Heaven is a place on earth - Magical Mnemba Island

Heaven is definitely a place on earth. And its name is Mnemba Island.

After an hour of bumping along compressed sand tracks that are misleadingly called roads I arrived at Zanzibar’s east coast. As my driver Hitesh opened the door of the air-conditioned 4WD I was greeted by the smell of the ocean, and the gaze of fifty local fishermen lounging in the shade after a hard morning’s work.

The launch-pad for visitors to Mnemba Island is the only undeveloped beach on the Zanzibar coast. But as my luggage and I were lifted into a shiny, twin 85hp engine launch I was reassured I was about to be whisked away to luxury.

Handing over your shoes as you board the boat is symbolic of handing over the stress of everyday life, and for the next four days I was barefoot and relaxed. The transformation was instantaneous.

A privately owned sand atoll in the Indian Ocean, Mnemba Island only accommodates ten couples at time so it’s possible to choose not to see anyone other than your personal butler for your whole stay.

If you do choose to go diving, swimming with dolphins or joining the other guests for a pre-dinner drink, you could be chatting to celebrities, business
leaders or royalty but you wouldn’t know it because the conversation is more likely to be what the dolphins had been doing that day than what had
happened in global markets.

During the welcome briefing manager Peter showed me the daily menu board and let me know that if there was anything I particularly
fancied just to ask - from simple spaghetti to an Indian curry, nothing would be too difficult. Each morning I looked at the menu and considered asking for vegemite toast just to see if it was possible. Knowing I had a tube of it in my suitcase, I always stuck to the daily specials of lobster, lamb or linguini and was never disappointed.

The accommodation on Mnemba Island is a luxurious version of a traditional Zanzibari banda - a thatched structure with no doors or windows. For light sleepers and those who are uncomfortable sleeping unenclosed there are thatched blinds that can be lowered – creating a feeling of being inside and blocking out the sounds of the night and the moonlight.

Days on the island start when your personal butler brings you tea or coffee to your banda. If you’re awake early enough you can lie in the King-sized bed, beneath the lightly billowing mosquito net and watch the fishermen sail their boats onto the beach to sell their catch to the kitchen.

There’s no routine on Mnemba unless you choose to create one for yourself. Breakfast is served either in your banda or in the open restaurant 150 metres along the beach. Then it’s up to you – snorkelling, scuba diving, swimming with dolphins, reading, sunbaking, kayaking… it’s completely up to you.

Dive masters Karen & Christopher co-ordinate the scuba-diving and snorkelling trips. They prepare specific itineraries based on what you’re trying to see and based on how comfortable you are under water. So if you’ve never dived, they’ll teach you and if you’re also a dive masters, like English couple Toby and Zoe who spend two weeks on the island every six months, they’ll design an underwater safari to help you find sea-creatures you’ve never seen before.

Swimming with the dolphins was one of my favourite Mnemba activities and I swam with them on two consecutive days. These beautiful creatures played with me, surfacing from below to look me in the eye before accelerating off to join the rest of their pod. The younger dolphins enjoyed playing much more ogling humans, poking their snouts into the sand and spinning around as if they were dancing on their noses.

After strenuous days of swimming, snorkelling and lazing in the sun the only sensible thing to do is get a massage. Mnemba has a full-time therapist on staff. Claire looks like a South African angel but she has hands of a demon, working out lingering stress knots in the comfort of your own banda.

Evenings on Mnemba start with sun-downer drinks watching the sun set over the Indian Ocean and then continue in the lounge, where the guests are hosted by two of the staff. Casual, friendly and completely relaxed, drinks are an opportunity to chat to other guests about the days adventures.

For those who’d prefer to dine alone (or have a romantic dinner for two) a quite conversation with your butler is all it takes to be dining under the stars by the light of a small bonfire and hurricane lamps in front of your banda – in complete privacy.

After four days in heaven it was time for me to put my shoes back on and return to earth. Skimming across the water towards the 4WD that would
drive me back to reality I realised the only decisions I’d made during my stay on Mnemba Island were what cocktail I wanted for sundowners and what time I
wanted my coffee in the morning. Wouldn’t the world be much closer to heaven if these were the only decisions we ever had to make?

by Janeece Keller

To enquire about holidays at Mnemba Island please contact Concierge Traveller on 1800 047 047 or email enquiries@conciergetraveller.com.au

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