Fanjove Island
Songo Songo Archipelago
Accommodation
Fanjove Island is one of the few private island along the coast of Tanzania and boots beautiful beaches and pristine nature. The island is only just about 1km long, and about half of it is surrounded by beach. A 11km long coral reef protects the east side of the island from strong waves. Swimming in the sea is perfect during high tide but the water is receeding during low tide and most of the reef is then exposed.
Fanjove Island offers 10 romantic beach villas plus a family beach villa that are located on the east side of the island, with direct access to the perfect white beach. The villas were built exclusively from natural materials such as wood, straw and palm leaves (mokuti) and the interior decoration is done with much love and style. A large thatched roof protects the bedroom and the veranda, where you can sit and read comfortably during the day, or just relax in the comfort of your hammock. The en-suite bathroom is located at the rear of your villa and features two open-air showers and twin basins. In total you are pampered with 132m² of living space and an addtional outside pavilion with two sunbeds.
The main building was built close to a lighthouse which was constructed by Germans in 1894. From there, the beach extends around the southern tip of the island far up to where the coral reef starts. The lighthouse has been renovated and extended with a large verandah and is now being used as a restaurant with beach lounge. The perfect place on the island to watch the sunset, recap the day and start the evening with a cool drink in your hand.
Location
Fanjove Island belongs to the Songo Songo archipelago, which is located about 140km south of Dar-Es-Salaam. The archipelago consists of only just five islands, the main island Songo Songo, the northern islands Okuza and Nyuni and the southern islands Fanjove and Jewe.
Songo Songo is accessible by air from Dar-Es-Salaam via Mafia Island in about 40 minutes. The only reason why there is an airstrip on Songo Songo is because of the gas exploration - a pipeline supplies much needed energy to Tanzania's biggest town Dar-Es-Salam. This does not impact your stay on Fanjove at all. The only thing you may notice are some yellow lights in the very far distance caused by burning gas, a normal process when exploiting gas.
From Songo Songo airport, a tuk tuk of unique engineering is used to drive guests to the boat station from where it is a 20min to 40min transfer by boat (depending on the boat type used) to Fanjove Island.
Activities
There is a gym and an activity center that provides gear for scuba diving and snorkelling. Diving is probably best from November to March when the quieter north-east monsoon blows (Kaskazi), with less waves and better underwater visibility. There is a good house reef just in front of the lodge, easily accessible right from the beach.
Fanjove offers sunset dhow cruises on a traditional sailing boat and boat trips to a nearby sandbank which includes picnic on the sandbank. A walk around the island at low tide can be done in a little over one hour. Kayaks and SUP are available too.
Wildlife
Dolphins regulary visit the waters surrounding the island. The lodge organizes boat trip in the early mornings in search of dolphins (marine safaris) - with a bit of luck the dolphins are found, sometimes a group of 100 animals or more.
Fanjove Island is a breeding ground for the endangered green turtle. They are laying their eggs mainly around March and the hatching takes place in May/June.
Fanjove Island on the map
