Avis JUANI BEACH BUNGALOWS Kilindoni

Leuke loged met heel vriendelijk personeel. Goed eten is wel simpel en keuze van de dag. De kamers zijn goed, airconditioning, ventilator aan het plafond en warm water wat geen van zelf sprekendheid is kwamen we achter. (Gasten van andere loged's er naast hadden geen warm water). We zijn er 5 nachten verbleven, het is 10 minuten rijden vanaf het vliegveld.

I haven't stayed at this lodge, but did go to the lodge for boat services offered by Hassan. The lodge is very nice, right in front of the beach, sun beds, hanging beds, clean bathrooms. The staff is extremely friendly and Hassan is an amazing bussinessman, trustworthy and friendly. If we come back to mafia, we will stay here for sure!

Wifi was very good too!

Can't reccomend this place enough!

The staff at Maisara made our stay fantastic. The room was specious, the garden beautiful and spa service was wonderful. You can watch the fishingboats come and go and experience the islandlife just outside of the lodge.
We had a lovely privet dinner at the beach with lobster, calamari, fish and the staff were so lovely. Great breakfast and very clean. We loved the place!

Good location by the beach with good view of the sunset.

Stayed at Maisara Mafia Beach Lodge for two nights in early June and had a positive impression. The place is still fairly new (1.5 years) and is located conveniently near Kilindoni and the airport while still maintaining a detached feel. The rooms are comfortable, with sea view and A/C both being a huge plus, the service quite excellent (super friendly staff and the manager Hassan is a gentleman), the food simple but very tasty (has a beach restaurant type feel to it), and the hotel is located on a great beach with fine sand, aquamarine water and very little seaweed (at least in early June). It is located next to a fishing village, but this is not an issue because one can walk down the beach if looking for a more quiet spot to swim. In any case, the locals are extraordinarily friendly like everywhere in Mafia. Didn't have a chance to test the Wi-Fi but for Tanzania residents it's worth noting that the lodge is located in closer proximity to network towers, and internet access wasn't therefore an issue for me. The lodge and room had an uninterrupted power supply throughout my stay regardless of possible power cuts. Whereas Mafia Island seems to be a highly seasonal destination, I did manage to snorkle with the whale sharks (in early June). Whereas this cannot be guaranteed, the hotel arranged the outing and the guys running the boat clearly know what they were doing. All in all, Mafia is most definitely worth a visit but don't expect a Zanzibar style restaurant scene, or even well-stocked supermarkets or other amenities. If you are going to Mafia to see the whale sharks (without having to pay the nightly marine park fees), or just to look for some peace and quiet, Maisara Beach Lodge could be a great option. Highly recommended.

If I could give this place 6 stars I would. We stayed for 4 nights which gave us three full days on Mafia. We opted to do two day activities - Whale shark and Chole Bay full day tour. This meant one day was free to relax. The rooms were beautiful and clean, we had great AC and hot water for our whole stay. The staff are so lovely and made our stay truly memorable. The biggest positives for us were the beautiful gardens that the lodges are within and the staff who made you feel at home. The food is simple so don’t expect a restaurant but they make a real effort to use changing locally sourced ingredients (seafood!) to make all the dishes. We found for four nights this was perfect and the variety was good for dinner - which was delicious too. For lunch a salad offering would have been nice so you don’t eat the same for lunch/dinner.

Traveler notes:
- four nights we found optimum, I would suggest any longer and you may find yourself without much to do and the simple meals repeat a little.
- For lunch we ate at Butiama next door which did some nice salads.
- Activities:
Whale sharks 5/5. We saw 10+ whale sharks and swam with them for hours.
Chole day full day tour: 5/5. Possibly even better than the Whale sharks. Coral reef was in excellent condition and the lunch BBQ on the tidal sand bank was incredible. Don’t miss this! Also the blue lagoon jellyfish were a surprise.

Overall a great place to stay on Mafia.

It was the best!

The rooms were very spacious and clean. It had both air conditioning and an overhead fan. But my party was surprised when we arrived that one room we had booked did not have air conditioning so beware that there is one double room on the property that does not have air conditioning.
The property is nice but needs just a few more touches to make it truly relaxing. A nice hangout/common space with comfortable seating would be a good addition and more comfortable beach seating. The space did have some smart touches though like chargers by outdoor seating, drying racks outside, water bowl to wash feet off, etc...
The food was good but not anything super special. When we were there right after the first rain there was an insane amount of flies. I don't know what could be done about that but it was off putting.
For the whale shark excursion you leave right in front of their hotel. The guides were excellent and we did see whale sharks even on an overcast rainy day. The hotel provided equipment for you if you didn't have your own. They were able to arrange all the excursions and transportation and I really appreciated all the work that went into that. The owner and workers did an incredible job accommodating our every need. I was happy with our stay and the value.

La struttura è il perfetto posto dove rilassarsi, lontano da mete turistiche, completamente vista mare e nel mezzo della natura (del nulla). La strada per raggiungerla è piuttosto dissestata, ci vuole più tempo in auto invece che con moto / Tuk-tuk o addirittura a piedi (sulla spiaggia). La camera è molto grande, seppur spoglia (consiglierei qualche ripiano in più), con condizionatore e ventilatore. Il bagno è grande ma l’acqua calda si ha di rado, anche se quando è tiepida è comunque accettabile. Il personale è estremamente gentile e cerca di realizzare qualsiasi desiderio dei clienti, questo penso sia davvero il punto forte. Il ristorante vista mare è molto bello, più volte abbiamo potuto cenare in spiaggia a lume di candela. Per la cena di Natale è stato organizzato un bel buffet ed un faló. La SPA offre diversi massaggi ed è piacevole ed economica. La spiaggia è ampia e vi sono 4/5 ombrelloni e lettini, sempre liberi.

Il menù è sempre lo stesso, si scegliere il pesce (pesce intero, calamari, polpo, ogni tanto gamberi / aragosta) e il contorno (verdure, patatine, puré o riso). Nessuna variazione nella cottura e nel sapore, inoltre sull’isola è difficile trovare altro, per questo motivo consiglio di soggiornare per 3/4 giorni al massimo. Punto assolutamente da migliorare! Internet non sempre funziona e non arriva nelle camere, ma si può farne a meno. Vi sono molte mosche ovunque, probabilmente per via dei villaggi di pescatori nelle vicinanze, per questo motivo a volte c’è anche puzza di pesce.

Hidden gem not to be missed.
Food served were real value for money and the staff were helpful in providing recommendations and friendly. Even though the island power supply were unstable at times, the staff responded very quickly to rectify problems.

Visit it soon before this place gets crowded!

Hassan and all the staff are incredible nice, helpful and welcoming! The room was beautiful, view on the sea and very clean!! The food was also very good!
We stayed at the wooden shack for 3 nights and really enjoyed it.
The Wifi was not working very well and for breakfast it would have been nice to have some actual milk and coffee (not just milk powder and instant coffee)

All in all I can highly recommend the place to stay to everyone!

Super beautiful place right at the beach. You can get up have a great breakfast brought to you by the best and friendliest team and then go straighten to swimming with the whale sharks.
Very clean and comfy!
Would recommend to anyone whos looking for a nice holiday.
Thanks you to the wonderful team for all the amazing food and especially the fire at the beach ????☀️????

Great lodge! The room was big and comfortable, nice view, hot water and was very clean. The staff is super nice and help with everything you need. We really enjoyed staying there !

Our experience in Maisara Beach Lodge was really nice.
Hassan has a great sense of welcoming and will do everything possible for you to experience the best of Mafia.
Thanks to him we swam with a whaleshark ! We also discovered some incredible and hidden places of the island, like Kanga beach and Kizimkazi, thanks to Hassan team, really nice people, so lovely.
We went also to Mange Reef with his captain, a wonderful sandbank where we were alone ! We did snorkeling there which was amazing (I saw clownfish, anemone clark fish, boxfish and so many more...) and on the way to go and to come back we even saw many humpback whales !! They were jumping like crazy. Incredible day.
Hassan's place is also really nice, with beach and sunset view. The bungalows are really good, spacious, clean and well equiped.
Food also was good, for lunch and dinner you can choose between fresh fish of the day or calamari or lobster (sometimes chicken as well), with rice or fries and vegetables.

Bungalows vista spiaggia, il personale è molto carino e disponibile. I bungalows sono puliti e spaziosi. Consigliatissimo!

Nous avons passé 4 nuits dans ce lodge idéalement situé. Nous avons particulièrement apprécié l’emplacement et la proximité avec les habitants et surtout Hassan et sa dream team qui ont su répondre à toutes nos attentes.

Very recommend this place! Stay there during Feb. The host is very nice, always consider our need and drive us for free. The room is just in front of sea, big windows and you can watch sea from your bed. Hot shower, good wifi, comfortable room and AC room!! Really surprise there is AC. Restaurant food is also very delicious. It has lobster which reasonably price and better then the city seafood restaurant one.

We were six people staying in their lodges for two nights. Small and cosy hotel with a great location next to the long beach and Kilindoni. This stay exceeded our expectations by far. Hassan and his team offered great service and helped us with arranging trips. Our first night they organised a bonfire on the beach and barbecued fish that was catchend during the day. All in all a great experience. We will recommend this place to everyone going to Mafia Island.