Home To Roost

Our production team are off again, shooting even more fantastic examples of Weird & Wonderful Hotels.

Despite their camera equipment raising a few eyebrows at Tanzanian customs, the team managed to make it safely to Chole Mjini where they enjoyed a night in one of their fabulous tree houses. Nothing like waking up to the dawn chorus just a few feet from your bed!

Chole Mjini, Tanzania

Image courtesy of Anna Sulzmann

Chole Mjini is located 100 Km south of Zanzibar on the tiny island of Mafia. But don’t worry, you won’t be sleeping with the fishes here or waking up with a horses head in your bed!

Instead you’ll be roosting in one of seven rustic tree-houses, and enjoying a truly back-to-basics lifestyle. Shed your inhibitions (and clothes) in one of the open air showers, but leave your hairdryer at home because there’s no electricity here!

A you might expect from a tree house hotel, bird watching is excellent at Chole Mjini. You’ll also get the rare opportunity to observe the local population of giant Madagascan bats. No need to pack your garlic though, we’re told they’d rather nibble on fruit than your neck!

Dog Bark Park Inn, USA

Calling all dog-lovers!  You’ve just got to check this out… At Cottonwood, Idaho, they’ve got the world’s biggest dog and, what’s more, you can stay inside it!

Say hello to Sweet Willy and his 12-feet tall puppy friend, Toby. Both are the work of Dog Bark Park sculptors, Dennis Sullivan and Frances Conklin.

Sweet Willy offers comfortable accommodation for four people. As well as a queen-sized bed and two single futons, there are all the home comforts you would expect. What you won’t find, however, is a television or a phone. These have been replaced with an impressive selection of books, games and puzzles! Things that put the ‘family’ into family holiday.

And, naturally, your dog is welcome too! Just make sure that he is well behaved and that you bring a healthy supply of poop-scoop bags!

Don’t leave without visiting Frances and Dennis’s Chainsaw Kennels and Gift Shop, to take home a doggy reminder of your “Stay!”

Tongabezi Lodge, Zambia

Situated close to the Victoria Falls, on the banks of Africa’s Zambezi River, lies the Tongabezi Lodge.  As close to paradise as Weird & Wonderful Hotels will get!

The unique Tongabezi open huts give guests the opportunity to get back to nature without forfeiting the luxury of a Five Star Hotel. Every hut has a view of the river, allowing you to marvel at the hippos and crocodiles in perfect safety. And all within a short walk from Zambia’s lions and wildebeest!

It’s no surprise that the Lodge is known as a romantic destination; your hut is lit by the setting sun and your entertainment is the bush TV (or fireplace to you and me). It’s not all laid-back luxury, though.  For those with a head for heights and nerves of steel, why not take a dive from a cliff-face into one of the resorts swimming pools – truly memorable!

With all this and the friendliest staff in the world, what more could you ask for?

Giraffe Manor, Kenya

Image courtesy of livetowander

A few miles down the road from Nairobi is Kenya’s Giraffe Manor, which (as you may have guessed by the name) is a manor house surrounded by giraffes!

Bought by Jack and Betty Melville in 1974, the couple moved two endangered Rothschild giraffes inside the manor’s perimeter. From there, they decided they could help the sub-species survive and now, over thirty years later, the hotel has its own giraffe-breeding program.

The hotel is modeled on a Scottish hunting lodge, but with the appeal of stunning views of Mt. Kilimanjaro!  And, as well as the sumptuous comfort of this amazing and congenial hotel, guests get to share their meals with the cheeky giraffes who poke  their heads through the dining room windows (and can even reach the bedrooms too!).

And if that weren’t enough for you, the Manor is home to dozens of warthogs as well, talk about getting back to nature!