The villas at Matemwe Retreat are spectacular. Each has a private veranda with sea views, an enormous bedroom, an en-suite bathroom with a sunken bath, a roof terrace with day bed, and a plunge pool.

As you walk in through the ornate Zanzibari door of the cottage, you step onto a very large private veranda. Here there is a comfortable lounge area as well as a breakfast bar shaped like a small dhow. Big French windows lead through to the air-conditioned bedroom so you have the choice of allowing the sea breeze to pass through, or sleeping in air-conditioned privacy.

Each of the villas has one bedroom containing a large coconut-wood bed with crisp high-quality sheets and mosquito nets, as well as a built-in corner sofa that can sleep a third person. Louvred doors keep the room cool. At the back is a spiral staircase that leads up to the roof terrace and another lounge area with a delightfully cool plunge pool.

Matemwe Retreats' villas have been tastefully designed, mixing clean, modern, minimalist elements with characteristics of more traditional Zanzibari style. Colours are natural, helping to make them feel warm and relaxed, and the use of beautiful fabrics and lots of reclaimed dhow wood has ensured each has plenty of character as well as style.

The wood of the decking is reclaimed from dhows, and the bar area is made out of an old fishing dhow. The overall effect is tasteful and stylish.

The bathroom, like the bedroom, is painted in warm natural colours, with his-and-hers sinks moulded out of the wall, a shower, and a bath that overlooks the Indian Ocean through a huge picture window.

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