After spending 5 hectic weeks on the mainland of Africa staying no longer than 2 nights at any one place we have planned a 5 day stay on one of the less visited beaches of Zanzibar. Matemwe and the Panga Chumvi turns out to be the prefect place. It is a slower time of the year and there are only 3 or 4 of the rooms rented out. Our room is right on the beach with a huge deck, a spare room which we use as a staging area for our daily outings, a large washroom and a comfy bed. There is no AC but leaving the windows open provides enough ventilation to make for a comfortable sleeping temperature.

There is no pool, which if one did existed would add to the nightly rate but the swimming right out the front door is good at high tide. The water warms when the tide is low, if you swim as the tide rises it is like swimming in a warm tub. I do not carry a thermometer but my guess is the water is about 29 or 30C.

If you just want to loaf around there are a number of hammocks in the yard that provide a perfect venue for a snooze or reading a good book.

If you dive there are a couple of dive shops about a 25 minute walk down the beach. We dove with One Ocean and although the boats carry a lot of people they keep the dive groups small. We never had more than 4 folks with us. If you are interested in our diving there and other things Africa visit our non profit blog at http://havecarryonwilltravel.com.

There is a good wifi connection in the restaurant/bar area. We used that area a lot just to hang out and were only politely asked, never hassled, if we needed a drink. The food in the restaurant is good. We ate there every morning and 3 of the evenings of our stay. We did have one questionable dish, we ordered the beef for dinner it was very tough and we did not enjoy it much. This was however the exception and we did like the other food we had here. You have a choice of main dishes and if you tell the folks in advance what time you intend on arriving the meal will be ready when you get there.

Rebecca and her staff are absolutely wonderful. The two young people at the restaurant/bar are happy, chatty, and interesting. They want nothing more than to make you happy. They seem to be interested in we are up to each day and in our life back home. Rebecca was always available; she never hid in an office. At least once a day she came to where we were sitting and asked to make sure we were in need of nothing.

If you are going to visit Matemwe stay at the Panga Chumvi.

Rebecca's running a fantastic place in a fantastic location and supported by fantastic staff!

The hotel is located on the beach and we stayed in the sea facing rooms that open straight on to the beach. The rooms are simple, clean and with hot water. The beach in Matemwe is a gorgeous stretch of soft, white sand. The beach is not busy with other tourists which was great. The waters were warm and inviting with not much seaweed; however lots of sea urchins around so ensure you've got good footwear if you're intending to go out on a reef walk.

The food is also great, with good portions and decent variety for even vegeterians. Wifi is available. There's various activities that can be arranged either from the hotel or from operators on the beach. Mudday operates close to the hotel and runs reasonably priced and professional tours. There's also a dive centre 15 min walk away.

Highly recommended!

When we decided to return to Zanzibar for a diving holiday, Panga Chumvi was an obvious choice for us having enjoyed our stay so much the first time around.

We opted to stay upstairs in the two-storey building this time, and though we were marginally further away from the sea, we greatly enjoyed the larger room and the wooden floor that this room had.

The staff were, as ever, hugely welcoming and always ready to help. The food hasn't improved a great deal since our last visit, but there are plenty of places to eat further along the beach so we usually opted for one of those places for our main meal.

Otherwise, no complaints from us.

Thanks for another great stay!

I stayed at Panga Chumvi in October and am still dreaming sweet dreams about the place and also about the food there. What a fantastic location! If you're looking for a quiet, natural sort of beach, away from the crowds - this is where you need to come. Sit on the restaurant veranda gazing out across the reef, with the Mnemba atoll just across the water; for several nights we sat out watching the huge full moon and its reflections in the sea.

The sound of the waves lulls you to sleep and the breeze, which gets stronger as the day gets hotter, calms down again by the morning leaving the sea like a huge millpond, until the tide rises and the waves come in again over the reef. Swimming was great at high tide, and at low tide, we could walk out in the lagoon. Luckily, we'd both taken aqua shoes, and walked around at low tide without fear of treading on any of the sea urchins - if the spines go into your feet they can sting for a while. It was great meeting the women who farm seaweed there - we went with a local man from the village and were introduced to the women farmers. It was cool to meet 'real' people, and get to know a bit about the life in the village there.

We walked, swam, went snorkelling, read a couple of books from the excellent 'swap' library, lazed about in the hammocks and generally had both an active and a relaxing time.

I have to talk about the food though! It was so delicious! A new chef who started with Panga Chumvi recently seems to have brought a new approach and we experienced a range of delicious and beautifully cooked meals - ranging from the lighter and tasty snacks they produced during the day to the fabulous evening meals - although the fresh fish (there's a fish market in the village) was truly fab, the beef with red wine sauce was my personal favourite! Rather than a huge long list of choice, the restaurant focuses on a couple of offerings - it was so good, it was like eating at a friends house (a friend with amazing cooking talent, that is!). Luckily, all the swimming and walking I did helped me work off the calories I must have consumed.

The rooms were also comfortable and very clean - the staff were all helpful without being pushy, making us feel looked after and cared for. Thanks Panga Chumvi for a great break!