the nomad lab

Chole Mjini Treehouse Lodge.

I love this eco-lodge hideaway in Tanzania. 

Built on Chole Island, this lodge stays true to its environmental ideology while maintaining its own individual character and design.

Chole Mjini focuses on being green, and on contributing heavily to the local community.

The Chole Mjini Conservation & Development Company has actually built a primary school and an adult education center for the island, and they donate a portion of each night of your lodging costs to supporting the community. Definitely take the opportunity to tour the local village during your stay here.

While you shouldn’t expect certain modern conveniences here (like electricity and flushing toilets), the experience is well worth it.

You’ll stay in an open rustic treehouse, surrounded by wildlife and breathtaking scenery. I strongly recommend checking out the website and reading each treehouse description - they’re personally written by the man who built each of them!

There’s a wealth of water activities, which include snorkeling, swimming with whale sharks and jellyfish, watching turtles hatch, and sunset sailing. The food is, of course, freshly caught and locally grown. Meals are served in the dining room, an open-air room surrounded by fig tree roots and crumbling dirt walls, or with a candle-lit service right on the water.

This sounds like the perfect place to get away from it all. And you know, be one with nature, and all that. 

I probably don’t need to say it, but don’t expect internet or cellphone service here either. Take it as a blessing.

Visit the website here: Chole Mjini Lodge

(Photos from Afrika Afrika Safaris)

It’s a yacht… that thinks it’s an island.

Don’t get too excited, this doesn’t exist in real life yet.

Designed by Yacht Island Design, a British firm, it’s 90m long and designed to hold 10 charter guests. This yacht includes a helicopter landing pad, deployable beach islands, and the owner’s suite is located inside the volcano.

(Photos from Fubiz and more details from Charter World)

I’m so in love with this barefoot beach getaway. 

Pulau Joyo’s website compares the private island to a “classic Robinson Crusoe island,” which was originally a private residence for the Marden shipping family. 

Getting there: A special jetty will ferry you to the island, located in the Riau archipelago just off the coast of Indonesia. 

Activities: Excursions to nearby islands and snorkeling right on the edge of the island, and hanging out in the open-air thatched roof poolhouse by the pool in the center of the island. Oh, and getting a drink from one of the coolest bars ever (see picture below).

If you want to adventure out on your own, you can charter the 140-foot private yacht, the Hang Tuah, which has a permanent staff and 3 cabins! (You know, if you’ve got some extra cash lying around.)

Lodging: There are four spectacular guesthouses called Palaces, each one constructed entirely from salvaged driftwood. There are also traditional Java joglos that have been re-constructed on the island, and treehouses! The design of each room is totally flawless, with art and furniture collected from the world-wide travels of the owners.

The website has a ton more detail and photos, which I highly recommend you check out. I definitely just spent entirely too much of my morning buried in all the pictures and daydreaming about being barefoot in the sand…

Pulau Joyo - All photos are from here as well.