Quirimbas Archipelago  

Crusoe invented castaway chic, but Vamizi Island Lodge defines it, with thirteen impossibly romantic timber villas strung loosely along one of the world's most beautiful beaches.

Simply grand or grandly simple - this lodge isn't about the usual five star luxury and all mod cons, it's about the more rarified pleasures of exclusive island life.

Imagine wafting through muslin and filtered sunlight, flopping straight from your room into a private ocean and enjoying elegant lunches with your toes in the sand...

It's hard to compete with the perfect desert island, so we don't. We just take what comes on the breeze, and mould it into a more civilized form.

Accommodation

Exclusivity is one of Vamizi Island's greatest assets and, as the only lodge on the island, it has the space to spread wide, so each villa amply commands its own part of the beach.

Thirteen villas - one or two bedroomed - are right on the shoreline, all with to-die-for views of the ocean.

Three rooms have been specifically designed as family rooms, with large double (possible triple) bedrooms adjoining a central decked lounged area. All beds are mosquito netted, even though Vamizi is a low- risk malarial area and, for the night time, babysitters can be arranged.

Restaurants

Decking a distinctively island table, we serve surf-fresh seafood and other tropical dishes, set off by the sea breaking on the shore just feet away.

During the day, there’s the relative formality of our thatched open dining room in the main lodge, or choose to retreat to Muntu Nkulu, our new castaway restaurant open during the winter season on the south side of the island, for a buffet and total relaxation.

You can also take the total desert island approach - alone with a shipwrecked picnic on some deserted beach.

Evenings are a more glamorous affair, with a castaway twist, fuelled by grills on the beach, or more elaborate dishes under lantern light in the dining room.

With cocktails and fine wines at the bar - and acres of cushions and sofas for sitting very soft at any point - you might just feel that heaven can wait.