Review of Fundu Lagoon, by Gemma Pitcher

Fundu Lagoon is definitely Pemba's most luxurious hotel. Created by a team that includes international fashion designer Ellis Flyte, it's is an oasis of calm, sophisticated style in a stunning location. Just 16 individual rooms are dotted along the mangrove forest that lines the white sand beach. Each is designed like a 1920s safari tent, with cool, crisp linens, a hanging canvas wardrobe and a wooden writing desk. Each tent opens onto a private verandah with easy chairs, and steps leading down onto a personal sunlounger on the beach.

Fundu Lagoon's public spaces are trendy and contemporary, with polished wooden floors, earthenware vases and billowing canvas drapes. The food is international 'fusion' cuisine either in the restaurant, surrounded by jungle and looking out across the sea, or on the New England style jetty bar. In the evening, as the sun sets across the peaceful ocean, dolphins sometimes swim into the bay and around the jetty, their backs glistening in the golden sunset light.

One of the many excursions on offer is the trip to Misali island, just a speedboat ride away and the most perfect little desert island you'll ever see. Snorkelling here is straight off the beach and fantastic - Fundu also has a very high powered dive and watersports centre to explore the reefs of Pemba, the equal of any in the world.