The Villas · Asili

Asili House

The short answer

Matlai's family villa, four rooms under one roof.

Asili House is Boutique Hotel Matlai's villa for families and groups: four rooms sleeping up to eight around one oceanfront pool. Moto, Hewa, Maji and Dunia — the four elements in Swahili — each open onto a private balcony around the pool, steps from the beach. Book a single room from USD 535 a night, or take the whole house as one private villa for up to eight guests.

Families spread out; groups gather at the long table; and the pool belongs to whoever wakes first.

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All villas · Ways to stay · Compare with Kidosho

Rooms	4 — Moto · Hewa · Maji · Dunia
Sleeps	8 (whole house) · 2 per room
Pool	Oceanfront pool
Board	Half board included
From	USD 535 / room / night
Whole villa	From USD 2,050 / night, sleeps 8
Best for	Families · groups · exclusive use
Last verified	August 2026

The beach directly in front of Asili House

The house that started Matlai

Barefoot from bed to beach

Asili means "origin". The house sits where the garden meets the sand — an open-air cinema under the stars, the long dining veranda, and the reef flat that walks you out to Mchanga sandbank at low tide.

What the days look like

Good to know

Asili House — questions families ask

Asili was Matlai's first house, and it still sets the tone: four rooms named for the Swahili elements, a long dining veranda for shared dinners, the open-air cinema under the stars, and an oceanfront pool above the beach. Book room by room, or take the whole house and make it yours alone.

Can we book the whole house exclusively?

Yes — exclusive use of Asili House sleeps up to eight across Moto, Hewa, Maji and Dunia. The pool, veranda and garden are then entirely yours. The full property (both villas, six rooms) can also be bought out for weddings and gatherings.

Is Asili good for children?

Yes — with one house rule: children under 14 stay when Asili is booked as a whole house, which is how most families take it anyway. The oceanfront pool is steps from the rooms, the beach is directly in front, and the kitchens cook for young appetites. Note the pools are unfenced, as at most beach villas.

What's the open-air cinema?

A private screen under the stars with around 300 films to choose from — often paired with a private dinner on the beach. Charged separately; your butler sets it up.

How far apart are Asili House and Villa Kidosho?

A one-minute barefoot walk through the garden — close enough for one group to take both, far enough that each villa keeps its own world.

What is included in the rate?

Half board at Zatiny (both menus), kayaks, the beach in front, and butler service. From USD 535 per room per night; the whole house exclusively is from USD 2,050 per night, sleeps 8.

Which Asili room should we ask for?

Honest matchmaking: Dunia for ground-floor ease and the twin option, Maji for the softest palette and garden steps, Hewa for light and air upstairs, Moto for warmth and drama. Couples split evenly; families take the floor that matches the children's ages. Tell us who's coming and we'll assign like we do it daily — because we do.

Inside the house

Four elements, four rooms

Asili's rooms are around 56 m² each and follow the elements they're named for. Dunia (earth, ground floor right) is the grounded one — and hides the house's cleverest bed: a dhow-wood frame carrying two 1.2 m mattresses that convert to a genuine twin, which is why groups of friends often claim it. Maji (water, ground floor left) keeps the softest palette and steps straight into the garden. Hewa (air) and Moto (fire) take the first floor — brighter light, longer views, terracotta warmth in Moto's case — each with a private balcony and sun loungers.

Every bathroom holds a freestanding claw-foot bathtub alongside the shower — the classic counterpoint to Kidosho's concrete-and-ocean-window tubs — and every room has a king-size bed, air-conditioning plus ceiling fan, safe and minibar. There are deliberately no TVs at Asili: the house's answer is the private open-air cinema in the garden — around 300 films under real stars, bookable with dinner. Toiletries come from Inaya Zanzibar, and arrival brings the Mwani cooperative's handmade seaweed soap.

The shared lounge is the villa's heartbeat: a long dining table, deep seating, a fridge stocked with drinks — take what you like, write it on the list, and the butler bills it to your room — and the tea, coffee and water station that never closes. Extra beds are proper ones — 90×200 cm mattresses on frames set into the room's concrete benches — taking the house to 12 when families spread out. And you're never quite alone in the garden: the property's almost forty tortoises live in their own enclosure behind the restaurant (plus two dogs and two cats on patrol), fed zucchini at lunchtime — a ritual children take over within a day, to the lasting delight of most adults too.

Room by room

The four rooms of Asili House

Asili House is the African-style villa; Villa Kidosho is the Omani-style villa, built like the houses of Stone Town, Zanzibar’s capital. Which one suits you depends on the design you prefer. Asili’s rooms are already very spacious, about 56 m² each. Villa Kidosho has only two suites, bigger at about 80 m², and costs a bit more.

Hewa — air

Where	upstairs, left
Bed	King-size, 200 × 200 cm
Twin beds	Possible with an extra bed
Size	about 56 m²
Stairs	Upper floor

Hewa is Swahili for air — one of the four elements the Asili rooms are named after. Every room here has white walls; Hewa is the one that keeps everything else pale too — white drapes, the lightest palette in the house. Its bed is different from the rest of the house too: built in Mninga wood, mounted to the wall with hidden support for a deliberately “flying” look, rather than the dhow-wood frames elsewhere in Asili. Upstairs left, with a private ocean-facing balcony.

From the bed you see Hewa's own balcony and, beyond it, the ocean. Hewa is on the upper floor, so its balcony sits above the ground-floor rooms.

Hewa suits guests who like the African style of Asili House and want a room upstairs, with a balcony facing the ocean, the lightest colours in the house and the one bed in Asili that is mounted to the wall rather than framed in dhow wood.

The Hewa room at Asili House: a four-poster bed under white nets beside tall wooden doors that open to the balcony

The bed in the Hewa room at Asili House, under a white mosquito net, with warm wall lamps on either side

Room Hewa during daylight at Asili House, Boutique Hotel Matlai Zanzibar, showing bed, baraza seating, and balcony.

Moto — fire

Where	upstairs, right
Bed	King-size, 200 × 200 cm
Twin beds	Possible with an extra bed
Size	about 56 m²
Stairs	Upper floor

Moto is Swahili for fire, and the room answers to it — terracotta warmth and crimson textiles against white walls, and a dhow-wood bed frame like Maji's and Dunia's. Upstairs right, with its own ocean-facing balcony under the thatch.

From the bed you see Moto's own balcony, under the thatch of the roof, and the ocean beyond it.

Moto suits guests who like the African style of Asili House and want a room upstairs, with a balcony under the thatch facing the ocean, a bed framed in dhow wood and the warm colours of fire.

The Moto room at Asili House, a four-poster bed under a mosquito net with crimson textiles

Asili House view from the balcony | View from the balcony of Moto Room

Zanzibar resort balcony with thatched roof, lounge chairs, pool, and ocean view.

Elegant Zanzibar bathroom with stone sinks, ornate wood carvings, and a clawfoot tub.

Maji — water

Where	ground floor, left
Bed	King-size, 200 × 200 cm
Twin beds	Possible with an extra bed
Size	about 56 m²
Stairs	None

Maji is Swahili for water. It keeps the softest palette in the house — blues and pale linen against the white — and steps out onto a Pemba-grass terrace facing the garden. Its baraza, the built-in bench every room has, sits under the window, and even the cloth holders are handmade, repurposed from recycled sparkling-wine bottles; the bed frame, like Dunia's and Moto's, is built from dhow wood. Ground floor left, with its own balcony facing the ocean.

From the bed you see Maji's own balcony and the ocean. On the other side the room steps out onto a terrace of Pemba grass facing the garden.

Maji suits guests who like the African style of Asili House and want a room on the ground floor, with no stairs, a balcony facing the ocean and a Pemba-grass terrace of its own.

Watch Maji on video

View from the bed in Room Maji at Asili House, Boutique Hotel Matlai Zanzibar, showing balcony, pool, and ocean.

Room Maji Balcony View – Asili House Zanzibar

Room Maji Bathtub – Asili House Zanzibar

Room Maji interior at Asili House, Boutique Hotel Matlai Zanzibar, showing handcrafted décor including blue bottle cloth holders and recycled-oil candles.

Dunia — earth

Where	ground floor, right
Bed	King-size, 240 × 200 cm
Twin beds	Converts to two beds
Size	about 56 m²
Stairs	None

Dunia is Swahili for earth: the ground of the four elements, and the grounded room of the house. It holds Asili's cleverest bed — a dhow-wood frame carrying two mattresses that convert to a genuine twin — and steps out onto a Pemba-grass terrace like Maji's. Ground floor right, with its own balcony facing the ocean.

From the bed you see Dunia's own balcony and the ocean; on the other side the room steps out onto a Pemba-grass terrace, like Maji's.

Dunia suits two people who want separate beds without an extra bed: its dhow-wood frame carries two mattresses that convert to a real twin. It is on the ground floor of Asili House, with no stairs.

Watch Dunia on video

The Dunia room at Asili House: a four-poster bed under white nets, with wooden doors opening to the garden

Dunia Room - bedroom downstairs room | Dunia means earth

Room Dunia Bathtub with Ocean View – Asili House Zanzibar

Clawfoot bathtub in Room Dunia at Asili House, Boutique Hotel Matlai Zanzibar, with stunning design and ocean view.

Prices by season for every room and for the whole villa are on rooms and rates.

The practical part

Booking Asili, without surprises

Check-in 14:00, check-out 10:30, minimum 2 nights (5 in the festive season). Rooms book individually from USD 535 per night half board — "from", because the current offer is one email away — or the whole house takes families and groups of up to 8 (12 with extra beds). Ground-floor Maji and Dunia suit guests who'd rather skip stairs; the upper rooms reward those who climb with the longer horizon. WiFi is fibre with battery-backed routers, water is free and bottle-less, and Visa and Mastercard, no Amex, USD and shillings all work.

Asili evenings

When the house turns golden

Evenings are Asili's quiet speciality: the garden holds the last light as the sun goes down behind the house (the pool has the morning instead, with sunrise straight over the ocean), the lounge's long table gathers whoever wants gathering, and the open-air cinema flickers on for whoever booked it — three hundred films, a beach dinner optional, the stars non-optional. Nights stay honest too: air-conditioning and fans in every room, mosquito nets where they belong, and the garden's soundtrack doing what no playlist manages.

The four rooms of Asili House, Hewa, Moto, Maji and Dunia, with their sizes and prices by season, are on the Asili House room rates. For couples: the honeymoon package and weddings at Matlai.

Tim Hennig, General Manager, Boutique Hotel Matlai, Michamvi Pingwe, Zanzibar.

Asili is where Matlai began — I still take my morning coffee on its veranda before the first guests wake.

Facts on this page last verified: August 2026

One house. Eight pillows. Only your own people.

Exclusive-use dates go first in high season — book direct for the best rate.

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Asili House — the makuti roof, the garden and the pool.

This walkthrough follows Asili House's makuti-thatched roofline, the garden that opens onto the oceanfront pool, and the balconies of its four element-named rooms — Moto, Hewa, Maji and Dunia. It was filmed at the villa in Michamvi Pingwe, the same layout described on this page.

Watch on its own page

Filmed after the room's 2020 renovation, this walkthrough shows Room Maji at Asili House — its softest palette, its garden-level steps and the redesigned bathroom. Maji is one of the villa's four element-named rooms sharing the oceanfront pool with Moto, Hewa and Dunia.

Watch on its own page

This walkthrough shows Room Dunia at Asili House and its sea view over the garden and pool. Dunia is the ground-floor room with the twin-bed option, one of the villa's four element-named rooms around the oceanfront pool.

Watch on its own page