Carnival Street Parade
What better way to end your Kilimanjaro trek or Tanzania safari than with “the friendliest festival in the world?”
The Zanzibar Music Festival (Sauti za Busara) is February 8-12, 2012 with live music, dancing, and parades right on the magnificent Indian Ocean.
Opening the festival will be the island’s largest Carnival Street Parade with beni brass band, ngoma drummers, mwanandege umbrella women, stilt-walkers, capoeira dancers, and acrobats.
Enjoying the music
Inside the historic Old Fort and cultural center, music groups from all around Africa perform daily from 5pm til 1am.
Sauti za Busara means “sounds of wisdom.” This festival is not just African drumming or raggae music. It is wide range of traditional and contemporary music from East Africa — over 400 musicians!
Hotels in Stone Town do fill up during the festival, so you will want to book as early as possible.
Wide variety of music
You can get tickets for $26/day or $86 for the entire festival. However we recommend getting VIP tickets, so you can have a seat (you can still stand too, but it is nice to have the option). The VIP tickets are $40/day or $132 for the entire festival (best deal). Tickets can be purchased online here: http://zanzibar-islands.com/twpub/checkina.cgi?cdo=001AZB361INQDYAX&dtd=08/02/2012&dta=09/02/2012
There are daily flights from the Kilimanjaro Airport on Precision Air and flights from the Arusha Airport on ZanAir and Fly540.