About Chole Mjini Lodge

Chole Mjini Lodge: Our full report

Chole Mjini is one of the most original small lodges that we know in East Africa.

It stands on Chole Island, just off the coast of Mafia Island, which is a peaceful and charming hideaway in an area that sees little tourism. The lodge was built to be environmentally sound, and to give real benefits to the local community. Built among 19th-century ruins, it's all quite Indiana Jones: the ultimate eco-lodge, built before the term became so commonplace.

Arriving at Chole Mjini, you're instantly seduced by the enchanting atmosphere that blends history with pure Robinson Crusoe. After dark, hermit crabs scuttle over the sandy paths, lit by solar lanterns.

South African-English couple Jean and Anne de Villiers established Chole Mjini with a very clear ideology, which contributes hugely to its atmosphere. For a while they took a back seat in the running of Chole Mjini, but we are delighted that they have decided to take over management once again. They have carried on the excellent work that the team at Chole were doing in their absence.

A walk through the nearby village will show you how much Chole Mjini has contributed to local life – including building a local dispensary, a primary school and an adult education centre. Out of the cost of your stay, U$10 per person per night goes directly toward funding community projects.

Chole is a beautiful, spacious lodge, in a historical location. Its communal areas, set in lush tropical gardens, are linked by winding paths that lead past the intriguing ruins of Chole town (the meaning of Chole mjini. The island was settled as early as the 16th century, and it was an important trading port as late as the 19th century. The ruined walls and buildings of the old town can still be seen dotted around the lodge's gardens and in the small area of the port, tangled in vines and wrapped by the roots of giant fig trees.

A large open-sided, thatched banda serves as Chole's lounge and dining area. Here you will find comfy sofas of polished cement, strewn with cushions. The thatched roof and polished cement floors help to keep the area cool, as does the sea breeze. Odd bits of African furniture mixed with Swahili and Arab antiques give Chole a beautiful yet simple coastal style.

From the lounge you can look out over the mangroves at the sea beyond, lose yourself in one of the books from the shelves, set your camera up to snap the endless display of birds by the birdbatch or perhaps indulge in a game of bao. Boards of this favourite East African game are dotted around the lounge: it's fun to learn, and the staff will happily teach you how to play.

Above the lounge and dining area is the Hanashi Bar, with more sofas, built into the rafters of the thatched roof, where guests usually congregate for pre-dinner drinks underneath a star spangled sky.

A short walk from the lounge is a small inlet, where the lodge has a number of dhows for excursions and some diving equipment. It is also perfect for swimming at high tide.

Back at the old port, facing Mafia Island, is the Red Herring Bar, which is owned by Chole Mjini and has Wi-fi. This is where the boat from Mafia Island drops you, and it's the perfect place to watch the sunset and have a few pre-dinner drinks.

Six of the rooms at Chole Mjini are tree houses, set on platforms high up in baobab trees. The seventh slightly more conventional garden room stands on the ground.

Chole's wooden tree houses were built to a very high standard by local craftsmen whose skills were honed building dhows. Although each is slightly different, some being on two storeys, they all share one trait: their general lack of modern conveniences. That being said in 2023 the lodge is currently in the process of slowly upgrading the rooms, to incorporate sun decks and private plunge pools. They don't plan to stray too far from their rustic roots, but we are very curious to see how this balance is achieved.

The lodge operates with solar generated electricity and each guest is issued with a little solar-powered lantern; the loos are composting long-drop toilets rather than flushing ones; and showers are heated by a small but very effective paraffin burner that you light yourself. There's no air-conditioning, of course, but the rooms do have solar-powered fans for those still nights when the open-sided, tree-level rooms don't catch a natural breeze – which is happily the case for most of the year.

Read more about the tree houses at the very bottom of this page.
Helped by Chole Mjini's owner, Jean, we've made a few notes here on some of the quirky individualities of the rooms, and added a few pictures at the bottom of this page.

If you like the sound of these rustic features – then staying in a tree house at Chole Mjini is an experience you won't forget. It's worth noting that much as the tree-houses all have their quirky idiosyncrasies, you can't guarantee which one you will be booked into unless you make a premium booking well in advance. Please ask us about this. Otherwise, you can always ask to be moved to another tree-house - though very few guests are disappointed whichever one they are staying in.

Activities are very much a part of most visitors' time at Chole Mjini: this is a place to do things, as well as relax. All the ideas are very flexible, and a lot depends on the tide, and what the various guests want to do, as you will often be sharing, especially where a boat is required. We were amazed at how much there was to do on such an apparently sleepy island.

The Chole team can organise dhow trip, typically a sunset sail, sometimes to a remote sandbar, where you can relax on a beach surrounded by the sea. We really enjoyed these trips, and the lack of a private beach next to the lodge was never an issue. Activities are at extra cost, however when we were here in 2018 these were all very reasonable, with snorkeling around $25 per person. There are a range of snorkelling locations, from the vast, shallow coral gardens in the Chole Bay to smaller reefs around rocky outcrops. The marine life is beautiful!

With a day's notice, Chole Mjini can organise diving in conjunction with Mafia Island Diving on Mafia mainland; the dive boats go right past Chole Island, and so there is no real need to go to Mafia main island. All the waters around Chole lie within the Mafia Island Marine Park – and Chole Bay itself is ideal for novices, with relatively protected and shallow waters (mostly less than 20m), yet with some good coral and marine life and some excellent drift dives.

More advanced divers head out on an old sailing dhow to explore outside the bay – where various reefs, passes and wall dives go down to about 30m, with even more spectacular marine life. Having dived both here and all around the Zanzibar Archipelago, we regard the diving here as some of the best in Tanzania – and probably the best for sightings of large individual fish. We've seen potato cod, giant grouper, barracuda and white-tipped reef shark on recent dives here.

But it's not just diving that's great here. Guests can explore the Kua Ruins, visit Chole Village, snorkel in the blue lagoon on the neighbouring island of Juani, go on sunset cruises, and at certain times of year arrange humpback whale-watching, snorkelling with whale sharks and trips to see turtle hatchings.

Whale-shark boat trips are run with Kitu Kiblu ('Little Blue Thing' to distinguish it from another operation, 'Big Blue'), which is largely the child of Jean and Anne, and the best way to meet the whale sharks on Mafia. This setup is entirely staffed and run by Mafia locals and overseas interns, and based out of a visitor and research centre on the west side of the island near Kilindoni. Kitu Kiblu run truly responsible whale shark encounters which fully adhere to the local code for how to interact with these gentle giants. A research biologist who has been studying the sharks for years, often accompanies the trips and provides fascinating insights into their surprisingly little-understood natural history and behaviour. Transport, breakfast, wet suit, booties, fins, mask and snorkel are all provided, as are drinks and fruit on board. There are outdoor showers at the end of the trip. Just bring towel, sunscreen and a Gopro if you have one. The trip costs approx $100 per person, based on a minimum of four people, and you can expect to be out at sea for 3 to 4 hours, or longer if encounters are proving difficult. It is a really magical experience!

There is also some very simple accommodation with shared ablutions at the Kitu Kiblu base 'Kitu Kiblu Beach Houses', so if your sole focus is the whale sharks, you are not looking for any luxury and you plan to go on multiple boat trips, this might be suitable. Please ask us for more details on this option.

Back at the lodge, Chole Mjini's close relationship with the village means that it's a great base from which to explore; you can do this by yourself, but we recommend heading out with a member of staff. Wander off in the late afternoon and you'll usually see a huge colony of large Comoros fruit bats starting to wake up before the nightly foray to their feeding sites on Mafia Island. You'll pass by the local hospital, various Tanzanian political party headquarters, and the village square with its community TV room.