Laba Fanjove sits on a small coral island in the Songo Songo Archipelago, off Tanzania’s southeast coast. It is sold within the wider Zanzibar and Pemba portfolio, yet it lies well south of both, closer to Mafia and the Kilwa coast. An 11-kilometre reef rings the island, and spinner and bottlenose dolphins move through the lagoon within sight of the villas.
A sandbank runs out to sea, so swimming is possible at every tide
The island’s landmark is a white German lighthouse, built in 1894 and restored from ruin. It is where guests gather now to dine and watch the sun go down. Arrival is by dhow or speedboat, onto a beach with no other building in view. A sandbank runs out to sea, so swimming is possible at every tide, a rare thing along this stretch of coast.
Xavier Marie founded the home decor group Maisons du Monde. He took a minority stake in Selous Safari Company in 2015, after a chance conversation on a walking safari, and full ownership followed in 2019. He rebuilt Fanjove with his partner, the designer Julie Brisson, who took charge of the interiors. The island reopened in 2025 under their Laba Laba brand, and her hand is everywhere, in the mother-of-pearl inlay and the organic shapes of the furniture.
The teak floors are plantation-grown in Tanzania
The villas rise as open A-frames beneath soaring makuti thatch, cooled by the sea breeze rather than air conditioning. The materials come from close to home. The teak floors are plantation-grown in Tanzania, the walls hand-cut from coral stone, and the linings woven from palm leaf, with doors carved by Zanzibari craftsmen.
Movement on Fanjove follows the tides rather than a schedule. There are no vehicles and no roads, so guests get about on foot, by kayak, or under sail, and the sound reduces to surf, palm thatch shifting in the breeze, and the morning chorus of birds. Between November and March thousands of waders and seabirds stop over, among them crab plovers, whimbrels and turnstones. After dark the interior forest belongs to the giant coconut crab, the largest land-living arthropod in the world, which climbs the palms once the light has gone.
The reef is protected from destructive fishing, so the corals stay intact and the shallows fill with reef sharks, rays, angelfish and butterflyfish. Snorkelling runs straight off the beach, or by boat to the outer reef, while the diving takes place on quiet sites along the Songo Songo reef system. Green turtles nest on the beaches in season, and humpback whales pass the deep-water drop-offs on their migration between July and October, close enough to watch from the island.
Those lease payments and a per-guest levy fund schools, clinics and clean water
Dining centres on the restored lighthouse, its lower wings sheltered under a detached makuti roof. Executive chef Edmund Mahunga trained in France and cooks to the daily catch and the local harvest: king prawn skewers, barracuda, mango and papaya, poured alongside organic wines. Meals wander the island too, to candlelit dinners on the sand, to private service on the veranda, and to picnics on a sandbank that rises briefly from the ocean at low tide, reached by dhow before the water returns to claim it.
None of this stands apart from the community around it. Laba Laba directs 30 percent of its profits to conservation and community work across Tanzania, and Fanjove itself is uninhabited, its land leased from the neighbouring Songo Songo village. Those lease payments and a per-guest levy fund schools, clinics and clean water. A closure scheme run with the Songo Songo fishers and WWF shuts sections of reef for three-month stretches, rebuilding octopus and fish stocks, while the lodge fuels patrols against dynamite fishing and watches over the turtle nests.
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accommodation
Reported villa counts vary, from the mid-teens to the low twenties. Expect beachfront villas facing the ocean, larger family villas, elevated coral villas set on stone outcrops, and multi-bedroom manor residences. All are open A-frames in teak, coral stone and makuti thatch, cooled by natural ventilation rather than air conditioning.
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activities
Included are snorkelling from the beach and reef, dhow sailing, sea kayaks and paddleboards, kitesurfing, nature trails through the palm forest, a lighthouse climb, an ocean-front gym and a kids' club. Diving on the Songo Songo reef, whale shark and whale-watching excursions to Mafia, and a boat visit to the Kilwa Kisiwani ruins are arranged separately.
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conservation
Laba Laba commits 30 percent of profits to conservation and community programmes. The Songo Songo village council receives lease and per-guest payments funding schools, clinics and water infrastructure. A reef-closure scheme with WWF and local fishers replenishes octopus and fish stocks, while the lodge supports anti-dynamite patrols and green turtle nest protection.
Get in touch and let’s start the conversation. An initial consultation helps us understand what you’re looking for, whether that’s specific experiences, luxury touches, or marking a special occasion, and from there we’ll guide you through what’s possible so you can decide if we’re the right fit.
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Zanzibar & Pemba
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By air and then by sea. A light aircraft leaves Dar es Salaam and reaches Songo Songo island in about fifty minutes, usually via Mafia; from the airstrip it is a few minutes to the shore and then thirty to forty-five minutes by boat or dhow across to Fanjove, timed around the tide and the sea. Coming from Zanzibar, you connect through Dar es Salaam on the same day. We can also arrange a private charter to Songo Songo, typically a Cessna Caravan or Pilatus PC-12.
The island leg is weather-dependent in a way safari transfers are not, so we build sensible margins into the day and confirm the soft-bag luggage limit, around 15kg, before you pack.
Yes. The UK's official travel health advice and the CDC both class all of Tanzania below 1,800 metres as high risk for malaria, and both are explicit that the islands are included, so a coral island at sea level is squarely inside the advice. Antimalarial tablets are recommended, sea breeze or not.
The villas are netted and the breeze helps in practice, but take the guidance seriously: confirm the current position with a travel clinic or your doctor before travelling, and cover up at dusk.
The island opens from June to the middle of March, closing for the long rains until the end of May. June to September brings the fresher, breezier trade-wind weather, October to February the hotter, stiller days with the calmest seas for snorkelling and diving, and the short rains pass through around November without settling in.
Within that, timing follows what you care about: the migrating whales pass in the drier months, while the stillest water and best underwater visibility tend to come later in the season. Tell us what matters and we will place the dates.
Lightly. Days are barefoot and the dress code never rises above linen, so light cottons, swimwear, a sun hat and reef-safe sunscreen do most of the work. The sun on water is fiercer than it feels, so high-factor protection and a long-sleeved rash top for snorkelling are the two things guests most often wish they had brought.
Add sandals you can wet, a light layer for breezier July evenings, and binoculars if the birdlife interests you. Soft bags only for the light aircraft, and anything forgotten is a long way from a shop.
No. The lagoon and the near reef reward a mask and fins with no qualification at all, and that is how most guests spend their water time. For the deeper sites along the Songo Songo reef system, the island's dive operation takes certified divers out to walls and pinnacles that see almost no other boats.
Bring your certification cards if you dive. Tell us the group's levels when we plan and we will arrange the diving ahead of arrival, including for mixed groups where some snorkel and some go deep.
Four or five nights is the sweet spot. Fewer feels brief once the travel day at each end is counted; more suits honeymooners happily. The island runs to the rhythm of tides rather than activities, and it takes a day or two to surrender to that.
It is built to end a safari. The flights connect through Dar es Salaam from Nyerere and Ruaha, so a southern circuit finishes on the sand within a day of leaving the bush, which is exactly how we usually place it.
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