Amani Beach: Our full report

Located on Tanzania’s Ras Kutani coast, Amani Beach fronts a beautiful stretch of broad white beach and sits ...

... in almost 0.5km² of manicured gardens and wide-open lawns dotted with palm trees.

Located on Tanzania’s Ras Kutani coast, Amani Beach fronts a beautiful stretch of broad white beach and sits in almost 0.5km2 of manicured gardens and wide-open lawns dotted with palm trees.

Its rather- eccentric previous owner built Amani Beach as a hobby. Together with his wife, he created a stylish lodge that has a real mix of European and Swahili styles, from the Spanish-style . The buildings are all crisp white washed stone with terracotta-tiled floor tiles to the traditional Zanzibaris, reminiscent of buildings you might find on the coast of Italy or Spain. Yet the thatched roofs and occasional piece of Zanzibari furniture remind you that you are in Africa and on the Swahili coast.

The 10 spacious cottages at Amani Beach have whitewashed walls and thatched roofs. Outside each, large, tiled verandas extend onto the lawn and house a hammock, which is the perfect place to relax and read a book. Through the French windows, you’ll find a spacious and airy bedroom, big enough to act as a triple, or even a quadruple for families. Air conditioning and a fan are standard, so the rooms are delightfully cool during the day.

Fittings and furnishings are a mix of European and Africa materials: most of the furniture, such as the enormous beds and beautiful Zanzibari boxes, has been sourced locally, while the tiles have come from Germany and Italy.

The tiles continue through to the en-suite bathrooms, accessed through a large arched doorway with shuttered doors. There is a bath and a separate shower, both with hot and cold water, and a separate door leads to the toilet and bidet.

The dining area at Amani Beach is set up away from the beach and extends inside and outside for different dining locations. The red terracotta-coloured tiles and white washed walls give the impression that you are in an Italian villa. Yet the arched doorways and furniture do add a Swahili slant to its style. Above the main dining room, up a flight of stairs, is the TV and games area. It has a pool table and satellite television – an ideal place to entertain the kids in the evenings.

Down by the sea is the beach bar where drinks are served throughout the day, and where buffet lunches are also served. It is a comfortable open-sided thatch area, with lovely views out over the sea. The simple wicker chairs and sofas are a cool place to retire out of the sun during the heat of the day.

Just adjacent to the beach bar is the large rectangular swimming pool with plenty of sunloungers and grass lawn around it. The large pool is great for kids, though its rather uniform shape is a little lacking in character. To one side there’s a lovely big garden filled with indigenous plants.

Activities offered at Amani include surfing, mountain biking, and horseriding.

It’s worth noting that since our last visit Amani has been bought by a large hotel chain.Whether this improves or takes away some of its character and charm remains to be seen.

Our view

Amani Beach is a bright, welcoming hotel with a lovely beachfront location. Its one main problem is that it could be anywhere in the world – the few Swahili artefacts are not enough to mask its European feel.

Chris McIntyre

Tanzania expert

Geographics

Location: Tanzania Coast, Tanzania
Ideal length of stay: 2-3 nights
Directions: Amani Beach is only about a 15-minute flight from Dar es Salaam, or a two-hour drive away from the capital.
Accessible by: Fly-and-Transfer

Food & drink

Usual board basis: Full Board
Food quality: Breakfast at Amani Beach is a buffet offering cereals, pancakes, fresh fruit and yoghurt. You can also order tea and coffee, as well as a cooked breakfast with eggs and bacon.

Lunch is a small set menu, usually including salad, pastas and cold meats.

Dinner is a three-course menu served in the main restaurant. This is either a buffet or à la carte, depending on how many people are staying.
Dining style: Individual Tables
Dining locations: Indoor and Outdoor Dining
Further dining info, including room service: Yes, for an extra charge.
Drinks included: Drinks are not included in the full board rate.

Children

Attitude towards children: Children are welcome at Amani Beach
Property’s age restrictions: There are no age restrictions here.
Special activities & services: Amani Beach can offer babysitting – nannies need to be requested in advance.
Equipment: Cots and highchairs are available, as well as inflatable toys for the pool.
Generally recommended for children: Yes
Notes: Amani is very family friendly. The areas are well spaced so there is an abundance of room for kids to have fun without getting under other guests feet.

Communications

Communications: There is intermittent cell-phone reception at Amani Beach. There is intermittent cell-phone reception at Amani Beach. You can ask to use the hotel’s phone, though and this will be charged to your final bill. Free internet access is available to guests.
TV & radio: There is a TV in the bar.

Health & safety

Malarial protection recommended: Yes
Medical care: There are first aid-trained staff on site and the hotel has associations with a local doctor; for more serious cases you would need to fly to Dar es Salaam.
Dangerous animals: Low Risk
Security measures: There are guards on site 24 hours a day.
Fire safety: Fire extinguishers are found in every room.

Activities

Birdwatching
Boat trip
Snorkelling
Watersports

Extras

Disabled access: On Request
Laundry facilities: Extra Charge
Money: No currency exchange is offered at Amani Beach
Accepted payment on location: Though Amani Beach prefer guests to settle their bills in US dollars cash, you can also use credit cards. Please note that credit cards incur a 5% surcharge. You may also use travellers’ cheques, for which there is no charge.

Room types at Amani Beach

The bedrooms at Amani Beach are decorated using traditional Swahili furniture.

The en suite bathrooms are adjacent to the bedrooms and nicely tiled.

1 of

Stone cottage

The large individual cottages at Amani Beach have white-washed walls and thatch roofs. The large, tiled verandas extend out onto the lawn and house a hammock, which is the perfect place to relax and read a book.

Going inside, through the large French widows, you'll find a spacious and airy bedroom. These rooms have air-conditioning and a fan, and so are delightfully cool during the day.

The rooms at Amani Beach have been put together using a mix of European and Africa materials. For example the tiles have come all the way from Germany and Italy. However most of the furniture, including the enormous beds and beautiful Zanzibari boxes, have been sourced locally.

The rooms are big enough to act as triples or even quadruples for families. They are certainly very spacious and are bright and breezy in feel.

The only thing that stops us from eulogizing more here is that, compared to some other beach rooms, these don't really seem to have any clear character. In fact, their style mixes traditional Zanzibari elements with more European aspects – which we don't feel works very well.

That said, the rooms here are very large, and fitted with quality furniture – so they're actually very good … provided that the slightly disparate mix of styles don't annoy your sensibilities.

The rooms at Amani Beach all have en-suite bathrooms which are adjacent to the bedrooms, accessed through a large arched doorway with shuttered doors. The bathrooms are tiled in continuation with the bedrooms and contain a bath and a separate shower, both with hot-and-cold water. To one side, through a door for privacy, is the toilet and bidet.