Reviews of Shooting Star Lodge

"We enjoyed this small Lodge/Hotel, ideal for a rest and unwind after a busy safari, the rooms were spacious and clean and the food was very good and staff nice and friendly. Early morning coffe on the patio excellent touch.
The only negative comment I would make is that I thought the drinks were notably 'Expensive' compared with what I had paid on safari and the rest of Zanzibar.
Would I go back - Yes" See all these reviews: 7n in Tanzania; 6n in Zanzibar

"A wonderfully relaxing small lodge on the beach. The staff wonderfully welcoming and service very good. New managers Chris and Amy very welcoming and Elli takes time to speak to all the guests and is clearly passionate about his hotel.

Fantastic walk to the reef at low tide and good swimming at high tide, which was early morning and late afternoon when we were there so for us perfectly timed. We would recommend taking a snorkelling trip - like snorkelling in an aquarium.

Apart from snorkelling we did not ake any organised trips so cannot really commne ton activities other than walking on the beach and swimming which were both great. You do need to be aware of the proximity of the large resorts which pretty much surround Shooting Star, but did not detract from our experience here.

The power problems being experienced by the island were no more than a minor inconvenience with everything being done to keep the generators running. (a sharp contrast to the experience of the ordinary people who had been without power for 2 weeks by the time we got there and had at least a further 4 weeks to go before it was restored.

This is somewhere we would return to." See all these reviews: 7n in Zanzibar; 5n in Tanzania

"Our stay started badly, when we were not picked up at the airport (not shooting stars fault however) so had to get a taxi which got stopped by the police etc. But we eventually got there!

Beautiful setting, lovely room. Unfortunately we felt our introduction was slightly rushed and vague, and despite wanting morning coffee the next day it never arrived. We raised this and they promised it would be there the next day - it never came, it was a shame it took them 3 days to sort this out.

Shower was cold - but they fixed this as soon as we raised it - however it seemed to take 4-5 hours so we were still waiting to have a shower at 6.30pm that evening. We also put laundry in the basket and it was not collected for 2 days, which lead to toby having to wear dirty clothes.

We did then raise all this with the owner as we felt quite disappointed. He did then ensure things were remedied. And to be fair the rest of our stay was problem free. I would say that the food was excellent, although the service in the restaurant was very friendly it was sometimes quite erractic. But all the staff were very polite.

Overall we very much enjoyed our stay, the location of the lodge is brilliant, the pool and restaurant/bar area are lovely, the beach & bar staff were brilliant and very obliging. The problems we had were recognised by the owner and he did give us complimentary food/drinks etc. which was nice.

The snorkelling was excellent." See all these reviews: 7n in Tanzania; 7n in Zanzibar

"This accomodation was a true highlight of our trip. The location is superbe, right on the beach. The infinity pool a real attraction, as was the food, service and general relaxed and understated luxury of the whole place. The Managers are particularly welcoming and helpful, and the staff extremely friendly and attentive without being too fussy.

I would recommend this place particularly to honeymooners who are looking for total relaxation after a hectic wedding period, or safari." See all these reviews: 7n in Zanzibar

"Just not our sort of place really." See all these reviews: 8n in Tanzania; 6n in Zanzibar

"Shooting Star Lodge was a great place to go to start our Zanzibar trip and we were really fortunate to have an upgrade to one of their only 2 suites with a private swimming pool! It was a reasonably short trip from the airport. The staff and owners were always available but discrete and helpful.

Food was excellent and on the first night they were happy to bring our food over to our accommodation for us to enjoy a candlelit poolside meal. The accommodation was well appointed and had great interiors with local colour and furniture. It was close to the beach and well chosen for our needs and preferences as we noticed that further down the beach were some noisier resorts without the style of Shooting Star.

A walk on Kiwengwa beach was great fun and not too much pressure from the local vendors - in particular it was quieter to walk early morning and to get up soon after sunrise and enjoy the quiet at this time.

We had no need or desire for a TV etc but some way of playing some music would have been great - eg to have been able to connect an MP3 although there could be a risk then of being intefered with by other if too noisy?" See all these reviews: 4n in Zanzibar

"I found Shooting Star Lodge slightly disappointing, partly because our Safari was so brilliant that it had high standards to live up to.

There are many good things about Shooting Star Lodge, its in a very pretty location, the infinty pool looks amazing and the sea view cottages were very good. The staff were good and the bar area was quite socialable and had a mix of honeymooners and families. There aren't really any places around to go out for dinner or lunch as it is really only other hotels further down the beach, so you are pretty much restricted to eating in the hotel every day. Activities are limited to organised excursions or dealing with the local fisherman to organise snorkelling/boat trips.

Our main problem with Shooting Star was that it could have been a lot better with just a couple of extra tiny touches in the cottages - they had some lovely things such as providing baskets to take your things to the beach, but equally there were a few small things that could have been added to make the room a little more comfortable, such as a hook for the towel by the sink (after a week, the towel began to get a bit smelly just lying by the sink).

I also thought the furnishings, cushions and linen in the rooms and restaurant were getting a bit tired and could do with a refresh. The matress in our bed had definitely been there a long time and was incredibly soft, which made it a bit uncomfortable, and the laundry service was really quite expensive and not very good as the clothes came back smelling very musty - a bit of a surprise after our safari camp provided free laundry that came back very clean and fresh.

The biggest problem with our room was that our bed unfortunately had fleas. Despite mosquito nets and repellent we still got bitten a lot during the night and we couldn't work out why. It wasnt until the morning we were leaving when I saw a couple of fleas jumping on me. I mentioned this to the management when leaving and was even more disappointed not even to get a an apology, the manageress just made a note to tell housekeeping and mentioned matter of factly that it was probably the cats that wander around the hotel.

I also feel the management were possibly taking advantage of the location as the bar was more expensive than all the other places we visited in Tanzania/Zanzibar and one of the excursions incurred a $140 transfer fee to travel 60K there and back. This can be shared if other people in the hotel want to do it on the same day but a London taxi probably wouldn't have been that expensive! And it did seem a little strange that there was no negotiation on the price and it was all to be paid to the managers rather than directly to the taxi driver.

I think we were also a little disappointed by the weather - we didn't expect it to be as windy as it was in the afternoons, and it did cloud over pretty much every day from about 11am, and we only saw patches of sun in the afternoon.

The high and low tides however weren't really a problem and we actually enjoyed walking out during low tide, but we did spend a lot of our time by the pool as the sea was actually quite cool most days and without the sun it was a bit cold to go in the water!

Despite this we really did enjoy our stay there as it is a very friendly and relaxing place. It was particularly nice to get a free gift of a bottle of wine and head massage each as we were on honeymoon. The spa was lovely there and they had a good range of wonderful treatments." See all these reviews: 8n in Zanzibar; 4n in Tanzania

"Very relaxed setting and hotel. Nicely laid back rather than luxurious. Lots of families with children, but despite this good accommodation in "cottages": quiet and private. Lovely setting for dining and sitting.

In general excellent, but I think things got a little muddled because Doreen sorted us out brilliantly when we arrived, but she went off and I don't think there was much supervision for a bit. I thought staff needed a bit more guidance.

We were there in July, and the pool was shaded in the afternoons and quite cool! If I was really fussy, somebody could check the beach for litter: some broken glass.

Diving/ snorkelling excellent: well organised, professional, safe set-up. (I am not a very strong swimmer and was well looked after. Ian and catherine swam with dolphins). Go to see the turtle sanctuary! Also Spice Tour.very interesting." See all these reviews: 8n in Tanzania; 6n in Zanzibar

"Very relaxing, very helpful if you wanted advice on any local activities. We had a problem with our roof leaking and it was fixed within a few hours - we were very impressed. The staff will do anything they can to make your stay more pleasant.

The only thing I would say is that if you want to do activities, rather than just relax, it can be a bit limiting because of its location. We did have a lot of mosquitoes in our room and I think they could do with putting some netting between the roof and the walls and possibly all over the inside of the thatched roof, just to try and reduce them but not being a mosquito expert or an architect I don't know how practical that is.

We were made to feel very welcome and it was a very pleasant place to stay. The food was absolutely wonderful." See all these reviews: 7n in Tanzania; 4n in Zanzibar; 1n in Kenya

"This is the Zanzibar equivalemt of a UK understated country house hotel and we loved it. The setting is fantastic and the food excellent. It was the perfect end to our holiday" See all these reviews: 6n in Zanzibar; 4n in Rwanda; 1n in Tanzania; 1n in Kenya