Chumba Eco-Lodge, Zanzibar, Tanzania

Hello there!  I'm back, and as promised, I will be trying to update more frequently this month.  My wedding and honeymoon were a dream, and a proper Let's Stay Here honeymoon post is in the works.  In the meantime, let's talk about Zanzibar.  

Despite years of living on the African continent, I never made it south of the Sahara. (Did you know that intra-African flights are absurdly expensive?)  But now that I'm working on this project, there is a distinct possibility that I might actually get to go.  Zanzibar, a semi-autonomous island region of Tanzania, seems like a fascinating cultural distillation of the centuries of intermixing of African, Arab, Indian, Persian, Chinese, Dutch, Portuguese, and British traders.  Indian Ocean traders were really the O.G. multi-culties, am I right?

The Chumbe Island Coral Park is a privately-owned nature reserve and the Chumba Eco-lodge on the island aims to have zero impact on the environment.  I appreciate the simplicity of this lodge and the bold use of African fabrics.  I love staying in hotels like this.  As far as I'm concerned, it really isn't a vacation unless you have to throw your toilet paper in the trash.  

p.s. I'd love to check out this restaurant while there.

Photos from the Chumba Island Coral Park website.

Faru Faru Lodge + Sabora Tented Camp, Tanzania

And now, more from the Singita Game Reserves.  This hotel, the Faru Faru Lodge, and the one below, Sabora Tented Camp, are both in Tanzania and both are so ridiculously gorgeous, I don't know what to do with myself.

I once met a Kenyan man who joked about the touristic aftermath of Out of Africa on East Africa.  In the mid-to-late 1980's, if you were to go to the airport in Nairobi or Dar Es Salaam, you'd see packs of Meryl Streep look-alikes in wide-brimmed woven hats and cream-colored linen suits descending from airplanes.

It's very easy to mock these people - individuals caught up in a romantic, idealized vision of Colonial East Africa, totally disconnected from the people and reality of the present-day countries - but when I look at these photos, especially the Sabora Tented Camp, I completely understand, albeit shamefully, the draw of this fantasy. 

 Sabora Tented Camp

 

Lamai Serengeti

As wedding-palooza starts to become real, my beyonce and I have begun to consider our honeymoon options. We're getting married in March, and because cold weather is my enemy, this means no to a European vacation or other tempting northern hemisphere destinations like Japan, China or Central Asia.

Luckily we're left with so many exciting alternatives. South America? Southeast Asia? What about sub-Saharan Africa? These incredible photos from the Lamai Serengeti Lodge in Tanzania have certainly put East Africa in the running.

Welcome Beyond: Beach + Jungle

The irony of me having a hotel blog is that I dislike 99% of all hotels. When I scour through the lists of "the world's best hotels," I tend to feel numb and disinterested. Should I be excited about the newly opened Shangri-la in Sydney? It's another office building hotel that looks just like every other nice-enough, high-rise hotel. Fancysterile rooms with an airplane-like hum and 8 bajillion TV stations.

This is why I freaked out when I discovered the exceptionally curated boutique hotel web portal, Welcome Beyond. Started by two Berlin-based brothers, they state on the website that their mission is to, "Hand-pick places that we feel are truly original. Many reflect their owners’ passion for distinctive architecture and design. Some border on quirky (and may have crossed over the line). Several are quite posh. And a few are downright rustic. But what all of our properties have in common is that they’re exclusive – in the best sense of the word. Each is singular, memorable and definitely worth writing home about."

I've highlighted some of my favorites on their site. Note that not all of the hotels they feature are huts, tree houses, and yurts. That's just me.

So as not to overwhelm, here are my favorite beach and jungle locations. I'll put the tents and yurts into a separate post.

Uxua Casa Hotel in Bahia, Brazil



Elsewhere... in Goa, India


Chole Mjini in Mafia Island, Tanzania




Canopy Tower in Greater Panama City, Panama



Villas de Trancoso in Bahia, Brazil

All photos from Welcome Beyond

Stay tuned for tents and yurts!