Mafia rewards travellers who slow down. This trip flies you in from Dar es Salaam or Zanzibar and settles you at a small lodge on Chole Bay for five nights, with the days built around the water: guided dives or snorkelling trips on the marine park's reefs and walls, a boat out to the whale-shark grounds off Kilindoni (October to March), a dhow to the Shirazi ruins on Juani Island, and long stretches of beach in between. Non-divers snorkel; certified divers can log several dives a day.
It works as a stand-alone island week or, most naturally, as the beach half of a trip that starts with a southern-circuit safari in Nyerere or Ruaha.
Light-aircraft flight from Dar es Salaam or Zanzibar. Transfer to your lodge on Chole Bay and an afternoon at leisure on the beach.
Morning and afternoon boat trips into the Mafia Island Marine Park for diving or snorkelling on the sheltered Chole Bay reefs.
In season (Oct–Mar), a boat to the whale-shark feeding grounds off Kilindoni to snorkel alongside them. Otherwise, dives on the outer walls.
A dhow across the bay to the overgrown Shirazi ruins on Juani, a swim over the coral gardens, and a beach picnic.
Dive, snorkel, fish, or do nothing at all. Green turtles nest on the bay beaches through much of the year.
Morning at leisure, then the flight back to Dar es Salaam or Zanzibar for your onward connection.
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