Kinasi Lodge

Kinasi Lodge has an incredible offering; magnificent reefs for diving and snorkelling, a protected bay for swimming and sailing, historic ruins and traditional villages to visit, sandbanks and islets to enjoy alone, picnics with our excursion dhow – and road safaris to other parts of the island, unspoilt by development.

Kinasi has been Mafia Island’s premier boutique hotel since 1996 and is set in landscaped gardens overlooking Chole Bay.

The atmosphere is intentionally informal and homely. They have beautiful antiques (collected in Mafia !), Tanzanian hand-made furniture. All the cottages, set apart and with privacy, are large and airy, with an en-suite bathroom and covered veranda furnished with hammock, chairs and table, plenty of hanging space and shelves, desk and chair, bedside lights and reading lights.

The rooms have fans situated within walk-in mosquito nets that cover the king-size beds, and have been designed for through-ventilation and coolness in all seasons.

Cuisine is something they put a great deal of effort into and a particular passion because they think it is important when one is on holiday to really enjoy the food. Meals are a mixture of European, African and Eastern influences with an emphasis on seafood, fresh local produce, grills and home-made condiments; Swahili Night is a feature each week as is the Barbecue. Swahili Food Night and wood-fired barbecues are a specialty and they even have an Italian pizza oven.

Kinasi Lodge proudly operates their own Whale Shark excursions for guests, in order to ensure best practice protocols of sustainable swimming with whale sharks are followed with minimal impact on their behaviour.

Blue World Diving is an in-house PADI Five-Star Resort dive centre, established in 1995. Having just moved into completely redesigned and re-built dive centre with its new deck for apres sea drinks and socialising, with its own drinks refrigerator and snack grill.

A traditional “jahazi” and three fibreglass boats fully equipped with first aid and life jackets (and Oxygen when diving), spare engines for diving, snorkeling, whale shark trips and special boat excursions.

Mafia Island Marine Park is a snorkeler’s paradise with the Coral Gardens, Kinasi Pass Islets, Darusi & Miewe Island, Mange Reef, Kitutia, Jibondo Pass, Chole Chan nel and Reef, North Side of Kinasi Pass