Surfescape Zanzibar

This Is Not a Hotel — It’s a Disgrace Do not let the photos fool you. Surfescape in Kiwengwa is one of the most dishonest and chaotic places I’ve encountered in years of travel. The “villa” we were placed in was a moldy, mosquito-infested shack with broken furniture, no AC, and a filthy mattress. Electricity vanished multiple times a day, and water pressure? Nonexistent. It’s hard to decide what was worse — the discomfort or the feeling of being completely abandoned. Staff entered our room and tampered with our luggage while we were out. No safes, no explanation, no shame. An absolute violation of privacy and trust. They pushed us to cancel our online booking and pay cash — a highly suspicious move that reeks of fraud. There is no proper front desk, no restaurant, no management presence. Just people winging it and hoping no one asks questions. Avoid this place like it’s contagious. It’s not just bad — it’s dangerous, dishonest, and degrading to Zanzibar’s reputation.

Great place to stay to relax by the beach. We loved the fresh fruits for breakfast in the morning. The staff were very nice and helpful. Even during power cuts the place had a generator which was nice compared to other hotels. Also very convenient to kitesurf in front of the house

Everythis is wrong in the description ...No internet , no generator that works ...We had no electricty/water etc and the owners who are Italian got no one to repair the genertaor or even help...The private garden was not private as there is a common for all the appartments on the private garden... The messages I wrote to the Italians I got an answer back full of lies and completely disrectful .....There are so many other places to stay ...NEVER STAY HERE.....

This place dont now wath is costumer service. Internet not 1MG and slips all the time away.They will give us a router never seen. Alicha the persone ho is the manager came the first day and came never back no excuses for the problems an after that the owner starting to lei over things they never did. Dont trust this people when they say somthing they dont do it and play with your feet.

+ on the beach with view on the ocean + friendly and very helpful staff + clean + nice, spacious apartment + nice shower with hot water + good Wi-Fi - would be nice if there is breakfast included in this price - no AC in the saloon and no fan in all apartment at all - uneven tables and some chairs were uncomfortable - no telephone signal in the apartment

Where to start… first of all the pictures on the ad absolutely do not correspond to the apartments in real life. Not even the same furniture. We rent 2 x 2-bedroom apartments for 2 families on the ground floor, direct access to the beach is the only nice thing about it. Otherwise…: 1 glass for 4 people (LOL), 2 forks (re LOL), no pan (but 3 rusty casseroles Instead), a kettle that doesn’t work, a rusty bbq good for the garbage, old damaged furniture, moldy walls (yes zanzibar is humid, but walls can be washed out from time to time! Other hotels on the same beach do it, obviously) , floor totally damaged (falling apart is more accurate), wooden bathrooms doors are a joke (totally damaged and good for trash), at least 3 light bulbs missing (although there is a supermarket in Kiwengwa that sells bulbs…), bedsheets too small for the (humid) beds and with holes, pillows smelling humidity so hard that it’s better to cover them with a towel, mosquito nets damaged (when existing, because some are missing) and misplaced, some windows do not open anymore (broken, or key missing), sun beds made with 4 wood sticks and old, used mattresses (probably used to look like cool local made 10 years ago but now good to trash). Surfescape Zanzibar is the only one in the entire bay/accomodations dedicated to tourists in Kiwengwa, without a power generator, so it’s the only one that remains in the darkness when all the others turn on their generator… and it happens often (with or without any storm, whatever the owner says). The view for sure is amazing (when the sun is out), and the area is so peaceful (except on wednesday and saturday nights when the nearby jetty bar Il Pontile blares dance music out so loud that the wind takes it directly to your bedroom although the distance seems far away). The staff is lovely and try to help as much as they can but their possibilities remain limited: they cannot rebuild the entire place themselves instead of the owner. We wondered why the owners obviously neglect this place, and let it in complete derelict before they will (obviously) give up on it anytime soon and close it for good, like a few nearby resorts. Much advertising is done on their location in Fuerteventura on their social media and website, almost nothing on their Zanzibar location, and we now understand why. Maybe Kiwengwa used to be a great deal for the owners back in the days and now doesn’t bring much money anymore? The apartments are not cheap, though, compared to the poor offer they provide. I guess we will never know, but obviously we will have been among the last clients of Surfescape zanzibar, due to die anytime soon… Sad, sad, sad….