I’m approaching Mnemba Island on a speedboat. I can see the team standing on the white coral sand, waving at me. I wave back. It feels like I’m arriving on the set of the comedy-drama The White Lotus, only thankfully there’s no plot to kill me this season. I step into the ocean, and wade through the shallow, azure water that looks like someone has put TikTok’s ocean-blue filter on it. I arrive on the shore.
My jeans are soaked, and it feels wonderful not to care, because soon I’ll have no need for jeans. Or shoes. I needn’t have packed three pairs of sandals, because I wear none of them. I press pause on the concept of time – it’s irrelevant now. I can’t remember what day or time it is. I don’t care, because all that matters, in this moment, is that I’m in Zanzibar. The archipelago of Zanzibar has long been on my bucket list. I’ve made it to Tibet, to Bhutan, to Cuba, but never to East Africa. For me, the appeal of travel is its ability to transport you to a world so unlike your own, just like Jasmine stepping onto the magic carpet in Aladdin.
It’s the ultimate form of escapism – and Mnemba Island feels as exotic and remote as one can get. The lodge has recently undergone an eight-month renovation, reimagined using white coral stone, coconut palms, traditional Lamu plaster, artisan wood and locally woven textiles. There’s even a traditional dhow boat that was made on the island itself, the wood carefully heated and moulded into shape by local craftsmen.
Mnemba Island’s Palm-Frond Thatched Bandas
There are 12 newly refurbished palm-frond thatched bandas, or bungalows, inspired by the form of a nautilus shell. When first hatched, these shells are divided into seven or eight small chambers, and the bandas mimic this flow, curving from space to space. There’s not a spare banda on the island, and yet it feels deserted. The only people I encounter are the staff, who are ever so discreet as they make sure your every need and want is met.
I glance at other guests at a distance, occasionally at the restaurant, but most dine in their private outdoor beach lounge. This rare privacy is not by accident, and the island’s operator, &Beyond, has thoughtfully designed the island to make you feel like you’re the only person in paradise. After all, true luxury is quiet and always unpretentious. While it’s not confirmed, celebrities like Paul McCartney, Naomi Campbell and Tom Cruise are reported to have stayed on the island. You’d never know, of course, because everyone feels like they have Mnemba all to themselves.
I wake and move dreamlike from bed to breakfast. From the spa to snorkelling to a cruise on the Sunset Dhow at dusk, happily being told what to do and where to go. Everything is taken care of. There’s nothing to worry about. It’s the antithesis of modern life. There is no rushing. I don’t set my alarm. I stop and notice little things. I absorb the inner workings of island life. Little crabs going busily about their day, furiously digging holes and scurrying sideways up and down the beach with an urgency and focus that now seems foreign to me. They have deadlines, I don’t. “What’s the hurry?” I ask. But they’re too busy to stop and talk.
I walk around the winding sandy paths under the dappled shade of the casuarina pine forest where I meet two antelope species, Ader’s duiker and suni antelope. The tiny animals freeze upon sighting me, and I hold their gaze for what feels like hours. I can wait, I think. Apparently, so can they. I always break eye contact first. In the morning, I go on another snorkelling trip, and ride next to a pod of bottlenose dolphins, bobbing in and out of the water. I slide into the ocean and look through my goggles to find trumpetfish and parrot fish gliding below me. It becomes instantly clear that there’s a reason Mnemba is the most popular snorkelling spot in Zanzibar – the marine life is incredibly vibrant. At night, I lie under crisp cotton sheets, enclosed in an embroidered linen canopy. I wonder why I don’t sleep under a cloud of linen each night at home, and then remember that this is paradise, and beds like this exist only in paradise.
I leave all my doors and windows open. I don’t need to face the glaring blue light of my phone searching for calming sounds promising to lure me to sleep. Instead, I have the music of the ocean all to myself while my fan spins above me. I easily slip into a routine of nothingness. Tasks that at home feel small, insignificant and always hasty become important. There are endless moments of mindfulness to be enjoyed. I stop and sit for breakfast. I linger in the shower, using the island’s coffee, cinnamon and orange body scrub. I wash my hair and let it dry naturally. The hairdryer goes unused. I nap and nap and nap some more, because there is always more sleep to be had. The days feel full, and I adjust to this new way of living. It’s the simple life, only there’s nothing simple about it. I now live in an exquisite wooden banda with the most decadent shower I’ve ever seen.
Private Dining Enhances The Serenity – And The Menu Is Always Superb
Each morning, I take a moment to ponder the daily menu displayed on a chalkboard. The food is exquisite, which comes as no surprise given Zanzibar is famous for its spices. I eat freshly caught seafood. For lunch one day, I order the poached lobster roll, served with garlic butter, creamy bisque and thinly sliced paprika crisps. For dinner, it is fish and coconut ceviche with mango and tiger-nut milk and lobster risotto. For dessert, I try the mango sorbet and toasted coconut.
Between meals, I sip on masala tea served with spiced biscotti. I eat homemade ice-cream, spiced with vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon. At cocktail hour, my butler arrives barefoot at my room with my drink of choice – always a margarita – and a platter of canapés. As the days pass, the friendly butler and I throw thumbs up back and forth to one another, because every moment feels like a thumbs-up moment here.
“I adjust to this simple life, only there’s nothing simple about it”
I take morning and afternoon walks around the island, a distance of just 1.5 km, passing the sandbag erosion wall, a sustainability innovative built to mitigate erosion and protect the future of the island. I attend yoga classes and stretch into my hips and wonder why I don’t do more yoga when it feels this good. I breathe deeply and remind myself to do this more when I get home.
I swim in the ocean more times than I can remember, immersing myself in the saltwater, a healing tonic for my mind and body. In the spa, masseuse Eva rubs African potato balm into my entire body. It soaks deeply into my skin, and I sink into the bed like a jellyfish.
It’s Perfect For Honeymooners Or Those Wanting To Escape The Grind For A Peaceful Paradise
Children are welcomed, but there are never more than two aged under 12 at any one time. It’s an island more suited to honeymooners or adults wanting to escape the daily grind and sit peacefully in paradise. The appeal of this lodge is twofold: there’s the barefoot luxury, but there’s also knowing that &Beyond has been an innovator in sustainable travel since its beginnings.
There are zero plastic water bottles on Mnemba – a rarity in a world that by 2050 will have more plastic in the ocean than fish – and the island is powered by solar. Mnemba’s marine conservation efforts are expansive, and speak to the company’s impact mission, “to leave our world a better place”. The island’s new Discovery Centre is a dedicated space for guests to explore the conversation and community initiative enabled by Oceans Without Borders, a marine conservation initiative managed in collaboration by &Beyond and Wild Impact.
Its long-term green sea turtle monitoring program is one of the most extensive in the Indian Ocean, and the island provides a safe haven for these precious creatures to nest. If you get lucky, you’ll experience a turtle hatching (this usually peaks between April and August). One morning, I meet with Dr Camilla Floros, Oceans Without Borders’ marine program manager and principal scientist, and she tells me about the island’s coral nursery and reef restoration project. “My mantra is that there is no Planet B – this is the only one we have,” she says.
Floros explains that approximately a quarter of the world’s coral reefs – corals have been around for 500 million years, but modern reefs “only” about 60 million years – have been damaged beyond repair due to human mistreatment and climate change. For this reason much of Mnemba is now protected, and tourists who aren’t staying on the island are forbidden to enter the area; there’s only so many yacht anchors coral can take before it literally breaks. Floros has been instrumental in driving the island’s coral nursery – a healthy coral colony that will eventually be transplanted back to the reef – as well as new artificial reef structures which have been placed outside restricted zones to reduce pressures on protected areas.
On the drive back to the airport, we pass a hotel that markets itself as being directly on the beach, overlooking the island of Mnemba. I pinch myself. Most people are lucky if they just look out to Mnemba in the distance. I stayed there. I step onto the plane, the feeling of wearing shoes now unfamiliar, and wonder if it was all a dream.
&Beyond Mnemba Island collects guests at Zanzibar International Airport or Stone Town, followed by a 90-minute road trip and a 15-minute boat ride.
For more information, go to andbeyond.com.
