director Gary Todd visited Kiligolf late last year for a course inspection in the hope of growing their regional event, the Tanzania Open, into a fully-sanctioned tournament on the Sunshine Tour schedule by 2019. He described it as the toughest golf course we’ll play all year.
Owned and operated by the charismatic, Swahili-speaking Dutch brothers Bas and Jerome Bruins, along with their English friend John Warren, Kiligolf was designed by David Jones and officially opened its clubhouse in late 2015. Between the championship layout, local hospitality and magnificent clubhouse views of Mount Kilimanjaro, Kiligolf quickly jumped into my list of all-time favourite golf estates.
I also spent a week in Zanzibar’s archipelago, made up of Pemba, Zanzibar and Mafia islands. We kicked off at The Manta Resort on Pemba before checking out Sea Cliff Resort for a round of golf and a tour of Stone Town with Mafia next on the list. Manta is set on the coastline of Pemba, which is about a 20-minute flight north of Zanzibar and that white sand is even finer than you can imagine.
Thatched, sea-facing chalets are set among the dense mangrove trees, with hundreds of metres of sand as soft as baby powder as their beach.
All that is before you’ve ventured out to stay in the unique Underwater Room.
A chalet on the water with a mini-bar, chillout lounge, sun deck and stairs going into a hotel room underwater, with swimming-pool visibility and surrounded by thousands of colourful fish and sea life.
Dining with sand between your toes, eating catch-of-the-day marlin, watching sunsets over the local sail boats with a cold beer in hand.
Our next stop was the Sea Cliff Resort on Zanzibar, where I teed up on a Peter Matkovich-design layout featuring a couple of holes so close to the shoreline, you’re either playing your next shot from a ‘beach bunker’ or dropping from a water hazard, ‘tide dependent’. With nine greens, 18 tee boxes and GPS golf carts guiding you around, this course is a must-play.
Then you can wrap it up with a sea-facing par three and a yacht-club styled clubhouse looking out into the ocean.
The night vibe around the resort includes the house band churning out convincing cover versions.
– This column first appeared in the March issue of Compleat Golfer
*Ryan Cairns is a Sunshine Tour professional, driven by Group 1 Nissan
