HotelChatter - tz

Only While Glamping Can You See Lions and Get Spa Treatments

Jennifer Kester — 2011-04-26T14:42:44-05:00

<![CDATA[<img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/34094/Anantara_Spa.jpg" class="top"> If you've always wanted to go on an African safari, but aren't really that into roughing it, the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Bilila+Kempinski/ian/327426">Bilila Lodge Kempinski</a> in Tanzania can help you out with a three-night glamping package that will let you see the animals in the Serengeti and get pampered at the same time. As part of the Beauty and the Beast package, you get to stay in a roomno tents hereoverlooking the plains of the national park, giving you a chance to observe the wildlife from your sun deck. Your days will be spent out in the bush, alongside veteran guides on game drives in search of the elusive Big Fivelions, leopards, rhinos, buffaloes and elephantsor floating overhead in a

My Own Private Island: Tanzania's Lupita Island

EricRosen — 2011-03-02T10:36:34-05:00

All this week, HotelChatter contributor Eric Rosen will be taking us on a guided tour of the globe’s most exclusive, luxurious, over-the-top vacation retreats in our new Private Islands Series. We’ll venture from the Bahamas to Fiji, from Africa’s crystalline Lake Tanganyika to the emerald waters of Cambodia, and everywhere in between. That is, everywhere you can be ruler of your own little island.

Today we travel to the pristine waters of Tanzania’s Lake Tanganyika, where we find the tiny jewel of Lupita Island, a glamping lodge run by Firelight Expeditions as part of its safari packages.

Zanzibar's New Star of the East Hotel Is Fit for a Royal Honeymoon

Jennifer Kester — 2011-02-21T14:10:26-05:00

While Prince Wills and Princess-to-be Kate Middleton are rumored to be spending their honeymoon in Isles of Scilly, we can't help thinking the royal couple should maybe pull a switcheroo and shack up at the newly opened Star of the East on Zanzibar.

The Tanzania hotel would provide a paparazzi-free zone. It only offers 11 villas, and each has its own private plunge pool, Jacuzzi, personal butler, ginormous furnished terrace and lush garden full vegetation, from which the newlyweds will be able to watch the sunset and get all romantic.

We're Half-Convinced On The Fairmont Zanzibar

amandak — 2008-12-23T09:15:35-05:00

<![CDATA[<img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/3873/Fairmont_Zanzibar_Pool.jpg" class="top"> We've had a sudden and inexplicable fascination with the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar which led us to the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Fairmont+Zanzibar/ian/261695">Fairmont Zanzibar</a> in Unguja City. We quite like Fairmont, we're fascinated by Zanzibar, what could be better?Well, according to the <a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g666395-d852264-Reviews-Fairmont_Zanzibar-Unguja_City_Zanzibar_Zanzibar_Archipelago.html">TripAdvisor reviews</a>, nothing. But then again, no hotel is worse either, because the Fairmont is basically the only place to stay in Unguja City. It all comes down to who you believe more: the recent guest who reckons they were "spoiled rotten" (they had the Asali Suite with private chefs) or others who complain of an unmanned pool bar and unfriendly service in the restaurant.To give Fairmont Zanzibar the benefit of the doubt, they have just done

A Mnemba to Remember

annie0007 — 2007-04-27T14:50:56-05:00

If you want exotic, exclusive, beachy, private island bliss, then get yourself to the coast of Tanzania, where you can catch a ride over to Mnemba Island Lodge.

A twenty-minute speedboat ride from the town of Matemwe, off the Northeast coast of Zanzibar, will get you to this little coral atoll. And what will you see when you get there?

A whole lot of beach, and a whole lot of nobody. This island's best feature is its intimacy and privacy - roughly translated, it's you and the sand. And that's all.

More on Mnemba