A Spice Island Retreat. (Flame Tree Cottages (Zanzibar, Tanzania))

Member Name: Cat19

Product:	Flame Tree Cottages (Zanzibar, Tanzania)
Date:	26/03/09 (245 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Err air conditioning worked?

Disadvantages: Claustrophobic, not treated as individuals, food poisoning, unhelpful management

In January this year I travelled to Tanzania and Zanzibar on an organised group trip with The Adventure Company. I immediately feel the need to excuse and explain why I chose a group tour and that was because it was *significantly* cheaper than putting a similar independent trip together ourselves in this region and with the activities we wanted to do.

One of the major downsides (in my opinion) of joining an organised trip is that you do not get a say in the accommodation and accordingly I simply found myself in Flametree Cottages for the final three nights of my holiday. The Flametree Cottages complex is situated in Nungwi, on the north tip of Zanzibar and it took about an hour to get there from Stone Town the capital. My first feeling upon arriving in the town was probably shock. I could not believe that this was a place where any tourist had ever ventured before. It was for all intents and purposes a shanty town and there was no sign of tourist dollars having brought anything to the local community. I am well travelled and have been to several developing countries and would normally love to wander and immerse myself in my surroundings. On this trip, I did not venture back into the town, I felt like it would be an intrusion and didn't want to be that westerner wandering around gawking at such impoverishment.

As we pulled into Flametree Cottages complex, the contrast with the town was stark but on its own, there was nothing much to write home about and in fact I was a bit disappointed. I had expected individual cottages spread over a fairly large area so each one was quiet and private. In fact we found ourselves in chalet blocks forming three sides of a small rectangle. I was reminded of a Pontin's holiday thirty years prior. We had a middle chalet in a block of three. I refuse to call it a cottage.

The bedroom was of an adequate size, it contained a double bed and a few feet of space all around it. Furniture and furnishings were simple, a bed, bedside tables and a small hanging space. I believe we had a small table with a kettle but we had no tea or coffee so didn't use it. We did have both air conditioning and a fan and both worked perfectly. The bathroom was quite big and had seen better days but nothing to moan about. Outside each room were a couple of chairs and a table, there was also an outside fan which made it quite pleasant to sit out at any time of the day or evening.

On the other side of the rectangle of chalets was the reception, unfortunately there was never anybody there and when assistance was required it was a case of wandering around and trying to find a member of staff. The dining area was outside, very close to the beach and it was potentially a very pleasant place to have an evening meal overlooking the sea. Near the restaurant, steps led down to the beach but unlike the neighbouring properties there were no sun loungers down there for guests' use.

We were booked into the accommodation on a half board basis. Shortly after we arrived, at about 3pm, we received a knock on the door and were told to make our starter and main course dinner selections and we were asked what time we wanted to eat. It was to become something of an annoyance to have to choose what we wanted for dinner so early every day. This appeared to be because we came as a group as other guests were not asked. Trouble was, we didn't want to be treated as a group, we wanted to be treated as individuals. This part of the trip was unescorted, there were no organised activities and most of us expected to be doing our own thing these last few days. On that first day, my husband and I asked for dinner at 7.30pm and coincidentally so had most of the others. However the chap next door told us he asked for his dinner at 8pm and was told that would not be possible. When we went down later, we found tables had been pushed together to make one big table for 13. We rather liked the look of the tables for two which had unspoilt views of the beach and sea. It was a bit much not to be allowed to have a private dinner with my husband.

Private breakfasts were not approved of either. We requested breakfast on our veranda as most people do. However when we woke up and went outside we found that the tables and chairs of the three chalets in our block had all been pushed together. Now much as I liked my fellow travellers this was irritating. I wanted to scream we are individuals and I met these people for the first time ten days ago. I could not work out why they even went to the trouble of putting all the tables together, we all got up when we wanted to and so they had to serve us breakfast separately anyway. Fortunately the one who found the big breakfast table outside his bedroom window was first up! We were last up but when they came over to serve us, I had our table moved back to our own veranda in an act of sheer defiance.

The food did not make up for the dining arrangements. Breakfast comprised old, poor quality fruit, stale bread and a couple of eggs. Coffee was instant. Dinners were often left untouched and when they weren't there was an outbreak of food poisoning that several of us, including me, were victim too. One of my companions mentioned her sickness to the assistant manager, who replied "Sorry I can't help I am on my break". Now I would not expect them to necessarily admit liability, but an expression of concern or an offer to see if there is anything she needed would have been a more appropriate response.

Most of us were dissatisfied with service from the management for some reason or another. One in the group was staying in Zanzibar an extra couple of days and initially contemplating booking the extra days here rather than change lodgings. He enquired and was told that he would need to decide right there and then and would need to pay cash. He explained he didn't have enough and was not very impressed to be told he could take a taxi all the way back to Stone Town, on the other side of the island! He also did not believe that business was booming so much so that he would need to book there and then. In the end he booked the place next door.

We asked the owners about organising airport transfers, as we were not on the group flights we needed to organise it ourselves. We had to ask about five times before anything was done. My husband asked the first evening and when I asked the same person for an update the next day she blatantly denied ever having even spoken to my husband. The non-management staff did their best for us, we all felt slightly troubled about the relationship between management and non-management, it felt and looked like the staff were terrified the whole time.

We had spent a few days in Stone Town before we arrived in this part of the island and we also did the popular Spice Island tour on the way over. So our intention was only to spend a few days swimming, snorkelling and sunbathing. The sea was turquoise and wonderfully warm and the beach whilst not pristine had lovely white sand. We had understood that this part of the island was good for snorkelling, my husband and I booked a snorkelling boat trip one day but it was about a two hour sail to get to the decent snorkelling spot and then we had to share with at least a dozen other boats. It was good snorkelling though. Some of the other people in the group opted for a half day trip, this involved snorkelling in a much closer location and unfortunately they did not see a thing.

I do not know exactly what rate I got as I bought a trip as a while. However according to the website double rooms cost about $150 a night. This seems to be about mid range price for Zanzibar. Regardless of cost, I would not be able to recommend this accommodation.

Summary: Unfortunately the accommodation and atmosphere spoilt the ending to my holiday.