Matemwe Beach Village

Matemwe Beach is a small guesthouse which is located out on its own on a long stretch of classic palm-lined, white sand beach on the North East coast of Zanzibar Island. Just off-shore from the guesthouse is the world-famous Mnemba Atoll, whose circling reef has some of the best diving in East Africa. Along the beach from us are palm-thatched villages, where friendly local people live a traditional life dominated by fishing. Matemwe really is close to the classical notion of paradise.

NUMBER OF ROOMS & DESCRIPTION:
We have seventeen rooms at the guesthouse, all of which have ensuite bathrooms and hot water. Sorry for the bad photo.
There are seven rooms on the front row, which are set back a little from the beach for privacy. Next there are three rooms in a second group a little further back. Finally there are another seven rooms which we have built 100 metres back from the beach which offer a glimpse of the sea and a cool breeze though the night.
We try hard to make the rooms that little bit special and you will find several of our “little touches” around the place.
All rooms have fans. There are also two rooms which we have fitted with air-conditioning, but again this is not usually necessary as there is almost always a sea breeze. Electricity is 230Vac, powered by generator, which we usually run most of the day and through the night. Plugs are UK 3-rectangular-pin pattern.

RESTAURANTS & BAR:
The lodge is centred on a single large open-sided space looking onto the beach, which serves at the lounge, bar and restaurant. As one guest put it: “This is the most chilled chill-out spot I have ever found”. We have books and games to entertain our guests who want to take a break from the beach and sun.
As we are a little place far away from supermarkets we use a lot of fresh products provided by people within the community. Our menus are small but good and change daily for every meal. Favourites amongst our guests are the grilled fillet of fish with a passion fruit sauce, chicken kebabs with a chilli garlic dressing. We don’t neglect vegetarians either and our chef Salum will chat to you if you have any special needs.
The atmosphere at Matemwe is chilled and laid-back but this does not mean you wait half an hour for a beer – our staff are friendly and attentive – as another guest put it : “I wish we could take your smiles home with us.”
The romantics amongst you will be left in peace but we often find ourselves rearranging the tables at meal times as more and more new friends sit together over a bottle or two of good South African red.
As some of our guests like to dive, snorkel, and explore the island we do not offer a full board option which makes them feel tied to the hotel. However, as we are on such an undeveloped part of the coast we do recommend that you book for half-board as there are not that many dinner options.

OTHER FACILITIES & SERVICES:
One of the main reasons for coming to Matemwe is for the world class diving at Mnemba atoll.
We usually say that there is enough variety on Mnemba for about 4 to 5 days worth of good diving, maybe 8 to 10 dives, although the reef is always ready to spring a surprise or two.
Mnemba is a circular reef, with aquarium conditions on the inside and some good wall-diving on the outer. Diving here is a year-round event, with reasonably good conditions to be found on the atoll under almost all weather conditions and visibilities of 20 to 40 metres are the norm. We regularly see turtles and dolphins here and are often lucky enough to see (or even get a tow from) whale sharks and pilot whales.
We have a full 5 star IDC PADI dive school at the lodge, which works in conjunction with our dive office in Stone town. We are able to offer the full range of PADI certificate courses, as well as try dives and snorkelling trips for the non-divers. For PADI open-water courses we are happy to take a referral certificate from those of you who want to do the theory and pool work before you come.