4000 c.
The new soul of Zanzibar
240 new holiday apartments for sale on the west coast
Known as The Soul, Zanzibar’s first residential resort continues its unique success story. After selling out in Paje on the east coast, new holiday apartments are launched in Fumba Town.
By Andrea Tapper
It’s one of the rare rainy days in paradise. Raining cats and dogs actually, when Milan Heilmann takes me around The Soul in Paje. Since 2019 the project manager of developer CPS has been supervising the construction of Zanzibar’s first residential resort, only 300 metres walking distance from the famous kite surfing beach. Now it’s almost complete.
On sunny days the scene here looks like this: Young couples return from the beach, store their SUPs and surf-boards before entering their lofty apartments through a garden door. Palm trees render a soft shade while a beautiful woman in her Fourties relaxes on her penthouse terrace, her husband mixing some drinks inside.
Thanks to the monsoon rain, a lush tropical garden is already embracing the eleven apartment blocks in Paje’s hinterland, most of them fully finished and rentable (see box), some under finalisation. Pointing at palm trees, colourful bougeanivilla, banana trees and a gangling bamboo forest, project manager Heilmann, 32, summarises the resort’s philosophy: “Modern living in tropical surroundings.”
New chance to buy holiday apartments
Breaking news is, that after the completion of the east coast Soul, the residential resort will get a twin sister at the west coast in the urban setting of eco-city Fumba Town. The Soul is an entirely new player within the tourism landscape for several reasons. It’s the first large-scale holiday apartment complex in Zanzibar and the first residential leisure resort falling under a new condominium law entitling foreigners to buy. Designed by Spanish architect Lucas Oyteza, it implements a hybrid, sustainable wood construction technology, a big plus for climate-conscious travellers.
Sold-out in record time in Paje, “we want to give holidaymakers of all ages the chance to buy a Soul apartment in Fumba”, CPS directors Sebastian and Tobias Dietzold said when launching the planned look-alike. The major difference: “Soul Fumba will be close to the airport and Stone Town, be more embedded in urban infrastructure and have glorious west-coast sunsets”, the Dietzold brothers said. Developer CPS, a local company with German background, has sold more houses and apartments in Zanzibar than any other company.
Masterpiece: a man-made lagoon
Both Soul projects nestle around a huge trademark lagoon, the much talked-about first man-made lagoon ever in Zanzibar. When project manager Heilmann takes me around the vacation village in Paje, the recreational miracle is in its final phase of construction: 90 metre long and 10-30 metre wide, containing one million litres of water, two islands, a shallow children’s area, a north-side beach and a south-side cliffy entrance, the super lagoon, covered with natural limestone instead of tiles, will form the ultimate relax area for Soul residents.
In Fumba, the sale of 240 planned apartments has just begun, with first buyers coming actually from Paje – apparently convinced not only of the project’s charm but generic similarities. When launching the new touristic hot spot by the sea, CPS director Tobias Dietzold elaborated: “Fumba was not meant to be a holiday resort but with the apartments we will add even more variety to the green urban community.” Eventually 20,000 people will live in the growing suburb along 1,6 kilometres seafront with buyers from 60 nationalities. A sports centre is also planned at the sunset coast, while more and more developments are taking place on the Fumba peninsula. Booming tourism in Zanzibar, it seems, has found a new darling location.
Box:
Ready to rent
The season can start! Apartments in walking distance to Paje’s famous kite-surfing beach are available at The Soul, Zanzibar’s first residential resort:
Booking: Ph/WhatsApp +255 774 350 440; [email protected]
www.thesoul.africa