Nungwi is one of those unfortunate villages that happens to be squashed between two beach resorts (oddly enough, these resorts seem to cater to mainly Italian tourists. As is often the case, the village has remained poor and largely segregated from the beach areas - very few locals are hired to work in the hotels and they make their living from traditional trades.
We were lucky enough to get a tour of the village from one of the locals – he was our guide to Nungwi's turtle aquarium even showed us his own home and family (his wife was busy applying henna to her hands and feet for decoration).
The villagers were a friendly and happy bunch, though they were obviously quite poor; there are no tarred roads, just muddy tracks, and the houses are small, simple affairs made of coral bricks or breeze blocks with corrugated iron roofs. Plenty of chickens shuffle around in the garbage behind the houses and there are lots of flies.
They have electricity but not running water – water comes through standpipes in the street, but the supply is erratic. When the water is on, women carrying multiple buckets line up to get as much as they can. It’s amazing they look so good – all the women (this is a Muslim village) wear bright, vivid dresses and headscarves from puberty, and only the (very cute) younger kids run around in basic gear. 
The village keeps busy: Nungwi is known for its shipbuilders, who hammer and carve wood around the clock making dhows (traditional fishing boats). They cost 6 million shillings (US$5000) and take 40 days to build!
Fishermen sell their catch at the fish market, often just a simple gathering under a tree where piles of sardines, trumpet fish and dorado are auctioned off to the highest bidders.
The only other stalls we saw sold greenish oranges (very sweet!), cassava and roast corn on the cob, as well as small amounts of tamarind, wild garlic and ginger.
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