Reviews of Fumba Beach Lodge
(87%) From 37 travellersThey do not necessarily represent the views of Expert Africa.
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Fumba Beach Lodge review
We stayed at Fumba after 9 fairly full-on days on safari, and it was the perfect way to adjust back to "civilisation". The rooms are beautiful and very much in the style of a safari camp rather than a beach resort. We stayed in one of the baobab suites which we would highly recommend - swinging in a hammock suspended from your very own huge baobab is a memory we will treasure. The baobab extends right over the beach below the suite, providing welcome shade for your sunlounger, and also one of the favourite spots for "lodge dog" Simba to rest up, which was a nice bonus.
Fumba is in a relatively quiet part of Zanzibar, although there is very good snorkelling/diving right next door, so probably better suited to people looking for a restful and pampered few days rather than a "party" atmosphere. This is meant as a compliment, by the way! Food was good, and we were lucky enough to be treated to a lobster dinner cooked outside our room - we could only conclude that the charming owner Edwin thought we looked like newlyweds!
Because Fumba is so close to Stone Town it would be possible to use it as a base to visit Stone Town itself, but we would recommend you actually stay in town for a couple of days - it's the kind of place you want to immerse yourself into rather than just visit. Use Fumba to unwind in luxury. Highly recommended.
Fumba Beach Lodge review
An ideal place for simply relaxing, yet still with sufficient interest for the curious naturalist to explore. We found the beaches were great: not pristine white sand but a mix of golden sand, fine pebbles and coraline rock. It is strongly tidal so an ever changing scene with lots of activity from local fishermen. There is plenty of wildlife, including an abundance of crabs and a good range of wading birds, including some 200 of the spectacular crab plover.
The rooms are excellent - we had a suite - which included an upstairs terrace, good verandah with hammock and shaded loungers on the beach. Elsewhere the hotel has lots of nooks and crannies which are ideal for sitting around and relaxing.
As we only stayed 3 nights we did not do any activities (although made use of the excellent spa) but would definitely have needed to do more if staying longer.
Meals were good and each evening they laid on something different; 1st night was on the restaurant terrace; second night on the beach; and third night a lovely surprise private dinner on our verandah.
The staff were approachable and friendly and taught us a few words of Swahili.
As with all places we visited there was next to no information on the local geography/ecology and no maps to help orientate ourselves.
Fumba Beach - the holiday!
We felt we had earned a few days by the sea by this time - proof of how well the whole trip was planned for us.
Fumba Beach was ideal. Very comfortable, friendly people and staff, nicely situated.
We had the extra bonus of an upgrade to a suite.
Fumba Beach Lodge review
A beautiful and peaceful resort but for my tastes a little bland and isolated. The food, apart from the first night which was a swahili orientated buffet, was international and lacked much in the way of alternatives to meat or sea food.
The service was good but the staff seemed a little robotic and disorganised, there seemed to be several waiters for each table and sometimes there was a little confusion.
What lets the accomodation down badly are the bathrooms, they are poorly designed (wrong materials) and a lack of regular cleaning and ventilation led to them being both dirty and smelly.
Small, personal service at a beautiful lodge
We were lucky enough to have a beautiful suite for most of our stay here. Wonderful room with a hammock, rooftop terrace and its own private sunbeds and beach area at the bottom of the steps. It was a friendly lodge with excellent personal service.
Edwin and Annemarie made a point of being around and chatting with the guests, which definitely added to the experience. I loved the Dhow Bar where everybody congregated before dinner and gave it a 'beach safari' feel. The staff were very friendly and encouraged me to learn a little Swahili.
Lots of little touches which made it special - especially a table laid on the beach for dinner on our last night - a lovely experience! Nothing was too much trouble. The beach is not so white as the east coast, but we were warned about this, but it is still nice and the seclusion of the location more than makes up for it.
Fumba Beach Lodge review
Very friendly and well trained staff. Excellent etiquette. Plently of staff.
When we arrived we had some other people using our beach beds and when we asked the man in reception to ask them to move (as they could see into our outdoor shower), he was not willing to ask them to move, which was rather disappointing. Especially as he agreed that they shouldnt have been using them.
Vegetarian food was on the whole good. However there were at least two occassions when they forgot we were vegetarian. The availability of an a la carte menu at lunch was great. They catered well for us, though the options were repetitive.
We had a massage here - but I wouldn't recommend it. It was not great.
Bungalows were very cool, though we prefered number 6 over 5, less mosquitoes and cleaner. They both had lots of space.
Cool surprise dinner settings, this was very well thought out and made us feel special on honeymoon. Complimentary bottle of wine also helped us feel like we were on honeymoon.
Expert Africa comments
We put these comments to Fumba Beach Lodge. They explained that the receptionist was unsure of how to handle the sun-bed issue, and so he told a manager. The manager then went to solve the problem within 10 minutes … but the guests had already left. They were sorry not to have got there in time to sort it out – and asked us to apologise to the clients for them.
Fumba told us that they try hard to employ local people where possible, including the therapists. They are new, and the lodge is acting on this poor feedback to train the therapists and improve the massages. If this doesn’t produce results, then Fumba tells us that they will employ more experienced therapists from mainland Tanzania.
Fumba Break
Fumba was great, lovely food and great service.
The place was picturesque but the 'deluxe' rooms need to have a it of a facelift, the rooms themselves were noting special
