Zanzibar & Pemba, Tanzania
beachfront view in Zanzibar Island

Zanzibar & Pemba, Tanzania

Scuba diving in Zanzibar, Tanzania, will give you the chance to explore remarkable underwater environments, including marine parks and an underwater safari. Lush coral reefs and hundreds of species of fish and other sea creatures await divers looking to explore this archipelago.

Geography of Zanzibar & Pemba, Tanzania

Situated off Tanzania’s east coast, the Zanzibar Archipelago consists of three large islands and some islets. These islands include the Unguja and Pemba Islands, the only two inhabited islands in the archipelago. Zanzibar’s beaches feature white sand, swaying palm trees, and the aroma of spices lingering in the air. It also has coastal thickets towering over it and sea-grass beds around its waters. Many aquatic species live and breed in these marine environments.

Unguja Island

Unguja (commonly referred to as Zanzibar Island) is the archipelago’s biggest island. Great diving spots and marine encounters await you in some of the islets around here. But it doesn’t stop there: Unguja also offers excellent visibility that generally falls between 20 to 60 meters.

Leven Bank

Divers consider Leven Bank to be one of the best dive sites in Zanzibar due to its breathtaking mountainous view and abundant marine life. It has drops ranging from 12 to 55 meters and strong currents, making it a suitable site for experienced divers.

The site is filled with numerous sea creatures such as white-tip reef sharks, dolphins, rays, barracudas, triggerfishes, and groupers. It features a spectacular array of corals, too. Leven Bank’s topmost part can get as shallow as 14 meters in low tide conditions.

Boribu Reef

Another great dive site within Zanzibar, Boribu Reef has remarkable columna corals and spectacular mountains of kaleidoscope corals, Gorgonian sea fans, and huge barrel sponges. These underwater plants surround this pristine reef. Boribu is also a good diving spot for advanced divers with its 30-meter depth. You can see lobsters, moray eels, barracudas, and bluefin tunas here.

Tumbatu Island

Unguja Island’s western part is home to Tumbatu Island, where shallow reefs abound. It’s also perfect for novice divers to plunge into. However, not everyone can enter here. You’ll need special permission from the Tumbatu community’s elders if you’re planning on exploring the island.

Mwana Wa Mwana

This dive site is known for being one of Zanzibar’s most beautiful diving spots due to its gentle sloping reef and stunning coral reefs. Mwana Wa Mwana is filled with blue-spotted stingrays, frogfishes, ribbon eels, green turtles, octopuses, moray eels, and more.

Mnemba Island

Mnemba Island lies around 4.5 kilometers off Unguja’s northeastern coast. Beautiful coral reefs, serving as marine reserves, abound on this private island. They also house some of Africa’s best diving locations.

Wattabomi

One of Zanzibar’s most popular dive sites has a captivating landscape with a gentle slope that ranges from six to 30 meters. It features a brilliant kaleidoscope of color provided by large coral bommies and plate corals. Wattabomi is considered to be a playground for attractive sea creatures as well, thanks to its vibrant inhabitants.

Aside from colorful underwater plants, this dive site is home to many marine creatures, such as bottlenose dolphins, angelfish, blue-spotted stingrays, and black snappers. Groupers, red-toothed triggerfish, flounders, octopuses, and trevallies can also be found here.

Pemba Island

Situated around 50 kilometers north of Unguja, Pemba Island lets you experience some of the best diving in Zanzibar. You can also find a few of the world’s best diving destinations on this remote island. Diving in Pemba not only offers encounters with pristine coral kingdoms and overflowing marine life, as it’s also teeming with wild greenery, which gives it the nickname “Green Island”.

Manta Point

Three seamounts decorated with vivid coral gardens and flourishing tropical fish make up Manta Point. It’s 40 meters deep, making it an ideal site for experienced divers. A visit between January and March might give you a chance to drift beside devil rays or to see eagle rays in the pinnacles, which serve as their cleaning station.

Manta Point is also filled with surgeonfish, reef sharks, turtles, jackfish, clownfish, trevallies, titan triggerfish, pufferfish, and many sea stars.

Fundu Reef

This Pemba diving site provides all levels of divers and snorkelers with great diving opportunities. It has a wide range of depths that vary from around three meters to an amazing 60-meter drop. Fundu Reef has five sites with spectacular coral mounds and caverns, and it’s also home to eagle rays, Napoleon wrasses, barracudas, sweetlips, and more.

Panza “Paraportiani” Wreck

Divers will find the Panza “Paraportiani” Wreck inside a sublime passage that’s located on Pemba Island’s southern tip. It’s 14 meters under the island’s surface. The wreck is very picturesque with great lighting and fascinating tunnels. Magical encounters with lionfish, trevallies, and more await you here.

The wreck suits experienced divers well since it has strong currents, despite being quite shallow.

Misali Island

Misali Island has over 300 coral and marine species, including hawksbill turtles, dolphins, barracudas, wahoo, and eagle rays. It also consists of dive sites that offer varying depths. These areas range from gentle, turquoise waters with a five-meter depth to ones with deep indigo, 40-meter depths.

Mafia Island

Mafia Island is the top diving site in Tanzania with untouched walls, slopes, and channels, as well as over 400 species of fish. It’s also a spot where you can see gentle whale sharks gliding through the glittering ocean.

This unexplored island is every sport diver’s dream destination as well since nearly all sites here have shallow depths (meaning they’re less than 30 meters deep). Water visibility on Mafia Island typically falls between five to 40 meters.

Kinasi Pass

Chole Bay’s most popular dive site combines coral pinnacles, rock islands, and mysterious overhangs. Veteran divers can experience impressive drift diving here as it has strong currents and maximum depths of 26 meters. Kinasi Pass is home to an array of corals, huge potato groupers, turtles, barracudas, and more types of marine life.

Marine Life

The Zanzibar Archipelago hosts Africa’s great underwater safari, which means you won’t run out of sea creatures to see while you’re on your dives. Here are a few fascinating lifeforms to watch out for as you dive in Zanzibar:
  • Trevallies - The trevally is one of the fish species that divers typically run into underwater. You’ll see them roaming around coral reefs, frequently eating smaller fish, and dashing wildly and swiftly.
  • Napoleon wrasses - This fish species is always on the look-out for tactile interaction. They’re also friendly with divers whom they recognize. These characteristics make the Napoleon wrasse a favorite among divers.
  • Moray eels - Moray eels have long bodies that are similar to those of snakes. They come in a variety of sizes but are the largest among all eel species. You can spot moray eels swimming around brackish or fresh waters. They also hide in fissures, caves, or cracks within coral reefs.
  • Titan triggerfishes - Titan triggerfishes have beady and swiveling eyes, which make them look a bit mean. But if you use the right approach, you’ll find them relatively easy to deal with. These species generally consume hard corals, hard-bodied benthic invertebrates, and algae despite giving small bites to divers.
  • Potato groupers - Potato groupers feature spots that look like an actual potato’s eyes, hence their name. They swim in deep reef channels and around bommies. These types of grouper fish eat crabs, reef fish, skates, and spiny lobsters.

Other Attractions

  • Stone Town - Zanzibar’s capital has narrow streets, majestic architecture, busy markets, and small yet fascinating museums waiting to be explored. The House of Wonders is one place you wouldn’t want to pass up on: It’s the National Museum of Culture’s current home where you can see a big traditional Swahili boat, a pair of bronze cannons made in the 16th century, and more in its collection.
  • Prison Island - Located around six kilometers in Stone Town’s northeastern part, Prison Island lets you visit its huge turtles and even help the natives feed them in the afternoon. Touching and interacting with these gentle giants is okay, as long as you’re gentle and respectful towards them.
  • Full Moon Party at Kendwa Rocks - One of the most popular hotels on Kendwa Rocks holds this event on its beachfront every month. It’s an exciting local affair, with some of Zanzibar’s best local singers, DJs, and entertainers putting on a splendid show. You can also see a few bars, a main stage, a large dancefloor, and a vast outdoor section at the party.

How to Get There

Maui is an island that’s part of the US state of Hawaii, which means tourists are given the same entry requirements as that of the mainland United States. Australians, however, can travel in Hawaii for up to 90 days without obtaining a visa under the Visa Waiver Program. Here’s how you can get to the island:

By Air
A few local and foreign airline carriers offer flights to Zanzibar. These include ZanAir, Kenya Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, Qatar Airways, and FlyDubai. Tourists from countries such as South Africa, Hong Kong, and Malaysia, and all Commonwealth member states, do not need visas to visit the island.

But if you’re coming from the United States, Canada, or any country that’s not included in Tanzania’s visa-free country list, you must get a tourist visa before you fly out to the Zanzibar Islands. You’ll also need a passport that’s valid for at least six months before you enter Tanzania.

For trips to Pemba Island, you can book a flight with Coastal Aviation, Auric Air, or another private aviation company. Reaching the island from Zanzibar will only take 30 minutes via private plane.

By Sea
If you’re visiting Zanzibar from Dar es Salaam, you’ll need to take a ferry boat. It might take you an hour to reach the city’s ferry terminal via taxi due to heavy traffic. Travel time is about 1.5 to 2 hours by ferry. The boats will stop at Malindi, which lies at Stone Town’s central part.

You can also board a ferry to Pemba from Zanzibar. Azam Marine has the most reliable boats traveling to the island.

Getting Around
Zanzibar gives you a number of options for trips within the island: dala-dala, shuttle buses, shared and regular taxis, and car rentals. Riding a dala-dala is the most affordable mode of transportation. You can also explore Pemba Island via dala-dala or minibuses.

Best Time to Visit

The perfect times to do scuba diving in Zanzibar fall in the months of February, March, July, and August. The diving season here is usually at its peak from July to September, and between December to January. But it’s still good to dive in the Zanzibar archipelago all year round. That’s because its waters have an average temperature of 27° Celsius and visibility between 20 and 60 meters.

Required Trainings & Certifications

Divers of all skill levels will enjoy diving around Zanzibar as it has shallow coral gardens, deep walls, wreck dives, and more. But if you still want to learn diving or take a special certification, many dive centers on the island offer various courses from PADI and other renowned training agencies.

Dive Point Zanzibar is one resort where you can take up PADI courses such as the Discover Scuba Diving program, the basic and advanced Open Water courses, and the Rescue Diving certification.

Miscellaneous Information

Currency
Tanzanian shillings (TZS) is accepted in Zanzibar. If you’re exchanging foreign currency to shillings, bringing US dollars with you is your best option. You can find currency exchange services at the airport, in town, and at some hotels. Major hotels, travel agencies, and several restaurants will accept credit card payments.

Language
Most natives residing on the island speak English and KiSwahili, two of its official languages. Plenty of ethnic groups are fluent in local dialects and languages, too.

Time Zone
Zanzibar observes the East Africa time zone (UTC +3).

Driving Side
People in Zanzibar do left-side driving on the road. Country roads have an 80 km/hr speed limit, while Stone Town and village roads set the limit at 40 or 50 km/hr. But do keep in mind that you can’t drive a car or a motorbike on the beach.

Calling Code
+255-24 is the calling code for both Zanzibar and Pemba. To make calls from the United States or Canada, dial 011 then the number you’re calling.

ISO 3166 code
The Zanzibar and Pemba Islands have multiple ISO 3166 codes. TZ-07, TZ-11, and TZ-15 are the codes for Zanzibar’s three regions, while TZ-06 and TZ-10 represent Pemba’s two regions.

Internet TLD
.tz is Tanzania’s top-level Internet domain (TLD).