Travel reviews by Mrs E. from Bristol

"We loved this lodge, and it was the perfect way to start our holiday - our house was HUGE - with all of us having a room to ourselves - which made our three children very happy - the fact that our villa was so private, with views directly out to sea, we had our own private little piece of garden and our own seat at the end of the path with views to watch the sunset and the dhows was just paradise ! The pool was beautiful as well. We really enjoyed the food - the chef Elizabeth has a real talent and her cooking is extraordinarily good - we loved our dinners - it was great to have half board option, and because the breakfasts and dinners were so good, it was excellent value for money. Amour and the rest of the staff were very helpful and exceptionally polite. Overall this was a fantastic recommendation by Lyndsey.

We were a little disappointed with the snorkling and diving facilities. We had hoped that the children would complete their PADI referral course here - but I was rather put off by the calibre of diving equipment and lost my confidence in it - in particular because we went on a snorkelling trip for which we used the lodges masks and snorkels, but my son's snorkel was faulty and they did not have a spare - which meant he had to do without ( the lodge did not refund his fee sadly which would have been a nice gesture) The dive instructor also did not show up as planned in the morning of the second day - and all in all, I lost all confidence in them, and decided to postpone our diving until we got to Mafia which was a little disappointing.

We did a fantastic village tour with Mr Rashid, which we enjoyed very much. Two of us did the dolphin trip, and felt that Martien was helpful and responsible about the ecotourism and welfare of the dolphins themselves - for this reason we did not mind not seeing the dolphins, although my daughter would have loved that . we did see a humpback whale in the distance."

"The thing that struck us with Butiama was the service - William and his team were INCREDIBLY polite and helpful - This place was absolutely paradise ! we had beautiful rooms, the communal areas were the perfect mix of laid back luxury - the evening meals, in a setting at the cusp between the beautiful fairy light lit pool and the warm gently lapping waves of the sea was just idyllic - we wish we'd stayed longer - and would like to return some time to swim with the whale sharks ! WE did a little kayak trip which was free, and fun

All our accommodation was fantastic on this holiday - it was so nice to have a contrast each time - Butiama really stood out as the lap of luxury !

The lodge also arranged our diving via Big Blu Dive Centre - this was very well done, the Dive shop was top notch and Jenny the Dive Instructor was as good as it gets.

Only slight disappointment was that at this time of year, I've now discovered, the winds can be high so the water was really quite choppy and visibility not fantastic ...but you can't have it all I suppose !! ha ha"

"What a fun and original place to stay - we LOVED the fact that it was so eco - with no electricity and living in baobab tree houses - we loved the fact that we had to heat our own shower water with a Heath Robinson contraption - The beds were so comfortable, it was so luxurious just listening to the doves each evening and morning, and to be woken naturally by the early morning light.

This was the equivalent of glamping - it felt wild and adventurous and very very cool to be staying there - but it had that little touch of sophistication - Each evening we had a dinner party with Anne and Jean, our hosts - with lots of lively conversation - the culmination was a birthday party or one of the other guests - under the star lit sky we danced to a kind of African gamelan xylophone ! great fun -

WE did a dive organised by Butiama/ Big Blue from here - and also did a wonderful trip to the sandbar where we lazed around and drank coke and beer ! We also really loved being introduced to the eccentric game Viking Chess - just wished we'd had more time to play ! Next time maybe"