Tanga Region Hotels

Tanga Beach Resort: TANGA BEACH RESORT REDEFINES THE WORD LUCKY:

Tanga Beach resort, a so called ¡¥5 star hotel¡¦, redefines one¡¦s idea of what lucky is. According to the management, you¡¦re lucky if you have two side tables in a double room. I kid you not. That¡¦s the reply I received when I inquired about a side table for my side of the double bed. We had everything else in that shabby room which cost a bomb¡K a double bed, furniture which was starting to fall to pieces, mismatched floor tiles, tea & coffee (but no milk), a power shower which had run out of power and two days of head pounding music¡K gosh, I¡¦m so lucky, it hurts!

I am certain that the woman in the suite next to ours would agree with me¡K. upon asking for tea in the evening, she was informed that this was no time to have tea! The poor lady insisted that she needed her tea and clarified the word ¡¥tea¡¦ twice¡K the waitress came back after a half hour with¡K.. coffee!!!

This was also the case during the morning breakfast which consisted of the most weird combinations of foods (octopus soup anyone? ƒº), but back to the topic at hand¡K. a major general from the army came and stood at our table to get some tea and sugar and had to come back to pick up the salt shaker too! Lucky for him I say, that we were there!

We were also told how lucky we were that due to the weekend holiday, this ¡¥5 star¡¦ resort would have live music with deejays for about eight hours a day and we, the VIP hotel guests would basically have no access or private time with the facilities since the hotel was packed with every Tom, Dick and Harry who could afford to pay Tshs 10,000/= to come and party there! The hotel guests who were paying USD 155 per suite had to either leave the hotel for the day or stay holed up in their stinky suites, stuff cotton wool in their ears and wonder how the word ¡¥lucky¡¦ had changed definition overnight!

Everything in this hotel needs to be reviewed, from the service to the facilities and definitely to the prices. In my limited experience, ¡¥5 star¡¦ hotels should not look like something from horror movies as you walk down unlighted narrow stairways to your rooms, have plain bare ugly walls with peeling paint, broken furniture, a lack of hot water and bathroom facilities (such as a hairdryer), slow service or lack in peace, serenity and beauty.. just to name a few things.

Tanzania still has some corruption it is fighting and one wonders if the people who have given this hotel ¡¥5 stars¡¦, may be some of the culprits on the receiving end. This so called beach resort is nowhere near walking or even driving distance from the beach. The entire front area is covered in mangroves, and as the manager was kind enough to tell us, their website which boasts ¡¥walks on the beach¡¦ is slightly out of date. Boy, those mangroves sure do grow fast!

MY FINAL SAY IS: IF YOU WANT TO LOSE YOUR SANITY, YOUR PEACE OF MIND AND YOUR MONEY, THEN THIS IS THE PLACE FOR YOU!

Good facilities, the pool looked great though we never got to use it as it was packed from morning to night with outsiders and kids piddling in the pool.

The views of the farway sea were also pleasant