The Nest
A playful Paje beach retreat with treehouse-style rooms, vegetarian dining, yoga, volleyball and a serious kite school on Zanzibar’s lagoon.
Paje does not do sleepy beach town particularly well, and The Nest leans into the fizz. Set on Zanzibar’s east coast, it is part boutique hideaway, part social beach perch, with architecture that takes its avian brief literally: thatch, timber, woven texture and a sense of being lightly tucked into the palms rather than imposed on them.
The source material calls out beachfront rooms, treehouse rooms and poolside villas, all wrapped in a rustic-contemporary palette of neutral tones and clean-lined furniture. The current picture is still pleasingly active. The property’s Kite @ the Nest school operates on Paje lagoon, with IKO-certified instructors and FLYSURFER official centre status, making it a polished base for travellers who like their Indian Ocean views with a little lift.
There is also the gentler rhythm: outdoor yoga therapy, beach volleyball, and vegetarian-leaning food for post-salt, post-sun appetites. The Nest is not Zanzibar’s quietest corner, and that is rather the point. Come when you want the coast to have a pulse, your room to have character, and your beach day to include the possibility of flying over a shallow turquoise lagoon before supper.
