Mnemba Island sits about 3 km off the northeast coast of Unguja, the main island of the Zanzibar Archipelago. Roughly triangular and barely 1.5 km around, it is fringed with white coral sand and a casuarina pine forest, and circled by its own reef.
&Beyond holds the island on a long renewable lease. &Beyond Mnemba Island Lodge first opened in 2002 and reopened in October 2024 after a full rebuild, with the original team, Fox Browne Creative and Nicholas Plewman Architects, returning to reimagine it. There are no jetties here, so arrivals are made by wading ashore from the boat that crosses from the mainland.
With only 12 bandas and a maximum of 24 guests, the whole island and the waters within its 500-metre exclusion zone are effectively yours. Shoes are left at the door, and the day is measured by the tide.
The 12 open-air bandas rest beneath casuarina trees, built without doors or windows so the sea breeze moves through. Each has a private beach lounge and a personal sala, with interiors shaped after the spiral of a nautilus shell and finished with Zanzibar woodcarvings, brass, marble and Omani antiques. One banda is a two-bedroom family unit.
Only soft sand lies between you and the sea.
Meals follow the guest rather than a fixed schedule. Breakfast trays of tropical fruit, fresh juice and Tanzanian coffee arrive at your banda, and local fishermen deliver the day’s catch by ngalawa sailing boat. The menu board is a suggestion; you eat when, where and what you like.
Reaching &Beyond Mnemba Island Lodge takes a 90-minute drive from Stone Town across Unguja, followed by a 20-minute boat crossing. The island covers about 18 hectares and is ringed by an oval reef seven by four kilometres. As a private island, it is closed to non-guests, with a 500-metre exclusion zone holding back day visitors and keeping the beaches quiet.
The surrounding waters sit within the Mnemba Island Marine Conservation Area, a 2,130-hectare zone declared in 2002 and co-managed by government, local communities and conservation partners. The reef supports around 600 species of fish, while green turtles, three species of dolphin and seasonal humpback whales and whale sharks pass through the deeper water. Humpbacks are usually seen between July and September.
Time here is kept by the tide, not the clock.
Conservation is run through Oceans Without Borders, the marine programme &Beyond runs with Wild Impact, started in the Mnemba seascape in 2018. A coral nursery has supplied more than 7,000 micro-colonies transplanted onto the house reef, and artificial reef structures shaped as turtles and starfish have been added. The lodge runs on solar power, has removed plastic water bottles and patrols the beach daily.
Mnemba is one of only two protected nesting sites for the endangered green sea turtle, and the team has monitored and protected nests since the late 1990s. Females come ashore to lay between February and September, with an average of 38 nests a season and more than 100 hatchlings per nest. An interpretive centre on the island explains the work to guests.
In the water there is snorkelling straight off the beach, a PADI dive centre running two dives a day, sea kayaking with glass-bottom kayaks, stand-up paddleboarding, catch-and-release fishing and sunset dhow cruises. On the mainland, &Beyond and Wild Impact have worked with the Matemwe community since 1998, supporting the Matemwe Health Centre and primary school, which guests can visit.
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accommodation
The lodge has 12 open-air bandas beneath the casuarina trees, sleeping a maximum of 24 guests. Built without doors or windows, each has a private beach lounge, an outdoor shower and a personal sala. One is a two-bedroom family banda of 94 square metres, with air conditioning and heating.
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activities
A full PADI dive centre runs two dives a day on the reef, alongside snorkelling from the beach, glass-bottom sea kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding and catch-and-release fishing. Evenings bring sunset dhow cruises, while a wellness banda offers yoga, breathwork and treatments in two shaded rooms.
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conservation
Through Oceans Without Borders, &Beyond and Wild Impact run a coral nursery and reef restoration, with more than 7,000 micro-colonies transplanted. Green turtle nests have been monitored since the 1990s. On the mainland, partnership with the Matemwe community since 1998 supports a health centre and primary school.
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
Mnemba is a private island off the north-east coast of Zanzibar. You fly into Zanzibar's own international airport, then transfer about an hour to an hour and a half by road to the north-east coast, and cross to the island by boat. There are no jetties, so the final arrival is a wade ashore from the boat.
We build the flights, the drive and the boat transfer into one seamless arrival and confirm the timings once we have your dates. We can also arrange the flight into Zanzibar as a private charter, typically a Cessna Caravan or Pilatus PC-12, timed to fit the rest of your trip.
Yes. Zanzibar and Pemba lie at sea level, well below 1,800 metres, and current UK guidance from TravelHealthPro lists the islands as a malaria area, so this is not a malaria-free beach stop. Risk is lower than it once was, but the mosquitoes that matter feed after dark, so cover up in the evening, use the repellent and nets provided, and antimalarial tablets remain the real protection.
Health advice can change from year to year, so we always ask you to confirm the current position with a travel clinic or your doctor before you travel, and to take the usual care against bites after dark.
The coast is hot and humid for most of the year, typically in the high twenties to low thirties, and the bandas are open to the sea breeze, so the nights stay warm.
Pack very light, breathable clothing, swimwear and sandals, with a light cover-up and modest dress for any trips ashore. Bring strong sunscreen, a hat and insect repellent for the evenings, and remember shoes are left at the door on the island.
For settled seas and the clearest water, come in the cool, dry Kusi season from June to October, when diving visibility peaks in September and October. February is the standout of the hot season either side of it.
The long rains of April and May bring rough seas and reduced visibility, and many lodges and dive centres close, so we plan around them.
With only twelve bandas and a maximum of twenty-four guests, the whole island and the waters within its five-hundred-metre exclusion zone are effectively yours. The island is barely a kilometre and a half around, ringed by its own reef and white coral sand, and the day is measured by the tide rather than a schedule, with a full dive centre running two dives a day and snorkelling straight off the beach. It is a place to do very little, well.
Yes. One of the twelve bandas is a two-bedroom family unit with air conditioning, and the reef, the glass-bottom kayaks and the paddleboards give children plenty in and on the water.
The bandas are built without doors or windows and open straight onto the sand, so tell us the children's ages and we will confirm the family banda and how it is set up.
There is wifi in the main lodge area, kept deliberately light in the individual bandas to encourage a proper island wind-down, and Zanzibar's mobile coverage generally reaches the island.
So you can get online when you need to, but the island is set up for switching off. Tell us if you need to stay reliably reachable and we will confirm the current arrangement before you travel.
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