Overview

Crusoe invented castaway chic, but Vamizi Island Lodge defines it, with seven impossibly romantic timber villas strung loosely along one of the world's most beautiful beaches.

Simply grand or grandly simple - this lodge isn't about the usual five star luxury and all mod cons, it's about the more rarified pleasures of exclusive island life.

Imagine wafting through muslin and filtered sunlight, flopping straight from your room into a private ocean and enjoying elegant lunches with your toes in the sand...

It's hard to compete with the perfect desert island, so we don't. We just take what comes on the breeze, and mould it into a more civilized form.

Exclusivity is one of Vamizi Island's greatest assets and, as the only lodge on the island, it has the space to spread wide, so each Kitala ( a local Ki-mwani word meaning luxury beachfront villa) amply commands its own part of the beach.

Eight Kitalas - one or two bedroomed - are right on the shoreline, all with to-die-for views of the ocean.

Both airy and generous - with over 170 square metres of timbered floor to pad about on, they have plenty of space for spreading beds, sofas, a marble shower and vanity area and outside, a sun deck.

Vamizi Island is not about the ordinary five star stuff, so don't expect TVs or air conditioning - it's all about barefoot relaxation and rooms as open as they can be, to catch the natural breezes.

That said, if you can't drag yourself away from your Kitala, there's a mini-bar and the means for a deluxe cup of tea or coffee – as well as private dinners in the room on request.

Beyond that, we just leave you alone, in the peace of your own private paradise.

Dining

Evenings shape up glamorous, with a castaway twist'

Decking a distinctively island table, we serve surf-fresh seafood and other tropical dishes, set off by the sea breaking on the shore just feet away.

During the day, there’s the relative formality of our thatched open dining room in the main lodge, or choose to retreat to Muntu Nkulu, our new castaway restaurant open during the winter season on the south side of the island, for a buffet and total relaxation.

You can also take the total desert island approach - alone with a shipwrecked picnic on some deserted beach.

Evenings are a more glamorous affair, with a castaway twist, fuelled by grills on the beach, or more elaborate dishes under lantern light in the dining room.

With cocktails and fine wines at the bar - and acres of cushions and sofas for sitting very soft at any point - you might just feel that heaven can wait.

Spa

Vamizi Island is basically one big spa'

As a reflection of Vamizi Island - the yin to the ocean's yang - our health and wellness professionals can treat the whole you - mind, body and spirit.

You couldn't want for a better place for healing. Vamizi Island is basically one big spa - with nurture for the entire self, both above and below the water. We've also added the luxuries of some of the best energy and body treatments available –such as bespoke yoga massage, reflexology and heated herbal stone massage.

Meanwhile our yoga teacher can help you look at yourself and your surroundings from a whole new – and much more relaxed - angle.

We've also introduced beauty therapies that are uniquely Vamizi, using natural recipes borrowed from the local ladies as well as creating a few oceanic inventions of our own - minerals ground from Vamizi rocks, local seaweed masks and sea salt scrubs - to prepare your pelt for that perfect tan.

Also, naturally, a full range of massage therapies are offered - Indian head massage, deep tissue, Swedish and aromatherapy massage.

*Please note that particular therapists may occasionally not be available, so make sure you check with us directly to avoid disappointment.

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