“If you want coconuts, you have to shake some trees”.

I fell in love with Africa in 1995 when I moved with my mother, father and brother, from a small farming village just outside of Sheffield, to Uganda.

East Africa made a huge impression on me and I thoroughly enjoyed my 3 and a half years there, I met some incredible people and life long friends, friends that would later play a big part in my life, 25 years later.

After Uganda I lived in Germany for a short while, before moving back to the UK and starting work in the outdoor and fishing tackle  trade. After nearly 20 years in the fishing industry, in various rolls, it was time for a change and I switched jobs to selling IT solutions. Then when Covid hit it made me think hard about life in Europe, since I was totally disillusioned with the politics.

During that first lockdown I got in touch with an old friend from Uganda who had been living in Zanzibar for some years, and was invited to his beautiful beach front hotel Seasons lodge, in a little place called Pongwe.

I first came to Zanzibar for a 4 week holiday and the moment I stepped off the plane I felt I had returned home … touching African soil again was a very special feeling.

3 weeks into the holiday I was shown a piece of land, and instantly knew what I had to do. The land was purchased and the dream started.

When I returned I put my house on the market in the UK as soon as possible and returned to Zanzibar with a new fire in my heart.

Its been just over 5 years  and it has been an incredible amount of work to get it to where we are now, but it has not felt like work, building a dream has a very different felling to it. That’s not to say there haven’t been challenges, because there have been some fairly difficult moments and I’m sure there are more to come. But they will come and go and we can share this beautiful place now with visitors… tbc