Mafia Beach Bungalows — Hotel in Mafia Island

Our stay in Mafia Beach Bungalow was amazing. The bungalows are simple but super cozy. If you look for a 5 star luxury accommodation you are definitely wrong here. But if you like it easy going, cozy and familiar atmosphere Mafia Beach Bungalow is the place to be! We spend 4 nights there and had breakfast included. Breakfast was good, choice of eggs, pancakes, fruits (standard like in every other accommodation we visited during our holiday). They also offer excursions and dinner, so no need to leave the place if you don't want. Excursions are super cool, we choose the Sandbank incl. Lunch and Snorkeling and on the other day visiting the Lighthouse with Lunch on an other beach. Both excursions were super cool, with very nice guys and the food, simple but delicious and for sure not to less! Highlight for us was dinner! Other than some reviews say, the food was one of the best we had in Tanzania! Every evening 3 courses and every day something else. Also here it is not a Gourmet Menu but it is simple and delicious! And also here you do not go hungry to bed! Another highlight were the super nice people working there! Especially Saidi, which works at the restaurant and made us feel very welcome! Thank you!

Nicht gefallen · Yes there are a lot of mosquitos but in this areas it is to be expected and is not the fault of the accommodation! Be aware that there is an extra charge to stay in this area (per night and person) but that refers for all hotels...

Very nice staff and activities at a 2 star lodge. Be aware that if you stay on this side of Mafia Island you will be inside the Marine Reserve which adds $24.60 per person per day to your stay. The snorkeling trip ($25/person) and visit to Chole Island ($10 + $4 island fee per person) to see the Fox Bats were excellent. The snorkeling is world class and was the highlight of our visit to Mafia.

That said, this place has some problems (the last one, food, is a deal killer). The bungalow we stayed in was sloped downhill, which is annoying and you have to be careful not to slip in the shower due to slope of the floor. There is a "beach" right in front, but it's muddy and has Mangroves so not very good for swimming. It's a good 15 minute hike up the beach in the hot sun to a nice beach good for swimming (the point off of Mafia Island Lodge). The worst problem is the food situation. The breakfast (included) is fine, but lunch and dinner are terrible, and way overpriced (at $10 and $15 respectively) for what you get. A pile of plain spaghetti with no meat and no sauce is a $10 lunch? Get real. We opted to eat dinner each night at the beautiful Kinasi Lodge next door where they serve an excellent 3 course dinner (with desert) by candlelight for $15. The snorkeling is really excellent on Mafia Island, but I would not stay at Mafia Beach...

We stayed here for 2 nights with a group of friends.

We arrived late in the afternoon and were welcomed with warm smiles. The rooms were almost ready and they took our lunch ordered while we waited.

The hotel is located beach front with mangroves at the forefront of the beach and offered stunning sunrises.

The best part of the hotel are the views and the hospitality.

They were recently hit by a hurricane which caused significant damage to some of the rooms, however there are plenty of rooms for a small group (6 double / twin rooms).

I can’t write much about the food as we only dined once during lunch, but the breakfast was straight forward and great. Fresh fruits, fresh smoothie followed by your preference of eggs and toast accompanied by pancakes (the pancakes need some work for sure).

They also have a 24 hour coffee station in the house. And we loved that as we stayed up all night at the restaurant and the coffee kept us great company. Kudos to that!!

The host Iddi and Ally are great, they were really helpful and extremely kind to let us stay way past the check-out time on our last day.

Highly recommended for a budget friendly stay.

Don’t expect too much. But they got the basics right! Good pressure water, hot water in the showers, clean linen, mosquito repellent and nets in the room, standing fan, decent breakfast. I...