Pongwe Beach

Great end to Tanzanian trip!

We made Zanzibar and Pongwe our last stop in Tanzania before going home. Ended up a good decision as it was very relaxing, staff were friendly and helpful, food was good, position was fantastic. We were given Val's room overlooking the beach, top spot. Waves were loud at night as the tide came in, but got used to that quickly. Hammocks between palm trees is hard to beat, and when the tide is out, the pool was great.

Took a drive into Old Stone Town, which was OK, but we were taken to the Anglican Church for a tour and the guide was a bit over the top. He was telling us that a chamber underground housed 50 & 75 slaves each but other local info says that the chambers were built to store produce and they are "similar" to the chambers used by slave traders, big difference. The whole slave trading idea is repulsive, but there's no need to fudge the facts.

Walking around Old Stone Town was OK. Have a coffee at the Stone House Cafe, great value. Mostly the touts would accept no for an answer, but there was one guy that got agressive when we said no, started saying that we were racist and only interested in buying from Indians etc. We just ignored him, but we saw some other tourists who got really upset by him. Just keep your cool with them and move on.

We had lunch at Mtone Marine, don't bother as it's not that good.

Honeymoon retreat

After a few days Safari all we wanted was to relax on an postcard perfect beach and do nothing! Pongwe definately allows you to do that. The sea is the warmest we have ever been in and the sand is like powder, the beach was cleared by hand every morning. The pool was very welcome when the sea was out as it was incredibly hot when we were there. Our bungalow was lovely and spacious with lots of fans to keep us cool and right on the beach which was wonderful. The lovely touch of a beach bag and light robes all came in very handy. Also lovely to have morning tea and coffee delivered for when we woke up.

Food was OK, sometimes excellent, sometimes not so good. Definately worth booking the private dining on the beach, very romantic.

Activities were few and we thought expensive. One word of warning, take shoes you can wear in the sea as the sea urchins and sand fish are terribly painful if you stand on them and there are quite afew when the sea is out.

Heidi and her team all very friendly and helpful when needed. A lovely place to re charge the batteries!

outstanding

Pongwe beach hotel was just lovely. We stayed in a few places whilst in Zanzibar and found the staff here to be by far the most helpful and friendly. The was a genuinely happy atmosphere throughout the hotel which was particularly infectious.

The food was varied and always delicious and fresh. Tea is available all afternoon which really enhanced your time relaxing in the main lodge overlooking the sea.

All in all would I recommend this hotel most highly. We had a wonderful stay and would love to come again.

Pongwe beach hotel

Amazing beach.

Bungalow was perfectly fine. Great to have a pool for swimming when the tide is out. Evening food was sometimes very good sometimes not so good and service was a little variable. The restauant and bar area is not the nicest space, but if you are at a front row table you get a fantastic view. But its all about the beach really.

PS - I have no idea if the activities are good or not as the only thing we did was sit on the beach, the only snorkel trip the day we were interested in doing it left at 7am which we didnt fancy.

Slice of Paradise...hard to leave your hammock!!

Staff very welcoming and very accomodating....great chef!

FANTASTIC- the most beautiful place in the world!

the beach is perfect- beautiful white sand and clear waters- just amazing

The bungalows are lovely, food fantastic, pool wonderful and snacks before dinner were great!

Seafood platter on the beach is a definite must

Really fabulous end to an amazing honeymoon- highly recommend Pongwe

25th Anniversary

What can I say, it was perfect. The staff could not do more for you. The most friendly, sincerely, happy people I have met so far on my travels.

The chef was brilliant, the food fresh, varied, and balanced. Steve the barman made us wonderful cocktails.

Everywhere was so clean and any little problem dealt with straight away.

I would recommend Pongwe to anyone.

PS it is certainly romantic!

Outstanding

The beach, the food, the people - this was such a fantastic place to spend the first part of our honeymoon. Although there were obviously lots of other honeymooners, we were made to feel special. The food was absolutely incredible - every single meal we had was delicious. The staff were so lovely and all made us feel very welcome. The beach was beautiful - the sand was so white we had to wear sunglasses whenever we were on the beach or it would have blinded us! The only thing that I would change is the price of the excursions - they were a little bit too much in my opinion. I hope that everything else about this place stays the same so that we can go back for our 5 year anniversary!

We stayed at Pongwe for seven nights as an R & R after climbing Kilimanjaro.

The beach is superb, and the lodge offers many extra activities accomodating the fact that you are quite far from Stonetown or other activiities. They do offer excellent taxi services with drivers who have a good knowledge of the island for any activities on the island.

The food at the lodge was excellent and never left us wanting! The staff were friendly, always greeting you whenever they saw you and very helpful when you needed something. The Masai security guards were enthusiastic with greetings and chatter.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Pongwe and left feeling very well rested and relaxed, if a little heavier after eating far too much good food!

AWESOME HONEYMOON

We stayed at Pongwe after our Masai Mara safari in Kenya and it was perfect.
From when we arrived, we got very cold mango drinks before being led to our room which had a sea view. It was even better than we anticipated. The staff was super friendly and the food was amazing. Every night we got a 3-course sea food dinner of different seafoods... Our last night we tried the "seafood platter" and I advise every guest to try it. It was the freshest sea food we have ever tasted. Their breakfast was good although I think they could add more variety - bacon, hash browns etc. they did have fresh fruit and fresh passion/mango juice, cereal, and great omelets. We did the Spice Tour, the Stone Town Tour and also did some snorkeling. Since Pongwe is far from Stone Town we had booked to stay our last night right in Stone Town which I would recommend to anyone. Pongwe is more of a relaxing resort if you want to go snorkeling, seat by the pool, or beach, read a book and that's EXACTLY what we wanted for a few days. We will be returning to Pongwe. We loved the different drink specials they had to offer and the fresh chips YUMMY!...
They now offer free wireless internet but we didn't once open our laptops - it was sort of freeing to be away from technology, no tv, no radio, no laptops, no cellphones... just nature... water splashing, coconut trees swaying... the pristine white velvety sand... it's the best beach I've seen. Like my husband Chris says "It was exactly like the corona beer commercials" without the girl...
In the morning during low tide it's great to walk out and pick shells - you'll also see local women and fishermen as well but very seldom. It's the most private beach I've ever been to. LOVED LOVED LOVED IT!!

PONGWE BEACH HOTEL

This is our second visit to Pongwe and as before it charmed us! we stayed there with our daughter again and although people say there's not much there in the way of activities we found it really relaxing and enjoyable - plenty of characters to talk to among the staff and nice swimming and visits around the island if you want. It's a beautiful setting and the small beach has got to be one of the best anywhere! It's quiet but if you're interested in marine life , the walk out onto the sand when the tide is out is amazing - full of huge brightly coloured star fish and see urchins and other interesting things. The food is fabulous and the staff friendly and helpful as always . We enjoyed watchign the arrival of the new motorboat and the excitiment and activity this caused among all the staff ! . It's a place that really makes you feel 'at home' and the bungalows are very comfortable and especially nice if you have one right on the beach .We shall be back I'm sure. Thanks to all Heidi and her team of staff.

Pongwe Beach

This is by far the closest beach I have come to that meets my idea of paradise, it is absolutely gorgeous. The sand is pristine white and the water very warm and clear. The grounds are also kept immaculately. The rooms are great, though oddly we preferred our garden room than our beach one. The staff are very polite and attentive and the food is great. We also enjoyed the snacks in the evenings when playing a game of scrabble before dinner! I would highly recommend a stay at Pongwe.

Pongwe Beach honeymoon

On our third week, we were in Sansibar. Both places we stayed in, Pongwe Beach and Matemwe Bungalows, were heaven on earth!

Pongwe Beach : JUN09

In Zanzibar, Pongwe Beach was also excellent - wonderful location and the most velvety white sand we have ever seen. The scuba diving was also great (even better than the Red Sea) and I saw 5 dolphins.