Tanzania - Mafia Island rather than Zanzibar??

[Will Rogers]

Hi Africa board,

First post in this part of the world.

We are taking a family safari to TZ next July/August for 3 weeks. We are planning on 4-5 beach days at the end and had been sort of on autopilot toward Zanzibar.

But then I started reading about Mafia Island. It sounds delightful and far lower key.

There are only some spare postings here on these destinations. It isn't really a dive trip for us, we were in Indonesia last year. But hey, who wouldn't squeeze a dive or two in if given the opportunity.

So my question is this I suppose. From a purely top side perspective, what do you recommend between the two destinations? Any particular accommodations you like? Two kids (10 & 12), so nightlife is irrelevant. We might get a dive in, so obviously interested about that as well.

Lastly, I understand Mafia has whale shark snorkeling opportunities. When does this occur? After October? We will be there in August if we go.

Many thanks for your thoughts and responses.

Will

 

[paulfromharwich]

Hi Will,

I have just returned from a ten day diving holiday to Mafia Island and I had a tremendous experience. I do not have firsthand experience of Zanzibar but given the reports on this forum I chose Mafia Island over Zanzibar based on that Mafia Island has better diving and given my experience it is hard to believe that Zanzibar can match the Mafia Island in this respect. While staying on Mafia Island I stayed at Mafia Island Lodge (Mafia Island Lodge - Tanzania) and dived with affiliated Mafia Island Diving (Mafia Island diving - Tanzania). Both are excellently ran establishments and I was very pleased with my choices. Please see Mafia Island Lodge's website for details of excursions that are available while on the island and Mafia Island Diving's Facebook page is an excellent source of information regarding the diving experience to be had.

With regards to Whale Sharks I understand the best chance to see them is between October and March although I understand that research has just been conducted that there is a resident population all year round (Mafia Island Whale Shark Research Conservation Dive Snorkel Diving Snorkelling safari Tanzania holiday responsible- Aqua-Firma). On my whale shark trip I was lucky to see at least three different individuals.

One thing to take into consideration is that there is a $20 per day per person national park fee although I don't know if this applies to children.

I intend to write up a full report on this forum in the next week or so which will include some links to diving videos.

Cheers,

Paul

 

[Cam F]

While I have not dived Mafia Island I have done a fair bit of diving near Mnemba Island which is very close to Matemwe in Zanzibar. rther than waffle on about it just take a peek at these 2 very short clips to see if it helps. All footage is just off the coast of Mnemba island which is accessable from Matemwe or Ras Nungwe

[video=youtube_share;wvxQejTkeOY]http://youtu.be/wvxQejTkeOY[/video]


[video=youtube_share;Jl9L0uYGHd8]http://youtu.be/Jl9L0uYGHd8[/video]

 

[Will Rogers]

A belated thanks Paul. And thanks Cam.

We did decide to forgo Zanzibar and spend time on Mafia in August. It appears we won't be on schedule for whale shark visitation, but you never know.

Any dive operator recommendations? We will be staying on the west side of the island. Beaches looked to be better over there.

Thanks!

Will

 

[paulfromharwich]

Hi Will,

As far as I am aware there are two dive operators which are available to guests regardless of which accommodation they are staying in. They are Mafia Island Diving and Big Blu, both located on the south east of the island. I chose to dive with Mafia Island Diving based on their up to date website and Trip Advisor reports and was more than happy with my choice. Both are located on a beautiful beach (see my pictures here).

I also put together a YouTube video of my clips I took with my GoPro which you can watch below.

[video=youtube_share;fhPMqduMTsg]http://youtu.be/fhPMqduMTsg[/video]

Cheers,

Paul

 

[Dive_Gypsy]

The East Coast of Zanzibar on a slow day's deep dive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgRpP1I3UL4&feature=youtu.be
Dive 2 was turtles, 3 types of rays, Napoleons and white tipped reef sharks!!!

 

[Will Rogers]

Thanks Paul,

Great stuff. Loved perusing some of your Flicker albums. We've traveled some similar paths, particularly in Sulawesi, Sumatra and other parts of Indonesia - though our travels were in the mid '90's - . Hope you got to dive Komodo National Park when you were in Rinca.

I'll check out the dive operations and see if we can make it happen.

Thanks again,

Will

 

[Bubble Dragon]

Just spent 2 weeks on Mafia, diving with Big Blu & staying in their budget-tents.
It is an AMAZING place to dive, some of the best I've seen.
Most of the animals I had seen before but never in that size or numbers.
If you wanna take a look for yourself, here's a link to the photos, even if you're not of Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152224617081952.1073741830.675561951&type=1&l=d074000f79

 

[Will Rogers]

Ended up doing two tanks with Big Blu in Chole Bay in early August. Diving off of wooden dhows, smallish motors but a sun canopy. Rented gear since we were chiefly on safari. Gear was OK, though gauges were modest (no depth gauge for me).

Two dives around 60' with no current. Visibility was perhaps 60-70 feet, though some other divers reported 15 feet two days earlier! No big fish. Some nice invertebrates, nudis and bristle worms. A few small fish. But not too much else. Coral seemed mostly healthy.

So overall, the diving was pretty average. But, I fully recognize that I only did two dives and it was really off season. The dives outside the bay are probably much better. It is always fun to get a day of diving in and I'm glad we were able to.