Reviews of Unguja Lodge

"Lovely place built on a low coral cliff on the edge of the sea. Deserted sandy beach of the purest white. Thatched cottages scattered around the luxuriant tropical grounds. Swimming pool. Water based activities, which we did not use.

All in all, thoroughly recommended." See all these reviews: 6n in Tanzania; 6n in Zanzibar

"Unusual design of the individual lodge, comfortable and with excellent views of the sea. Delicious food and extremely willing and helpful staff.
Professional and well organised diving instruction by Nick and his team.

Very interesting village walk with Aziz which we can thoroughly recommend. Unfortunately, we could not visit the ancient mosque because of an unforeseen event." See all these reviews: 9n in Tanzania; 8n in Zanzibar

"A wonderful place to relax . Peaceful, very comfortable, very friendly, lovely wild life touches, just what we needed to unwind.

Swimming with dolphins a must. All snorkel gear could be hired, but it is not a patch on other snorkel/dive destinations we know." See all these reviews: 12n in Tanzania; 5n in Zanzibar

"We enjoyed 4 very relaxing days here after being in Selous on safari. It is owned and run by the delightful Elise and Ralph who are so welcoming and involved in the day to day running of the lodge. They have a great team who work for them.

There is a dive centre on site which we made good use of - snorkelling , day sailing on a dhow out to a tiny island ( sand spit really !) for lunch and great snorkelling. The visit to the local village was a fascinating insight into real life on Zanzibar ." See all these reviews: 5n in Zanzibar; 4n in Tanzania

"We wished we had stayed here longer, and come straight from Safari without going to Mafia. Very relaxing and lovely friendly staff. enjoyed the wildlife especially the colombos and blue monkeys sharing our place with us. Watch out in the morning! they steal your tea and biscuits!

Owners very hands on and activities organised from Dive Centre very varied, if not a little pricey. Enjoyed learning to dive with Nick and snorkelling over coral reefs" See all these reviews: 7n in Tanzania; 6n in Zanzibar

"Wonderful location. Excellent for a couple of days to unwind and relax - a long way from anywhere else.

They also had the allergy advice but the waiter was overruled by the chef when he gave him my order for plain chicken skewers and plain rice and served me chicken and green pepper skewers, with rice and mixed peppers served in half a green pepper!!!!!!!! Male owner came across and thought it was funny - when I was a bit upset and annoyed he just laughed and said 'These things happen' , but they shouldn't and needn't have happened. Ellese(?) was most upset the following day and gave assurances that it would not happen again and didn't understand how or why the chef had contradicted or ignored my request for plain/ non-pepper food.

Everything else, including future meals, was lovely and very enjoyable." See all these reviews: 6n in Tanzania; 2n in Zanzibar

"Average is probably a little unfair as we did have a lovely time at Unguja but there were just a few things which spoilt things. The most important being the food. We felt that there might have been more than one chef in charge as the quality was incosistent to say the least. Breakfast was mostly good, although some days eggs were hard and bacon was fatty and undercooked but ok. we did not eat the set 3 course lunch but the a la carte menu was okay. Dinner was the low point of the day and whilst they say 3 choices of main course, it would be chicken in coconut sauce with rice, pork with coconut sauce with rice or vegetables in coconut sauce with rice!

Of the 6 nights there was only one where we thought the main course was good and that was when we asked for the tuna to be rare. It came pretty much medium but every other fish was overcooked and chewy. The tuna ceviche and crab starters were also good. There were one or two nights - the green curry comes to mind which were really not good at all. Desserts poor, starters mixed. Overall disappointing especially as there were not any alternative to dine out for a change.

Elsewhere, the pool area was lovely, would not recommend taking young children there given the main clientel are older or honeymooners. The bandas were fairly basic but grew on us and were functional. The diving/water activity staff were very good and very nice and were great with the children." See all these reviews: 6n in Zanzibar; 5n in Tanzania

"A perfect venue for us after 10 days on safari – a great transition between bush and real world.

Our villa was wonderful. The design was amazing, open to the sea but private too. We loved sitting on our terrace right above the sea, watching the sun set, hearing the waves at night. We also enjoyed relaxing by the pool and taking walks on beach when the tide was out. A real piece of paradise. We were bitten by insects quite a lot despite using repellent but this was a very small price to pay.

All of the staff were very friendly and attentive and we enjoyed some great meals.

The village walk around Kizimkazi with Rashid-Ali was very informative and is well worth doing. We also had a fun trip to the spice farm before going on to Stone Town, where we did the walking tour. Again, this was very enjoyable and gave us a real insight into the history of Stone Town and Zanzibar. We also had a great time on the dhow sunset cruise.

Having so many monkeys in and around the villa was a real treat!

A very relaxing and beautiful location, one we hope to return to soon!" See all these reviews: 8n in Tanzania; 4n in Zanzibar

"A bit further from airport than anticipated. It took us over 4 hours to get there from Jongomero, so a tedious journey
Beautiful beach
Dhow trip exciting
kayaks not available, though offered in brochure
Interesting trip to Jozani Forest
wish we'd done the dolphin trip as other guests said that was great
tour of Stone Town (eco Culture) was a bit of a rip-off...we weren't shown much, our change from the drinks was pocketed by the guide, we didn't get the 2 hours there which we had asked for but were rushed away from the shops we were looking at so that the guide could leave early" See all these reviews: 7n in Tanzania; 3n in Zanzibar

"Great place for receiving a personal touch. Loved the way the "rooms" were open and connected to the natural surroundings." See all these reviews: 8n in Zanzibar