We landed on the island separately, and kept coming back.We learned what a comfortable life here actually takes.Now we build what we wished existed.Small. Local. For the twelve, not the twelve hundred.
The idea
There are places in the world that still feel like a secret. Zanzibar is one of them — an island where the morning light comes slowly over the Indian Ocean, where coconut palms lean toward the water, where the rhythm of the day is set by the tide and the breeze. For those who have been, no explanation is needed. For those who haven't, no explanation will do until they arrive.
Imagine a house where the road ends at sand. A pool fed by the trade wind. A kitchen that opens onto the sea. Days set by the tide, not by a calendar. A sushi counter that remembers what you ordered last week. A short list of neighbours who chose this corner of the island for the same reasons you would.
"Twelve homes on the drawing board, not twelve hundred. The same fishermen, the same sunset tide."
That is what we have been quietly building since May 2018 — YapYap Villa first, then KAMI Sushi, and now East: twelve homes for a small circle of fellow dreamers, on a stretch of beach we have known for a decade. We are not a fund, not a chain, not in a hurry. If the rhythm of this place finds you, leave your name. We will write when there is something worth telling you.
A few people on the east coast we recommend without hesitation — the kite school our guests keep coming back to, the dhow captains, the guides who know where the spice farms still smell of cloves. Not an affiliate list. Just the ones we actually use.
Construction updates, travel notes, and the occasional quiet thought. Written from Zanzibar.
Origin
The two times we arrived in Paje
December 2014, some weeks apart. We never met. We were each quietly falling for the same island. Ten years later we finally crossed paths, and everything started.
Our first post
Travel
A morning at Mnemba
Kamila writes about a slow morning on the island north of Zanzibar, and why we keep coming back.
1 week ago
Philosophy
Why twelve?
Michael on why we cap every community at twelve homes, and what gets lost above that number.
Two arrivals to Paje, twenty-one days apart in December 2014. Eight years on the same kilometre of east coast, never crossing paths. One morning at a kite school in 2023 — neither of us there to learn — and it turned out our families in Poland live twenty-five kilometres from each other. Everything on this page came out of that slow recognition. We are not a fund, not a chain. We are two people, building what we wished existed, in the place we come home to.
06.xii.2014Kamila arrives in Paje from Poland.
27.xii.2014Michael arrives from Denmark, 21 days later.
08.v.2018Plot bought for YapYap Villa.
ii.2019Foundation begins.
08.i.2023We meet — at a kite school, neither of us learning.
"YapYap Villa was sensational — they thought of everything, including a house manager and a cook. Michael was a wealth of knowledge, and his sushi restaurant next door was divine. We were almost reluctant to leave. Thank you Michael and Kamila."
— PearlYapYap Villa · 2026
"We stayed at YapYap Villa for the first week of our honeymoon. The villa was perfect, and Kamila went above and beyond to answer every question. We will definitely be back."
— CharlieYapYap Villa, honeymoon · 2025
"The best sushi I have ever had. You can taste how much care goes into every bite — in Zanzibar, of all places."
— AleksandraKAMI Sushi · 2025
Quotes from Airbnb and Google reviews. Links to originals on request.
Warsaw · Kraków · Gdańsk
We're coming to Poland.Come have a coffee.
A small group of us will be in Poland this season to meet people curious about Zanzibar — East, the villa, the island itself. Private conversations, no presentation deck, just tea and questions. If that sounds useful, leave a note and we will reach out with the dates.
We read every message ourselves. Expect a reply within forty-eight hours.
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