Mumbo Island ranked in Top 100 Hotels in World – read what I think…
Daphne Sheldrik the elephant lady of Kenya – new book
March 30, 2012Kaingo Camp, South Luangwa, Zambia
April 16, 2012
Is Mumbo Island one of my Top 100 places to go in the world…..YES absolutely!
People often ask me where is the best place I have been and when reeling off my personal favourites Mumbo Island is definitely in the Top Ten.
Chosen as one of the Top 100 Hotels in the World in the 2012 UK Sunday Times Travel Magazine, it was one of only 10 hotels from ‘Africa & Middle East’. This is what they said:
“Fancy an island almost to yourself? This uninhabited dollop is laden with delicate miombo woodland, all edged by neon green waters. There are only seven tents, with hammocks and hot-bucket showers. It often feels as though it’s just you and the crickets. Oh, and the playful otters which like to join guests for afternoon dips.”
Unlike most other island destinations in the region, Mumbo Island has never been populated and is still in its natural state. This, together with the focus on non-motorised watersports, makes Mumbo Island ideal for the active outdoors enthusiast. At the same time the remoteness and tranquillity means that there is no shortage of relaxation opportunities. All itineraries are suitable for anyone who is in good health and all activities are optional.
Here’s a link to Kayak Africa website who created this amazing place, which is now managed by Wilderness Safarias. I’d book through Kayak Africa because I know the owner who’s an honest surf dude family man.
Mumbo was one of only a few hotels to also be listed in the visual awards feature and I certainly found it was impossible to take a bad picture here. Kayak Africa even used this picture below for the front cover of their brochure (once they had photoshopped out my black body suit drying on the front of the boat). This pic was taken when the little bridge connecting the big (small) island to the little (tiny) island where the tented camp is. The man wading through the shallows is bringing lunch over to the island. Life is good on Mumbo!
1 Comment
Hi Carrie, We also spent 4 nights at Mumbo Island Camp. Yes, it really is a little paradise, a beautiful location. Unfortunately, also as a 3-star eco-camp in this price range, the service team, the food and the condition of the equipment were a bit disappointing. You can read more about our trip on our homepage (in German) http://www.ambiente-guesthouse.com/de/zambiaandmalawi.php
All the best, Marion
In response to this comment, Clive Bester, Director of Kayak Africa, Mumbo Island operation responded,
Dear Marion,
I would like to take the opportunity to respond…
Firstly thank you for your feedback. We acknowledge the validity of your observations, as well as acknowledging that we have received similar comments from other guests who travelled around end-May/beginning-June 2012.
It is true that we tried a new approach to hosting on Mumbo Island at that time. This essentially involved discontinuing our usual practice of employing an experienced person of European origin as the host/hostess on Mumbo Island, and instead attempting to cover this position using guys drawn from our existing staff, which we see as the ultimate goal in this respect.
We are a proud Malawian company, and we endeavour to ensure that guests get an authentic Malawian experience when visiting us. While this certainly does not mean experiencing bad service, it is intended that guests’ interaction with Malawian people is maximised, as the nature and conduct of Malawians is one of the great plusses of visiting the country.
This also goes hand in hand with our commitment to community development, which includes a policy of employing and promoting people from within our local village community and existing staff, as opposed to bringing in more experienced outsiders.
The fault here falls to us the owners, as we have clearly thrown our guys in at the deep end without sufficient support and training. We will take the lesson on board, and rather than alter our development policy, we will work hard to develop appropriate structures within the company to ensure the success of this policy, including hiring qualified hosting personnel in the interim.
The issue of the toilet smelling is related, as oversight of this area is one of the host’s responsibilities. Although it is not an excuse, it should also be recalled that taking a minimum-impact approach to island operations, as we have done, does result in certain ramifications. These include the need for extreme vigilence when it comes to maintenance of the composter toilets. If properly and timeously maintained – the toilets do not smell. It is only when this falls behind that smell becomes an issue. I can do nothing else but apologise for this.
I would like to conclude by noting your positive comments on the location (it is one of Africa’s best!), and to state that we have always believed that our challenge as custodians of this amazing spot is to do our best to match the natural spendour with service of the same high caliber.
We went through a bad patch, but I can report that this has been rectified and we are once again getting very positive feedback and guests opting to extend their stays, as opposed to valid complaints.
Regards,
Clive Bester.
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Kayak Africa
Marketing Director