Tree house hotel in Tanzania: NNE Treehouse

Chole Mjini was never meant to be a tree house hotel, and it isn’t. It is a castaway fantasy, a jungle island retreat appealing to a specific kind of person; one who appreciates a return to simple luxuries that reawaken the senses, rather than the predictable comforts of room service and air conditioning. Chole Mjini tree house resort has six treehouses and one ground house.

Each treehouse is equipped with one or two stories, creating varying views of the ocean and bay surrounding the island, large “throne-like” beds, a hammock, relaxing area with a bench or couch, private bathing area and open-air showers. Each treehouse took from six months to a year to complete because they were built completely by hand, using traditional tools and utilizing materials sourced only from traders living on Chole. Each tree for poles and planks was cut by hand, sawn into planks by hand in a saw pit and transported to Chole by dhow, cured for at least twelve months and then ripped and planed by hand.

The Nne Treehouse (which means “Four” in Bantu) is another of the most popular tree house hotel, and for good reasons: It was the first of three houses with the upstairs ‘tea house’ design: the ‘tea house’, a 19th-century Stone Town innovation, is essentially an elevated room that is open to the breezes, allowing for 360-degree views; the sunsets are spectacular from here. Quite similar to seven, but Nne has a baobab and views to the open ocean.

Nne has also perhaps the most appealing of all the showers and toilets available on the tree house resort.