Kinasi Lodge
Kinasi Lodge is located some 15 km from Mafia Airport, on the south east coast of Mafia Island at Utende, overlooking Chole Bay. The Lodge is closed during the long rains from Easter to 01st June each year.
NUMBER OF ROOMS & DESCRIPTION:
Kinasi Lodge can accommodate 28 guests in its 11 cottages, a VIP suite and a family bungalow. All cottages are spacious with en-suite bathroom and covered veranda furnished with hammock, chairs and table. The cottages have fans, mosquito netting, and have been designed for through ventilation and coolness in all seasons.
RESTAURANTS & BAR:
Our catering is based upon local seafood: fresh fish, prawns, crab, lobster, octopus and calamari, with fresh vegetables and fruit flown from the mainland. Our breads, rolls, pizzas and variety of yoghurts, preserves and sauces are all homemade, from traditional recipes. Seafood barbecues and Swahili cuisine are established KINASI customs.
OTHER FACILITIES & SERVICES:
Activities at the lodge include water sports, boat dives, snorkelling, fishing, sailing, nature trails and bird watching walks.
Chole Mjini Lodge
Chole Mjini is a lodge set in the baobab trees on the island of Chole at the Southern tip of Mafia. A small Lodge off a small island. You cannot get more remote. Jean and Anne De Villiers the founders of Chole Mjini have been friends since way before they moved to Chole over ten years ago. This is real eco friendly tourism, the first time we travelled to Chole there was no Hotel but Jean and Anne had set up a dispensery and a school. Jean and Anne settled here with their young children Didier and Maja and with limited resources and with the help of the local people have slowly built a lodge by hand which has become legendary.
NUMBER OF ROOMS & DESCRIPTION:
There are only eight rooms at Chole Mjini and these are perched in the baobab trees, set amongst the ruins of an early settlement from the days when Chole held a strategic position on the trade route between the mainland town of Kilwa and Zanzibar.
The rooms are simple and very open to the elements as one would expect from a luxury tree house, but the beds are comfortable and each room has beautiful views.
Above all each is unique, some with four poster beds others with a hanging bed.
The bathrooms are situated on the ground floor.
They are open air and simple with composting toilets and parathion heated hot water for showering.
RESTAURANTS & BAR:
The food is made from local ingredients, freshly caught fish, locally grown vegetables. The style is simple with a distinct local Swahili flavour and all served in a relaxed friendly atmosphere.
OTHER FACILITIES & SERVICES:
Whilst this is a great place to relax, lounging in your room or at the bar, there is plenty to do at Chole.
Mafia is a very quiet little island but it is worth making a trip to the sleepy capital Kilondoni. It is also fun just to walk around the small island of Chole. Alternatively Chole has three traditional dhows and these are used for excursions to the sandbanks or neighbouring islands to explore or enjoy the beaches as those directly on Chole are not good as the mangrove forest runs into the sea.
Chole Bay is a marine park and there are plenty of wonderful sites for diving and snorkelling. It fact Chole is excellent for both novice and advanced divers and Jean is a fully qualified dive master and there is a dive centre on the island.