The Manta Resort keeps to one stretch of beach on the northern tip of Pemba Island, old-growth coastal forest at its back and a pool set in the gardens behind. Its best-known room is not on the sand at all. It floats a short boat ride offshore, private the moment the boat pulls away, the bedroom submerged roughly four metres down, glass on all sides, reef fish in every direction.
Its best-known room is not on the sand at all
The diving here starts almost at the door. The reef falls sheer into the Pemba Channel. Along the outer face, wall and drift dives run past turtles, eagle rays, reef sharks and schooling barracuda, and the resort’s PADI centre works both ends of that range, easy house-reef dives for beginners and the deeper, current-driven sites kept for those who have logged the hours.
Pemba receives a fraction of the visitors Unguja, the main island, sees each year, and the coastline shows it. Northern Pemba has few lodges and no beach vendors at all, only long stretches of sand with nobody on them. Arrival is a flight to the island, then a road transfer through clove plantations and villages, skirting the Ngezi Forest Reserve.
Northern Pemba has few lodges and no beach vendors at all.
Rooms sit low under makuti thatch, built from local timber and coral limestone, simple rather than heavily air-conditioned. Where the gardens end, Ngezi begins, one of the last significant stretches of primary coastal forest on this coast, home to the endemic Pemba flying fox and to birdlife drawn to the forest edge. Guided walks into the reserve and visits to nearby villages fill the hours between dives.
Guests bound for the Underwater Room are taken out by boat and left there. The top deck is open to the sun by day and to the stars at night, and at sea level a lounge and a bathroom sit just above the waterline. A stairway drops from there to the room below. Down in the glass-walled bedroom the sound of wind and water gives way to near silence. After dark, underwater spotlights draw the reef fish to the windows, and the room becomes something closer to an aquarium than a bedroom. Meals and drinks arrive by boat, and the structure is yours alone until you are collected.
On land, the resort is built around roughly twenty rooms and villas, low and thatched, made of coral limestone and local timber. Six are Seafront Villas, with private decks looking out over the Pemba Channel. The Garden Rooms and Villas are simpler and set back among the trees, closer to the forest than to the water, and considerably more affordable in feel if not necessarily in rate. Beyond them all sits the single Underwater Room, moored offshore and reached only by boat.
Down in the glass-walled bedroom the sound of wind and water gives way to near silence.
Meals draw on whatever the fishermen bring in that morning, reef fish, prawns and lobster, eaten at an elevated restaurant looking out over the channel or at the beach bar as the light goes. The hours in between are loosely filled: sea kayaking, deep-sea fishing, a boat out to a sandbank, a sunset run on the channel, a spice farm inland, a treatment at the Kipepeo Spa. The tide and the dive boat set the shape of the day, and little else does.
A per-person nightly contribution is applied to every booking and goes directly to conservation and community projects on Pemba, a detail the resort states plainly rather than dresses up. The place is small, and its guides and staff come from the villages along this coast, which ties it to them more tightly than any policy could. Misali Island, protected since 1998 for its dense coral after a season of regional bleaching, is a reminder of how long marine protection has mattered in these waters.
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accommodation
Around twenty rooms and villas sit on land, among them six Seafront Villas with private decks over the Pemba Channel. The Garden Rooms and Villas are set back among the trees, built in thatch, stone and timber. Offshore, moored on its own, is the Underwater Room, with a sun deck above and a glass-walled bedroom below.
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activities
Diving and snorkelling from the on-site PADI centre, ranging from house-reef dives to current-driven sites for experienced divers. Sea kayaking, deep-sea fishing, sandbank excursions and sunset boat trips on the channel. Ashore: guided walks into Ngezi Forest Reserve, spice farm visits, village visits, and treatments at the Kipepeo Spa.
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conservation
A nightly per-person contribution on bookings is directed toward local conservation and community projects on Pemba. The Misali Island Conservation Area has been protected since 1998 for its dense coral cover. The resort's small scale and reliance on local guides and staff link its operation directly to the surrounding villages.
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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Zanzibar & Pemba
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our approach
Every journey starts with a conversation. We take the time to understand your vision before we start planning.
Whether by phone or in person, we work with you directly to shape something that is considered, personal, and expertly delivered.
