Gecko Nature Lodge Home of Swahili Divers the Best Dive Center and Famous Gecko Restaurant

I came to Pemba to see the coral. It was beautiful, in good condition and full of fishes and nudibranchs. The diving staff of Swahili divers are all excellent. Equipment was all included and was spot-on. My partner completed her Open Water certification in a few days and we were both totally satisfied. We had a spacious room which was perfectly adequate for our needs. The kitchen provides delicious seafood every day and plenty of cold beer available. It earns the name "Nature Lodge" because night and day you are surrounded by exotic butterflies, birds, lizards, crabs and don't forget the bush babies. Almost as much life on land as there is on the reef. The pool was the ideal relief from the heat and there are loads of neat places to chill out. There is a timeless authentic rural African Islander feel to the place. We hired bicycles to visit the forest and visited Makangale to join the English class after a chance encounter with a local man, on our days off from diving. I'll never forget it. Special thanks goes to Eddie our taxi driver - Our Luggage was lost in Istanbul during transit, but he made a bunch of phonecalls for us and behold the bag made it to the Lodge 2 mornings later! All the staff were great and they made huge efforts to look after us. Finally, many thanks to Mike for the welcome and your patience/trust with Me as I struggled to make my final payment. (It was my phone coverage that was the issue) We feel this place was excellent value for money and would recommend to anyone.

Gecko lies a bit isolated on the north west coast of Pemba. Super good diving and good instructors. The food was very good and fresh from sea. Good dive center. Nice spacious room - a bit rustique. Lots of Tobys (pufferfish) to see in the sea. We miss the cute cats. Western facing deck to watch the sun set.

Au sujet de mon séjour de 6 jours début aout 2023 avec mes 2 filles de 17 et 20 ans Logement sur place + 3 "Raid Open Water Sessions" Le confort du Swahili Divers Gecko Nature Lodge n’est pas matériel, il vient plutôt de son éloignement, son isolement et sa simplicité. Il faut avoir cela en tète pour apprécier son séjour ici. Réservations, formations et plongées, logements, etc. : tout est décidé et géré par le truculent propriétaire Mike, un méditerranéen très présent et un très bon commerçant. Lors de la préparation de notre séjour et après notre retour il s’est montré réactif, constructif et précis dans ses réponses et ses propositions. La région est verdoyante et très dépaysante. Le site est calme et exotique. Les couchés de soleil y sont une bénédiction. La vue sur la mer turquoise est une vraie carte postale mais ne comptez pas vous baigner sur place car les fond de l’eau est couvert de minéraux tranchants et d’oursins. Par ailleurs attention, bien se renseigner avant de réserver ici sur les modalités pratiques d’accès aux plages de l’ile et les possibilités précises de s’y baigner si vous comptez dessus. Les chambres sont des bungalows spacieux et rustiques dans un charmant espace arboré. L’air conditionné et l’eau chaude fonctionnent bien. Pour leur aménagement esthétique le dépaysement continu certes mais on quitte l’archipel de Zanzibar et on entre dans la loge de ma concierge portugaise : masques vénitiens bigarrés, photos de New York, dentelles sur boites de mouchoir, etc. Alternativement, le déshabillé en acrylique rose, les draps et cousins en satin artificiel violet et l’absence de rideaux occultant le soir font penser à un love hôtel philippin. L'abris pour le restaurant et la salle à manger est très reposant. Il est fabriqué dans de belles matières naturelles. Des romans en anglais sont disponibles. Les repas sont variés et leur rapport qualité prix est raisonnable. Je recommande les spéciaux fruits de mer avec la pêche du jour ! Les bières (5$) et snacks sont un peu plus chers. Ni la nourriture ni l’eau achetée ailleurs ne sont autorisés sur le site. Surtout, il était allégué sur le site internet que cette interdiction est rendu nécessaire par le risque d’attirer les fourmis… Or la grande bouteille d’eau est à 3$, ce qui peut sembler maladroit et pourrait être pallié par une légère augmentation du prix de la nuitée. La commission de 7% pour payement par carte semble malheureusement assez rependue dans l’archipel. Le rapport qualité prix des chambres est cohérent avec l’offre disponible sur l’ile. Le dépôt pour réserver une chambre est de 100% (50% pour le programme de plongée) et les conditions d’annulations sont excessivement sévères. Mike a consenti a ramener le délais d’annulation sans frais à 1 mois, ce qui reste risqué en cas d’incident. Aujourd’hui je ne retrouve pas les FAQ sur le site actualisé Swahili Divers Scuba Diving Pemba Dive Classes Tanzania (swahiligecko.com). Il contenait des détails imp

Esperienza fantastica e indimenticabile! La proprietà e la gestione sono cambiate dal 2017 (ATTENZIONE: tutte le recensioni negative che ho letto su Tripadvisor si riferiscono alla gestione precedente!). Mike, il proprietario attuale, è molto attento sia alla manutenzione della struttura, sia alla gestione del personale del lodge e del diving. È anche molto disponibile a cercare di soddisfare le richieste degli ospiti. Stante anche il numero ristretto di ospiti e il fatto che di giorno si facevano le immersioni insieme, abbiamo fatto amicizia con tutti e alla sera spesso cenavamo insieme. Ci siamo sentiti davvero tra amici in un ambiente molto familiare! Il personale è estremamente cortese. Il diving è uno dei migliori che abbia incontrato ed è giustamente molto frequentato dagli ospiti di tutti gli altri alberghi della zona. Ha anche il Nitrox. Mike lo dirige personalmente curando molto la sicurezza e l’attrezzatura e spesso si immerge dividendosi con gli altri istruttori gli ospiti, creando così gruppi più piccoli. Il menù è ampio (bisogna solo decidere al mattino per la sera) e di ottima qualità! Il succo di frutta al mattino è sempre diverso e veramente eccezionale! Le camere sono ampie e pulite e le zanzariere alle finestre e sui letti sono in perfetto stato, anche se fortunatamente ci sono pochissime zanzare. Essendo immersi nel verde bisogna essere disposti a incontrare talvolta qualche animaletto (gechi, ragni) e a sentire i versi notturni dei lemuri. Vista mozzafiato dai divani all’ombra delle mangrovie affacciati sul mare per godersi il tramonto. Anche nostra figlia di 11 anni è rimasta entusiasta. Speriamo di tornare presto!!!

A friendly and welcoming base to explore the wild and rustic island of Pemba. Set on the sea (in amongst local seaweed farming activity), the dive boat floating just off the bay - it's about a 15 minute motor down to some fantastic dive sites. There are sea arches packed full of iridescent fish and groupers lurking in deep sea crevices - it was adventurous diving. Currents were low when we were there, but can pick up. Mike who runs Swahili divers & Gecko Lodge is extremely experienced and a safe pair of hands with all the right kit! Mike is a very generous and helpful host, who helped us get hold of the doctor, motorbikes, taxis, etc. Ask for Eddie who works as a taxi driver, but is an incredible fountain of knowledge on birdwatching, nature, customs, island economics, and more - he really brought the place alive for me (sadly in our taxi home!) Gecko Lodge is located just on the edge of the Ngezi forest (last refuge of the Pemba Flying Fox) and has a wide ranging menu, friendly staff and spacious rooms. The coldest beer in Zanzibar! Also a stock of delicious red wine brought in from South Africa. Overall a magic place of remote mystery, coconut crabs wander the paths at night with bush babies in the trees above.

We had an amazing stay at this place. Very quiet, and a beautiful sea view. Mike did everything to make our stay (and honeymoon) unforgettable. The snorkel tour was also really nice and it is possible to rent bikes. I would definitely reccomend this place!