Gecko Nature Lodge Home of Swahili Divers the BEST dive center and Famous Gecko Restaurant

Location: Plot 29, Makangale, Micheweni, Verani, tz

Star Rating: 8.2 Stars

Property Type: Resorts

About this Property

Important Information

Policies

Check-in: 11:00 AM - 04:00 PM

Check-out: 11:00 AM

Amenities & Facilities

• Offsite parking discounted rates available
• Parking
• Non-smoking rooms
• Air conditioning
• Swimming pool
• Restaurant
• Terrace
• Family rooms
• Luggage storage
• Safety deposit box
• Tour desk
• Massage services
• Packed lunches
• Private check-in/check-out
• Shuttle service (additional charge)
• Concierge service
• Outdoor furniture
• Staff adhere to local safety protocols
• Hand sanitizer in guest room and key areas
• First aid kit available
• Shared stationery like menus, pens are removed
• Physical distancing in dining areas
• Access to health care professionals
• Aerobics
• Free wired internet
• Scuba diving on site
• Snorkeling on site
• Self parking (surcharge)
• Airport transportation - pickup (surcharge)
• Airport transportation - drop-off (surcharge)
• Offsite parking discounted rates available
• Beach yoga on site
• Private beach nearby
• Internet access
• Housekeeping on request
• Private picnics
• Wine release events
• Exercise/lap pool
• Japanese garden
• Fishing nearby
• Swimming nearby
• Water sports equipment
• Beach club nearby (surcharge)
• Bicycle-friendly property
• Beach toys
• Charcoal grill
• Vegetarian menu options available
• Paddle boating nearby
• Accessible shuttle
• No accessible shuttle
• Accessible train station shuttle
• No accessible train station shuttle

Rooms Available

• Deluxe Double Room (2 Adults + 1 Child)

  The spacious double room features air conditioning, a private entrance, as well as a private bathroom boasting a bath or a shower. The double room is furnished with a desk and a seating area and has garden views. The unit has 2 beds.

  Max Occupancy: 3 (3 Adults)

  • Safety deposit box
  • Air conditioning
  • Desk
  • Seating Area
  • Fan
  • Private bathroom
  • Private entrance
  • Mosquito net
  • Linen
  • Entire unit located on ground floor
  • Clothes rack
  • Toilet paper
  • Socket near the bed
  • Window

• Bed In 6-Bed Mixed Dormitory Room

  This bed in dormitory features a seating area and private entrance.

  Max Occupancy: 1 (1 Adults)

  • Shower
  • Safety deposit box
  • Desk
  • Seating Area
  • Fan
  • Toilet
  • Private bathroom
  • Shared toilet
  • Private entrance
  • Mosquito net
  • Linen
  • Entire unit located on ground floor
  • Clothes rack
  • Toilet paper
  • Socket near the bed
  • Window

• King Room With Garden View

  The spacious double room offers a private entrance, a seating area, as well as a private bathroom boasting a shower. The double room provides a safe deposit box and garden views. The unit has 2 beds.

  Max Occupancy: 2 (2 Adults)

  • Shower
  • Safety deposit box
  • Desk
  • Seating Area
  • Fan
  • Toilet
  • Private bathroom
  • Private entrance
  • Mosquito net
  • Linen
  • Entire unit located on ground floor
  • Clothes rack
  • Toilet paper
  • Body soap
  • Socket near the bed
  • Window

Guest Reviews

• Andrii (10/5): Exceptional - Our vacation was held in a low season, but the weather does not prevent good breakdown. Excellent diving. Very caring diving instructor Sufi with extensive experience in the profession. He knows the sea and interesting points under water. The hotel has good boats with powerful motors. Full set of equipment for diving. Restaurant at the hotel offers local and European cuisine, individual order of dishes is possible. The dishes are very tasty. Chef Musa knows his business very well. Spacial great thanks to the Headmaster of the Gecko Nature Lodge Jennifer. She met us well, organized our walk around the surrounding area, solved our problems with logistics (the airline was canceled by our local flights from Zanzibar and back, but Jennifer forced FlightLink Buy us new tickets from another airline). The hotel is not new, but very large spacious rooms in African style. The bungalow has everything you need. The hotel is very suitable for divers, people who are interested in fishing and spearfishers (very rich Sea). Great holidays for people who want to be alone with nature. There were problems with communication. Local communication via SIM card was disconnected. Wi-Fi also worked intermittently.
• Matthias (10/5): Exceptional - The lodge is very well located for birdwatchers, close to Ngezi Forest Reserve and 3 of the 4 birds endemic to Pemba occur in the garden and the fields surrounding the lodge. The food is good, the swimming at high tide excellent, the rooms are large with new AC and Jenipher, the manager is very helpful and one of the nicest persons I met in the whole country. The price for room with breakfast is quite high with over 100 $ per night and also the long transfers to the harbour and the airport are quite pricey too. I was hoping to do some snorkelling too, but on the half day trip from the lodge ( reasonable priced) most of the corals were dead and there were only a few nice fish left. Most of these were very small. THE diving is supposed to be quite good deeper down, but I did not try this.
• Olga (2/5): Very poor - Old, shabby and dirty
• Pamela (5/5): OK for a few days diving but nothing else to do - Omari the chef was ace at making vegetarian meals Sofas on the beach front were pleasant Good aircon and shower Jennifer the manager was lovely My room was a spartan concrete hut and had lattice shutters with no curtains on 3 sides so at night anyone could see in if they came close to the window which was not nice for me as a solo woman. There is no where to go, hotel is surrounded by fields. There's no other places to eat, nearest next hotel is too far to walk to. Internet kept breaking down.
• Valerio9628 (10/5): Exceptional - We didn't expect to receive such a great welcoming experience from the staff starting from Jennifer, the manager, and from the all team. They are such nice team and treat you as part of their family. The food is so delicious and well finished. Moreover all the dishes written in the menu have always been available. The place is located on the northwest side close to Pemba Paradise, wumawimbi beach and the forrest, sourrend by monkeys and bushbaby! You can enjoy the magic sunset thanks to a nice spot in front of the sea and enjoy the barrier reef through snorkelling and scuba diving! Lovely recommended!
• Richard (8/5): Very good -
• Matt (8/5): Very good - Beautiful location, friendly and helpful staff, good snorkelling, endemic birds on site and Eddie excellent bird guide Nothing
• Mat (9/5): Superb -
• López (10/5): Nature, good food and rest - A magnificent place, extraordinarily friendly staff, delicious food and a lot of tranquility Unstable electricity and internet (expectable in such a remote place)
• Pascale (8/5): Home away from home in tropical paradise - A home away from home. The place is very remote and quiet. For nature lovers, it is a real paradise. Coconut crabs right on the property and many bush babies around at night. Food is excellent and staff very friendly and helpful. We went there to do our scuba certification and Mike the owner is the best teacher you can have. We stayed a week but wish we could have stayed longer. Nothing really bothered us. The rooms are on the rustic site so if you are looking for a 5 star resort, it might be not be your place but the environment, friendly people, delicious food and the beauty of the place really make it up for it. We really loved the place and are looking forward to visit again.
• Kobus (9/5): Excellent diving, snorkeling and very friendly host and staff - The owner, Mike, went out of his way to make us feel welcome and have a magic Pemba experience. Although basic and rustic, the resort had a pleasant feel to it with beautiful views, awesome sunsets and excellent diving. Cold showers and old, very basic facilities
• Martina (7/5): Good - I liked the kindness of the owner and the peace that the accommodation provides. - I don't understand why they have a special card payment policy, they charge an additional 7% commission if you pay by bank card. This should already be written in the booking rules at the accommodation, as 7% is not small amount. - I don't understand the policy that you are not allowed to bring anything, neither food nor drink (not even water) into the accommodation facility. 1.5 liters of water cost us 0.5 USD on the street, 3 USD in accommodation. There shouldn't be "so much money to be made" on the water, I can understand the rest. - the accommodation offers diving services. Honestly, they have quite high prices considering the condition of the equipment. Unfortunately, we were dissatisfied with the local instructor, who was harsh with his remarks several times. Honestly, this soured our experience the most, otherwise the accommodation itself is very good.
• Jonas (6/5): Pleasant -
• Ian (8/5): good for diving! very helpful and experiencesd knowladgeable staff!! - good for diving! very helpful and experiencesd knowladgeable staff!! no water in pool
• Hannah (10/5): Lovely place to relax, great food and wonderful nature - We had a great time! The room is comfortable and the food really excellent. We don't dive but want to do lots of snorkelling. Sometimes dive places treat snorkellers like a pain but we were treated really well here. We were dropped with our own guide at great locations for snorkelling rather than wherever the divers were going. Absolutely recommend for snorkelling! The house reef has amazing corals and lots of reef fish. The guides are knowledge and safe. The location is quiet and has lots of natural vegetation so it's shady and cool, with lots of wildlife. They have coconut crabs onsite and work with the community to protect them. Lots of birds in the grounds (we saw all the endemic, inc pemba scops owl) and flying fox. The staff, especially Mike, were so helpful and couldn't do enough for us. Lots of hammocks and other places to sit with a beautiful view over the sea and the sunset
• Marina (7/5): great place for diving, food is excellent - great food and perfect divers with very experienced dive instructors rooms are not very clean and little primitive
• Jean (10/5): Holidays in the paradise - Diving and boats right in the hotel. The owner Mike brings you around to all the spors. The restaurant is one of the best in Pemba with very tolerable prices. Don t miss this option if you are in Pemba. Everything fine
• Cindy (6/5): great for diving, the stay over is expected to be very basic - The dive Centre equipment and staff are of very high Sta ndard. we enjoyed our two dives very much. beautiful! the Cheff did make a good supper for us. the owner is very kind and attentive. there is a lovely pool. the accommodation is very basic with no hot water or ac and also the breakfast is basic but enough for us being eggs and toast with a fruit and coffee and juice.
• Verified traveler (10/5): - Außerordentlich Welcoming, authentisch, zwischen Wunder des Meeres und einzigartiger Wald ! Einheimische Dorf und Landwirtschaft auch Interesse und Unterstützung würdig.
• Verified traveler (8/5): - My wife and I spent four nights at Swahili Divers and truly enjoyed our stay. The staff were exceptionally friendly, helpful and welcoming. Although the higher prices for food and drink were understandable based on location, the quality of the meals could be improved. I would highly recommend spending some time with Mike, Glen and Arla and the amazingly peaceful location.
• GlenKerr (10/5): - The effort to get up to lodge is definitely worth it. Cecilia made me feel at home right away in the comfortable clean rooms. The food was great, definitely try the fish curry and fish kabobs. Special tanks to Glen Campbell and the dive shop staff for a very professionally run operation that made diving in the pristine reefs a true joy. Besides the great room, food, staff and diving one of my favorite memories will be watching the bioflorence light up the breaking waves off beach side deck.
• Christie (10/5): Wild with class - The lodge was exciting. The wildlife was abundant and Ngezi forest was just around the corner. Ceilia and Mike went out of their way to make our stay comfortable from design details to travel assistance. The diving and snorkeling experts made our trip more interesting and informative. Enjoyed the Masai wait staff and the sunsets we’re beyond nd compare.
• Verified traveler (8/5): - Good hotel pros: accommodating owner and helpful made it a personal stay great place to relax with good views and can even have a personal bit of the beach for your entire stay. can't get this anywhere else near zanzibar amazing sunset and views and fireplace if wanted nice room, good cleaners, generous with towels plenty to do cons: budget room does not have hot water restaurant can be costly for the budget traveller overall very happy with our stay and grateful to the staff would come again

Photos