Mafia Island

Overview

Tanzania's first marine protected area, and one of very few places on Earth where whale sharks gather predictably enough that you can plan a holiday around them.

From October to March, juvenile whale sharks feed in the plankton-rich water off Kilindoni, and snorkelling alongside a ten-metre fish that could not care less about you rearranges your sense of scale. Mafia Island Marine Park protects Chole Bay's coral gardens, which are shallow, sheltered and superb for both diving and snorkelling.

The island itself is unhurried and largely undeveloped — a handful of lodges, sand roads, baobabs, and the ruins of Swahili settlements on neighbouring Chole and Juani. Nobody comes to Mafia for nightlife.

The landscape

A low coral island of baobabs and coconut palm, ringed by mangrove, sand flats and the sheltered reef systems of Chole Bay.