Tanzania, Pemba, Zanzibar, and Mafia

Tanzania is home to some of the best game-viewing parks  in Africa, from the legendary Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti, to the lesser lnown marvels of Ruaha, Selous, Manyara, and Tarangire. Mikumi National Park is just four hours from Dar and is excellent for a three-day safari at the beginning or end of a dive trip.

Pemba Island has arguably the best wall-diving in the world in a remote and captivating setting, often with less than 100 foreign visitors on the  island at a given time. Unguja island (also known as Zanzibar island) is the more touristy and better-known destination, with good shallow reefs off Kendwa to the north-west and the vibrant Mnemba Atoll to the north-east.

PEMBA

Flying from Dar-es-Salaam to Stone Town on Unguja (or Zanzibar Island) takes 20-odd minutes, depending on wheter you choose a venerable Douglas DC3 Dakota, or the more modern fleet belonging to Zanair. After a 15-minute break, the 35-minute flight Pemba yields more picture-postcard aerial shots of uninhabited islands and the reefs, before touching down in Chake Chake, Pemba’s biggest town, half-way up the west coast at the end of a long mangrove-lined creek. The airport is a small ramshackle affair, and despite a plethora of attractions including atmospheric ruins, primeval forest, unique bird species, deserted beaches, and some of the best diving in the Indian Ocean, Pemba hosts less than 100 tourists at any given time, sometimes less than 20 in total in the three resorts!

Leaving the aiport, you pass through Chake Chake and its crumbling buildings and stall-filled alleyways.Stopp off and take in the fruit and vegetable market, tryiout the sticky paste made from tamarind, ginger, sugar, nutmeg, and cloves, and watch the grazing hump-necked cows interrupt an impromptu football match in front of the mosque.

In a 4WD minibus it takes around an hour to wend northwards towards the north-west corner of the island.  Leaving the tarmac the last 15 kilometres are on sand tracks through the Ngezi Nature Reserve, a beautiful forest home to flying foxes,  several endemic bird species, and some very friendly people. Having pioneered diving on Pemba in the 90's based in Chake Chake, the owners moved up here in 2008. The well-designed accommodation was built from local materials, and the quarry where the bricks were cut is, well, a stone’s throw away. Any imported goods come by dhow whose carbon footprint is limited to the fire that the crew use to warm their food at night when at sea.  Food is wholesome and filling, and is locally-sourced and cooked with love by Chef Mzee Ali on charcoal (chocolate biscuit cake a speciality). Off the electricity grid, water is warmed by the sun and dispensed by gravity, anda generator runs at night to provide lighting and power to charge batteries.

Walls are everywhere on Pemba. The fringing reefs are close to shore, and the best are in the gaps created by the small outlying islands that run along the west coast.  The coral is fed by the nutrient-rich Pemba channel and is alive with all sorts of wierd and wonderful soft and hard corals and reef fish. It’s not a place for 'big' encounters every dive, but the variety and volume of small to medium-sized species is outstanding, with coral crabs, magnificent partner shrimps, nudibranchs, anthias, morays galore, schools of snapper and trevally,  frequent meetings with Napoleon wrasse and barracudas, and the occasional manta or shark. Many dives are on vertical walls, dropping from the azure surface through cobalts, and beyond into the depths - up to 600 metres straight down in parts. This place just keeps calling you back!

 

Click on the links below for more information.

My article about diving the  Zanzibar Archipelago in X-Ray Magazine

My article about diving the  Zanzibar Archipelago in African Diver

An interview with the expert - Marine Biologist and author Dr Ewald Lieske

Pemba videos

And another one

MAFIA

Mafia island lies 30 minutes south-west of Dar-es-Salaam and has two main attractions:  snorkelling with the seasonal whale sharks off the east coast of Kilidoni from December to March,  and diving on the outer reefs of the west coast and a couple of passes on the edge of Chole Bay. Kinasi Pass has a surprising quantity of fish for a relatively barren area - snappers are plentiful, morays and schools of barracuda are common, and it is rare to not see at least one large grouper per dive here. Of the reefs outside the passes Dindini caves north and south are a long series of overhangs in the rock wall that drops from the reef top at six metres down to the bottom at around 30 metres. Visibility is nearly always over 20 metres here and often more, and the overhangs are favourite haunts of large potato groupers. These cuties can grow up to two metres long and 200 kilos, and often treat divers with curiosity, happily hanging around to have their picture taken and show that they are not disturbed by our presence. There is also good macrolife on the walls, with plenty of whip corals and resident gobies.  The sites down by Juani are covered in soft purple and pink corals, and are excellent places to  encounter turtles.
 

Diving is carried out from a traditional wooden dhow powered by outboard engines. Departing after breakfast lunch is often taken on the boat between dives, unless tides dictate an early start in which case a hearty mid-morning snack is the order of the surface interval and late lunch is taken on returning to the lodge.

The lodge has a beautiful pool and beach, thoughtfully appointed rooms, and the food is both plentiful and some of the tastiest around. With only 13 suites spread around the large grounds, it is easy to relax and feel pampered. For those who would like further pampering, there is a spa and massage centre on site with a resident Thai masseuse and masseur.

As well as diving and safaris, Tanzania also has some world-class treks:  two routes up the well-known  and popular (possibly too popular) Mount Kilimanjaro to the roof of Africa at Uhuru peak, some 5895 metres above sea level, and the lower (4566 metres) but steeper Mount Meru. In addtion to all this, we can also organise trips or donkey treks to across the Ngorongoro highlands to Empakai Crater and through the Rift Valley to Lake Natron.Click here for to go to the Tanzanian Safari page.
 

ZANZIBAR AND HISTORICAL STONE TOWN

Zanzibar island also had some good diving spots around Kendwa and Mnemba Atoll, with low cost and mid-range accommodation options making this an excellent choice for the diver on a tighter budget. We have a slection of rooms ranging from 20 to 100 dollars a night. 

If you are interested on a bit of history or just want to visit a quite unique city, it is worth stopping off in Stone Twon for the architecture and the laid back hustle and bustle. Once the capital of the east African slave and spice trades and ruled by the Sultans of Oman, today Stone Town is a vibrant mix of new and old. Despite the tumble-down apperance of much of the town, there are some exquisite hotels and wonderful aromas and flavours. Rooftop sundown drinks and nibbles at teh night food market are a must.

Tanzania

Pemba, Zanzibar, and Mafia