What a wonderful week of relaxation, swimming, snorkeling, eating exceptional food, drinking really good wines and cocktails and above all, making new friends. We were last there in Jan 2005 and I think June is a better time to go. Warm but more moderate. The House Reef is close and coral and fish are abundant. The service by the butlers is excellent yet discreet. Thank you Mnemba team we will be back.

We have just returned from a wonderful holiday at Mnemba Island. Collected at Zanzibar airport by Abbas who took us on a short tour of Stone Town before the long but interesting drive to the shore to be picked up by a boat and taken to the island. He was very pleasant and we were delighted that he was there at the end of our stay to transfer us back to the airport. Fantastic that once on the island shoes are not necessary. We liked the laid back feel of the Island and the serving staff went to great lengths to make our stay enjoyable, serve dinners in different locations and provide killer cocktails on request! We enjoyed the sea food - and it was great that we could request changes to the menu when introduced by Simon each morning. The only negative on the food, and i see it was made in a previous review as well, was the pattern of cold soup and either sorbet or ice cream each lunch and dinner. A bit more innovation and variation with starters and desserts would have been welcomed. Main courses were great.Breakfasts were good and varied and there was no problem to ask for food not on the menu. The rooms, called Bandas, were large and had that perfect mix of informality but with all the creature comforts. Wifi in the camp was fast and available in the rooms.The doves - it is a breeding place for the doves - are a bit eerie at first but we soon got used to them. The managers were happy to attend to our requests. We would have liked a bit more interaction with management at meals particularly at dinner times but noted that we were left mostly in the care of the serving staff who were very attentive. Temaini and Christopher were stars. At meals you sit at your own table but there were wonderful other guests and we soon asked the staff to combine some of our tables. Interacting with the other guests was the highlight of our stay. We did not make much use of the diving - but enjoyed our snorkeling and our limited interaction with Matt who runs the diving operation was enjoyable.

This is a special place, but is so perfect that is boring :)! Everyplace is beautiful... the island is perfect, the room is amazing with astonished views, however if you are like me that have a kind of "doves phobia” you should avoid this place because as much as you “say” for yourself that those birds are not bordering you, you are laying for yourself since they go inside you bedroom/bathroom and they don’t go inside you bed when you are sleeping for one reason: you have mosquito net on that…
Food: disappoint… all days you have a cold soup and something else (nothing special)… at night: amazing tables with candles… amazing butler…but they have a tiny mouse that runs in the lounge… ok nature…
Dives: don’t go there for this reason… you’ll be really disappointed… since the ocean is really cool and the fishes are in some place that is not there.
Upside: at the daylight (the birds are at the continent) so you can have the paradise for yourself… walking, snorkeling, eating drinking (very good brands)… it is very nice WHITOUT the birds and with a better chef! They should hire a better chef (the food is ok, nothing special… he is to young and seems that this is his experimental kitchen… not surprises…). It is a lot of money so definitely is not god money for value…

“Never before have I seen whiter beaches or bluer water — it’s like being at the end of the earth, in a good way.”