Fundu Lagoon

Enchanted, romantic and stylish, Fundu Lagoon is your quintessential far-flung island hideaway.

It's impossible not to fall in love with Fundu Lagoon, situated way out on the isolated west coast of Pemba Island. This exclusive resort was created by Scottish fashion designer Ellis Flyte and has something for everyone - no matter age, nationality or background. This place is all style, romance and fantasy - the epitome of rustic chic.

Getting there from Zanzibar is part of the adventure and requires all three modes of transport: planes, taxis and boats. It's quite a fun and scenic trip though, so don't let the distance put you off. On the 30-minute flight to Pemba Airport you'll get fantastic aerial views of Zanzibar and Pemba. The 20-minute taxi drive takes you through lush fruit plantations and thatched villages, where you can smell the rich aroma of cloves drying in the sun. Then it's a 30-minute speedboat trip to the lodge. With all these logistics to consider, you'll begin to understand why prices at Fundu Lagoon are so steep.

The speedboat pulls up at a 200m-long jetty leading to a white beach and a thatched lodge hidden in-between the greenery. As you walk along the spectacular jetty to the lodge you leave behind your known reality and step into an exotic island dream. Well, that's how it feels for us, especially if you arrive just as the sun is about to melt into the ocean.

Billowing cotton drapes sway in the gentle breeze in the passageways of the open-plan lodge. African masks, wooden artefacts and Moroccan lamps mix harmoniously with the natural cream tones of the couches in the airy lounges and dining room. Sandy pathways lead to the luxurious tented bungalows, which are either hidden in the lush forest almost on the beach or on a gently sloping hillside with views of the ocean.

We've always found the staff at Fundu Lagoon fantastic, from the management down to the cleaners. Everybody makes you feel welcome and relaxed. There's never any pressure to do things, so it’s the perfect place to just unwind and, in Fundu lingo, "chill out".

You can do as little or as much as you like at Fundu Lagoon. You can go on diving or snorkelling trips to Mesali Island, sunset cruises on a dhow, canoe trips to see the mangroves, or even an aroma therapy massage treatment at the resort itself. Some of the best game fishing lies in the Pemba Channel, so fishing is definitely an option at Fundu.

Look out for the phosphorescence in the water, which occurs at certain times of the year. At night you can see the marine life under the water and watch the fish. You can also put your hand in the water and see it light up like a torch. This doesn't happen all the time, but when it does it’s incredibly special.

The rates at Fundu include all meals, their in-house selection of drinks (including alcoholic drinks), laundry and selected activities (Canoe safari and dhow cruise). Rates do not include diving, non-motorised water sports, Mesali Island snorkelling trips or transfers from Chake Chake Airport (US$70 per vehicle one way for a maximum of five people).

Needless to say, given its remote location, Fundu Lagoon is the only resort for miles around, so there are no other holidaymakers about. The local villagers, however, do use the ocean in front of the hotel's beach to collect their food.

The 16 bungalows, reached via sandy walkways in the tropical vegetation, are the ultimate in sumptuous tented lodgings. They're built on hardwood, stilted decks under a makuti (palm-thatch) roof and have large, private balconies overlooking the sea.

The interiors are spacious and stylishly decorated. You'll find mini-bars in your room and cotton bathrobes and aromatherapy products in the en-suite bathroom. The romantic, large beds are wrapped in flowing mosquito netting. It's the kind of room you don't really want to leave, except to laze about on the sandy beach.

One of the advantages of the canvas walls is that you can hear the harmless forest creatures moving about in the shrubbery outside. Listen to the chatter of birds, shrieks of the bush babies and swoosh of the flying foxes sweeping through the branches.

There are also four Beachside Suites with their own private plunge pools and chill-out lounges. Three of the suites are on the beach and 1 is set back from the beach in amongst all the trees.

There were originally 20 bungalows set apart what we thought was a fair distance on the verdant hillside. However, guests complained that they weren't secluded enough, so the owners of Fundu Lagoon reduced the number of bungalows to 14, giving each suite even more privacy. They've since bought a piece of land next door on which they added two new bungalows, with plans to build two more.