We are just back from our honeymoon in Tanzania and Zanzibar and I thought I would post a few thoughts just in case anyone is considering these destinations.

Tanzania - 4 nights at Selous Safari Camp, Selous Game Reserve. Southern Parks.

This place is amazing. There are 13 tents, and staff really look after you (regardless of whether you are honeymooners or not). The service is very personal, and first class. Apparently you have to "work hard for your game viewing" in the Selous, but we saw everything we wanted to see (apart from leopard). They don't cram you into jeeps (only 4 people in ours) and they have a policy of no more than 3 cars per animal. On all our drives, we only ever saw one other jeep from our camp. Most of the time, we'd come back from 4 or 6 hour drives having seen nothing but animals and bush.

They arranged breakfast out on the lakeside for 2 mornings of our stay. And a private lunch on our veranda one day. Some people were given private dinner instead.

The tents are luxurious, and the food is good. You pay for drinks, but you can get a good bottle of wine for about £10 - £15, and beer isn't expensive.

The beauty of this location is that you can do a boat safari (dodging hippos) or a bush walk, or game drives. All of which were great for seeing different aspects of the Selous.

According to various guides in the camp, the Selous is the most prestigious game park in the Safari "industry", as for a guide, it's the most natural environment the animals can be in. Our experience there will certainly stay in our hearts forever.

Zanzibar - 7 nights at Ras Nungwi Beach resort. North of Island.
It took a little while to get out of safari mode. This is a beautiful location and excellent "hotel" but with 32 rooms, we found it "big" after spending time in a smaller lodge. Mostly honeymooners here, many of whom don't want to mix with other couples, which is a shame. We found ourselves in a routine of getting up early (for some stunning sunrises) and going to bed early... the bar was mostly deserted by about 10.30pm.
The food is superb... chef Lars really knows how to cook and throws some stunning combinations together (chicken and banana soup, anyone?). At breakfast he would usually have fresh out of the oven scones on the buffet.

The service here isn't as personal or warm as at Selous, but still pretty good.

From Ras Nungwi, you can do several watersports (deep sea fishing, diving, snorkelling, sunset cruises). They also have kayaks & windsurfing gear, and if the wind is up, every afternoon you'll be treated to a display of kite surfing by the hotel manager and his pals.

The ocean is tidal - so you can only swim at certain times of the day. Other times you can just walk out in the lagoon for ages, and only be knee high. There's a pool here, though, if you need to cool off.

Trips by mini-bus are available, but expensive (better done from the capital, Stonetown) and the very bumpy road into Ras Nungwi puts you off wanting to go out by car again during your stay!

Walking round to Nungwi village is interesting, and there is a small turtle sanctuary which is worth spending half an hour at.

All in all, a great resort, but maybe 7 nights was a bit too long for us. 4 or 5 would have been sufficient, with hindsight.

Zanzibar - 4 nights at The Palms resort, South East of island.
The Palms is an incredible (and expensive) resort on the South East coast. It has only six luxury villas, and this part of the trip was our real honeymoon "treat". I'm so glad we splashed out - it was fantastic. Food and drink are all inclusive. You don't seem to go more than 2 hours without somebody bringing you something. Lunch is a 4 course affair, served in the pool bar. Dinner could be up to 8 courses if you wanted them all, and is served in the "Plantation House" dining room, complete with chandeliers! The food is first class. There is lobster on the menu every day. The seafood and fish here are great.

The other guests (during our stay) were lovely. All very down to earth and appreciative of the surroundings.

The beach here is beautiful. You could walk for miles and see very few people. There is a beach resort (Breezes hotel) next door, which is a sister hotel to Palms, and Palms guests use a lot of their facilities for free. That looked a good hotel too, with about 80 rooms.
They do various watersports and boat trips from here. We did a good snorkelling trip.

The ocean is tidal, and you can swim off the beach at least once a day. The rest of the time you can go looking for star fish but you do need aqua shoes as there were a lot of sea urchings. There is a pool at Palms.

Basically, once you're in the Palms, you just don't want to leave. It's amazing how soon you get used to the opulence, and being waited on hand and foot!

Zanzibar - 1 night Serena Inn, Stonetown.
Stonetown is a great place from which to do trips, or just explore the town itself. We hired a guide outside our hotel (they have licenced guys there) who charged us $15 each for a 3 hour walking tour including entrance fees to a few museums. And he got us a coke and cake! Great guy, very knowledgeable. We wouldn't have seen half as much on our own.. even using our guide book.

At night, you need to be careful where you go. It is an experience to walk through the narrow, busy streets, but not too late! We had dinner at the Towertop restaurant of Emerson & Green hotel (a tourist "must-do"!) which was very good. For a total of $70 we got about 8 courses, 2 drinks and 2 bottles of wine. They also escort you home to your hotel if you aren't staying with them.

Serena Inn was fine, has a nice pool, which is handy to wash of the dust and heat of the town after your walk. We only stayed one evening, so can't really comment much on the hotel.. it was more or less somewhere to sleep.

The people of Zanzibar are very nice. Even in Stonetown - where I was expecting them to be harsh and cynical. The village life is a very simple, day to day existence, and I was expecting a lot of hassle from children etc. They do try it on, but aren't persistent if you say no to their attempts to sell you "photographs" of themselves, or go to their shop.

All in all, the whole experience was fantastic, and we feel enriched by it in so many ways... it isn't just all about luxury and quality of accommodation. You can do Zanzibar fairly inexpensively.

I would say - go now, before it gets over developed and commercialised. Part of me doesn't want it to change before I go back, but I know it will!

Hope this is useful to anyone thinking about these places... happy to answer any questions.