We've lived in mud huts and marble palaces.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.
"We started by building one home. Then twelve. Then we realized we were building a group."
YapYap is what came after. A small collection of ventures — some finished, some underway, some still just a plan on the back of a napkin — all built on the same east coast, by the same people, with the same quiet ambition: to make things that feel like they belong here.
The collection
Two places today,one on the way.
Open
Hospitality · Open
YapYap Villa
The founding villa. The one that started everything. Private stays on the east coast, hosted by the people who live here.
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.
In December 2014 we both landed in Paje — some weeks apart. We never met. For years we walked the same strip of east coast, each quietly falling for the island, each carrying the same dream of a life here. Three years ago we finally crossed paths, and found the thread: our families had been in the same place all along. Kamila from Poland. Michael from Denmark, Polish at the kitchen table. Both of us speaking the same two languages, both coming home to the same small island. Everything on this page came out of that slow recognition. We are not a fund. We are not a chain. We are two people who wished a particular version of Zanzibar existed — and are now building it. For us, and for the fellow dreamers who want to stand here beside us.
Michael & Kamila
Guests of East
What people sayafter staying with us.
"We came for a week and started looking at plots on day three. The place gets under your skin — slowly, and then all at once."
— A., WarsawEast Villa, Mar 2024
"Michael and Kamila don't sell anything. They just show you how they live, and it turns out that's the whole pitch."
— M. & J., CopenhagenEast Villa, Nov 2023
"The most honest conversation we've ever had about a home. No brochure gloss — just numbers, trade-offs, and a long lunch."
— R., LondonEast Villa, Jan 2024
Names abbreviated at guests' request. Full references available on a call.
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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