External Reviews
The Sunday Times, UK:Mafia may not possess Zanzibar’s sheer embarrassment of white-sand riches, but it doesn’t have Zanzibar’s bright lights and political unrest, either. With three hotels on an island the size of the Isle of Wight, and a main road that’s little more than a sandy track, this is a slice of the Swahili Coast fast disappearing from the horizon. The only problem we can spot is choosing which beach to call your own, although the area around Pole Pole Resort has the sort of sand that’ll make you want to toss your return air ticket into the Indian Ocean. Why? For all Mafia’s above-water charms, it’s what’s underwater that’s all the talk on the castaway grapevine, particularly Chole Bay Marine Reserve, spectacularly rich in tropical fish and home to some of the best corals in the Indian Ocean. .........................................
Travel and Leisure:
In Swahili, the name means "slowly, slowly," as if anyone needed a reminder of how to swing a hammock in this sumptuous hideaway on the Indian Ocean. Run by a young Italian couple (the bed linens are from Italy, too), the thatched bungalows have floors of tropical afrormosia wood and bathrooms with bidets. Worry not. Wastewater is treated in a phyto-purification system; hotel profits fund local education initiatives; and the resort launched the first recycling program in the 325,000-acre Mafia Island Marine Park, a protected coral reserve. Word is spreading quickly, quickly.