Diamond La Gemma Dell’Est – Nungwi
I took Mr C to Diamond La Gemma Dell’Est as a treat for his 50th birthday and I truly found a beautiful gem of a hotel in Zanzibar. The wow factor has to be the restaurant and bar sitting over the ocean, not to mention the stunning white sand. The rest of the hotel is of a high standard, situated in an excellent area for exploring the island and the scenery is just stunning. These are my recommendations for the best sights to see whilst you stay on Zanzibar Island.
The Reception
Once you have entered the private gated hotel grounds you are taken to a beautiful open air reception room surrounded by waterfalls. The staff were superb and we were swiftly taken to our gorgeous room with a lush sea view.
The Beach
One of the must haves of a good beach holiday is to have an excellent beach, and this hotel does not disappoint. Pure white sand touching a crystal blue ocean which goes on forever. The scenery does not get much better than this in my opinion. The hotel has its own stretch of private beach from the hotel, right down to the bamboo hoardings. From here until the sea is is public and this is where the locals wander along selling your their amazing products.
The Bar
A huge bamboo walkway stretches over the beach and out over the ocean taking you to the most amazing bar & restaurant. With your favourite tipple in hand you can watch the water world go past. Locals in their dow fishing boats sail past, sightseeing trips come and go and you will then be treated to an amazing sunset!
My favourite aspect of staying at this beautiful gem of a hotel in Zanzibar was watching the dramatic scenery in the evening. Even the rain!
The Grounds/Pool
Whilst being ‘golf buggied’ to your room you cant help but notice the grounds are just immaculately kept. The dense greenery compliments the lush blue sea in the distance. Every plant is well tended to, you can see how hard the gardeners work each day.
The Rooms at the beautiful gem of a hotel
We had a lovely little suite with a four poster bed complete with a much needed mosquito net! The little buggers are everywhere unfortunately. The room was stylish and had everything we needed in it. The terrace was really cute too with a beautiful view over the ocean.
The Restaurant
This bamboo pontoon over the sea was just the most amazing part of the hotel. Not only can you drink here at the bar ever night but there is also a restaurant. Make sure to book ahead as it seems to be fully booked each night. I had emailed well in advance to ensure we could try it one night, they could not find my booking! Thankfully I had printed it off and they had to literally squeeze us in. I’ve had better service to be honest (I think they would have happily sent us away as it was very full), however I give them their dues and we had an ocean view table. It was itch black, a bit windy but we were there and the food was amazing.
The other main restaurant at the hotel was very lovely too, with inside and outside tables to serve in all weather conditions. It did rain really hard a few days so we were thankful for some cover. But as soon as the sun came out so did we!
The Gym
Want to keep in shape whilst you are here? No problem, there is a fully functioning open air gym which is environmentally friendly – no electric needed! Just use your body!
The Pool
Ok so I messed up here a bit as this are the only ones I could find in my album! Clearly I was more interested in the sea view at this beautiful gem of a hotel! The pool was more than long enough to swim in and as was lit up nicely at night time. To avoid the sand flies set yourself up at the pool area where there are slightly less of them! There is a lovely boardwalk going around most of the hotel which Mr C took advantage of most days.
African Village
On one of his walks Mr C came across this little African village in the hotel complex. Used for special evening events ever so often which we sadly didn’t know about until we had missed it!
Lookout Tower – views over the beautiful gem of a hotel in Zanzibar
When you wander around the large hotel grounds you will find a conference centre and also this lovely lookout tower. You are able to climb up to the top and see the lovely views. When we were staying the conference centre had been turned into a bar with a huge screen as the World Cup was on. As it was Mr C’s birthday I couldn’t complain when he wanted to watch England play.