Matemwe Bandas

A new wave in rustic luxury!

Hotel name:
Matemwe Bandas

Address:
Matemwe, Zanzibar



Phone:
0778 538 498

Website:
www.matemwebandas.com


Overview:

Matemwe Bandas offers luxury, privacy and serenity all presented in a barefoot eco-chic style and is set directly on one of the most stunning beaches Zanzibar Island has to offer. The lodge is faithful to the highest levels of luxury as much as it is to millennia-old traditions of local master craftsmanship. With private direct access from your veranda, Matemwe’s breath-taking beach is only a step away.

The lodge has four spacious en-suite, detached thatched ‘bandas’ (KiSwahili for hut), a bar / café and a high quality 11m x 5m swimming pool. Each banda situated on a stunning palm-fringed stretch of beach just opposite the Mnemba Island Atoll.

Room Descriptions & Facilities

Each banda is slightly different and guests can often choose between a banda where your shower could be a palm or fir tree rising through the floor and out again through the thatched ‘makuti’ roof.

The furniture is built from of exceptionally well finished, locally made coco wood, and includes chairs and tables.

Inside the buildings finishing touches include White Company toiletries, 1,000 thread Egyptian cotton sheets, traditional Swahili décor with lanterns and modern top of the range dimming bedside table lamps.

Beach Banda

Poolside Bandas

BEACH BANDAS

All natural, thatched beach bandas are exceptionally spacious (50m2) with their own veranda uniquely perched right on Matemwe’s stunning beach. Built on stilts and a platform using only the ancient building materials of palm frond and coco wood. A truly exceptional luxury experience on the island of Zanzibar.

Four-poster double bed

Tailored mosquito netting

The prevailing sea breeze, highly traditional design and platted palm leaf walls yield excellent natural air conditioning.

POOLSIDE BANDAS

The largest coco wood & makuti banda has two floors and nestles next to the white Portland cement swimming pool just meters from the beach. The largest room is 6m x 7m; suite total 55m2 with a private veranda with pool and sea views, en suite shower and washroom downstairs. The junior pool suite on the ground floor, offering the option of combining both suites to make an ideal family house for residents with children.

Resort Service & Facilities

When you arrive at Matemwe Bandas you are greeted by your personal butler and shown to your private banda. You are given your key and a Nokia mobile phone from which you can contact the lodge at any time. This comes in very handy if, say for example you were out and wanted to have lunch a little late or fancied a vegetarian meal for dinner. The phones are prepaid with credit for local calls and you are free to use them as you wish. Amazingly, with a microwave satellite the lodge has linked up to fibre-optic broadband from Dar es Salaam and offers free Wifi throughout the lodge.

All three guest Bandas are located right on the beachfront. There is also a thatched reception that stands back from the beach surrounded by white sand and Pemba grass. Other Facilities include:

-A massage banda

-A covered cafe / bar area on wooden decking

-A large 10m x 5m bathing pool for those who prefer fresh water dips

-Swings and hammocks that hang from the garden trees for chilling by the pool

Day beds and parasols can be moved on to the beach in front of your veranda at your request

Room service provided by dedicated butlers. Enjoy any of your meals and drinks on your veranda or in your banda.

Request a candle lit dinner on the beach for two of course.

Satellite WIFI is freely available throughout the lodge and is powered by solar cells

Hampers of fresh tropical fruit & vegetables, fish, prawns and crab are sourced every day from local suppliers. Tea, coffee and fresh juices are available from the lodge at all times.

In case of power cuts there is a solar back-up system. The lodge prefers to only use their back-up generator when absolutely necessary.

Community & Conservation

Matemwe Bandas is founded on a strong principle of international and local partnership. The owners take their social responsibilities very seriously.

The lodge has a "village first" employment policy. This has bred a loyalty and good will among the local people, who built the lodge. Whilst the senior team is both local and British; the overwhelming majority of staff are from the Matemwe area, making the resort a genuinely local business which invests in its community.

Matemwe Bandas draws faithfully on Zanzibar’s ancient traditions and culture while ensuring the highest standards in sustainable tropical luxury.

However, the most impressive commitment to the community to date, has been the signing over of 40% equity to the original land owners in the village. Plus there are some exciting future community projects in development stages which we all look forward to.

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