Rima Suqi

Simply perfect for everything it does not have: no doors, no glass or screens on windows, no sidewalks, no fancy chandeliers or furniture that looks like it belongs in a city hotel, no attitude.

To get here, fly into Zanzibar airport, drive one hour on paved roads and a half hour on a dirt road through several villages to the shores of the Indian Ocean. Get in speed boat for the 5-minute ride, while wondering what it might be like to take this all-wood outrigger canoe instead:

The island of our final destination loomed seductively in the distance (2.8 miles away):

Welcome to my room – its down the “path” to the right. Those are my very own private loungers on the left.

As you can see, below, there’s an seating area on the ground level, and the bedroom is two steps up.

This is the view of the ocean from that seating area:

This is a private island resort, with only 10 rooms and LOTS of doves that coo day and night. It’s actually quite a lovely sound, despite the fact that doves are, technically, pigeons (or vice versa).

I absolutely loved mine – the most perfect island room/resort I have stayed in – ever.

This seating area was under a thatched roof but had no walls.

It did, however, have plenty of comfortable places to sit and a selection of board games to amuse oneself with -

This “room” was a great place to hang out and watch the antelopes:

Two steps up into the bedroom:

I would sit and work here:

The mini bar:

Tasty Tusker beer !

Closet and dressing area. They do your laundry for free – love that, means you can pack a lot less. Not that I did.

Open walkway to bathroom:

What the bathroom looks like from the outside – note there’s no glass, it’s all very open/exposed:

And the inside:

There’s no bathtub here, only a shower – that shower “curtain” is made of strings of recycled glass beads.

Really chic.

Coming next – pictures of the lodge itself and shots from my walk around the island.