• 6 nights at Kinasi Lodge, on Mafia Island
• 7 nights at Ras Nungwi Zanzibar

1-7 Mafia Island

Arrive at Dar es Salaam and transfer through to Kinasi Lodge, on Mafia Island

 

Mafia Archipelago Marine Park

The Mafia Archipelago Marine Park supported by the World Wide Fund for Nature, forms part of the coral reef protecting the coast of Tanzania. It is situated about 130 km south of Dar-es-Salaam and about 25 km from the mainland. Mafia is little changed from ancient times. It retains a traditional, unspoilt non-commercialised friendly culture, where local people go about their business as artisans, farmers, fishermen and sailors. 
 

Comprised of a number of islands and uninhabited coral atolls, Mafia is a spectacularly diverse natural environment. It offers a unique mix of Africa within a tropical setting. Large palm groves, mango & cashew trees dominate the island while impressive baobab trees are dotted amongst typical African savannah grassland. Monkeys, small antelopes, wild pigs, lemurs and dwarf hippos run wild while falcons, fish eagles, Comoro bats 'flying foxes' and giant turtles have also made it 

 

Day 7-14 Ras Nungwi Zanzibar

Swashbuckling adventurers, mighty Sultans, Arabian pirates and buried treasure! The ‘Spice’ Islands of the Zanzibar archipelago certainly have a colourful history. As a major trade route  for the empires of Greece, Rome, Egypt, Persia, Arabia, India, China and more recently Europe, everything from gold to slaves made their passage through these islands. Today the ancient dhows still built to the same design as the vessels which for a 1000 years have plied the trade routes along the Eastern shores of Africa deliver a rather different treasure - an unimaginable underwater dive experience!

 

Zanzibar is a flat, palm-clad coral atoll surrounded by a shallow warm sea. Water temperatures average between 25 and 29 degrees C and visibility ranges from 20m to 60m (200ft). With conditions like this the world of Big ‘Marine’ Game will clearly be in view! A series of fringing and atoll reefs provide suitable diving from beginner to advanced with depths from 6m to 35m. Shallow coral reefs, sloping banks and vertical drop-offs with hard and soft corals and over 350 species of Indo-Pacific marine fauna await you. Whale sharks, manta and eagle rays, bottlenosed, spinner and common dolphins, sailfish and marlin are also found. In deeper waters, lush coral gardens often stretch as far as the eye can see and large pelagic game fish - barracuda, kingfish, tuna and wahoo hunt together with large napoleonic wrasse. 

 

Day 14. Homeward

Time to leave and fly home via Dar es Salaam.