While most travellers do Zanzibar (Unguja), very few make the journey a little farther north to the laid-back island of Pemba, also part of the Zanzibar archipelago.

Pemba's earliest ruins are those of Ras Mkumbu, on the peninsula west of Chake Chake, where the Shirazis settled about 1200 AD. To the east are the remains of a palace destroyed by the Portuguese in 1520.

The island's other main attraction are the surrounding coral reefs, rated by many divers as the best in the world.

There are flights from Zanzibar to Pemba every Wednesday, and the most reliable boat connections are between Zanzibar and Mkoani on the island's south-west end.