Mafia Island - All about Mafia Archipelago and Where to Stay

Mafia Island and the surrounding archipelago have a great deal to offer as an unspoilt, little-visited alternative to other Indian Ocean locations around Zanzibar and along the coast.

The archipelago provides excellent opportunities for diving and snorkelling, and for discovering deserted beaches and offshore islands fantastically imbued with rich natural and historic interest.

Mafia Marine Highlights

The deeper channels around the islands are also renowned for world-class deep sea fishing, and home to at least two greatly endangered species; the docile dugong (manatee or sea cow) is still thought to find refuge cruising the seagrass between Mafia and the Rufiji River Delta, and the small islands around the archipelago remain a popular breeding ground for giant and green turtles.

These islands are an idyllic natural haven for birds and wildlife, with over 120 different species of birds sighted and recorded, (including five types of sunbird), and the whole area is best explored from the comfort of the deck of a traditional sailing dhow.

Mafia - Historic Indian Ocean Islands

Mafia is an archipelago of islands at the mouth of the Rufiji river delta, composed of Mafia Island, Jibondo, Juani and Chole. Their position as the most southerly islands on the Tanzanian coast has made them strategically covetable throughout the long game of historical wrangling for rule, but visitors today find essentially rural farming and fishing communities whose day to day lives continue in much the same pattern as has been traditional for millennia.