SCUBA DIVING TOUR EXPERIENCE IN MAFIA WITH AFRICANMECCA

On your Indian Ocean diving vacation in Africa, you must plan a visit to the Mafia Island Marine Park, an incredible underwater world that houses more than 52 species of coral reef that create a biosphere for the amazingly diverse range of sea creatures that abound here. This marine reserve covers an area of 822 square kilometers (317 square miles) and is the largest in the Indian Ocean. The southern section of Mafia Island along with a collection of small and large islands all form a part of the reserve.

On the west of the park is the Rufiji River Delta that brings fresh, sweet water to the corals and to the east is the Indian Ocean. This confluence of the waters along with its tropical climate have contributed to the protection and proliferation of the coral reefs that would have otherwise have been ruined by irregular weather patterns that occur in the ocean. The marine landscape is truly exciting to view. You will see leaves of seagrass, channels crafted by the tides and undersea inclines and precipices.



As you learn on your AfricanMecca tour of Mafia Island, Chole Bay is the most remarkable section of the park. With depths ranging from 1 to 28 meters and spread over 50 square kilometers (20 square miles), Chole is a circular bay that is protected from the annual monsoon gales by the islands that surround it. This factor allows diving expeditions all through the year, and as a result, the reef and its colorful marine life attract divers and snorkelers from the world over.

When underwater exploring in the environs of Mafia Island Marine Park on your diving trip to Tanzania, you will encounter more than 460 species of fish like potato groupers, malabar groupers, angelfish, sweetlips, triggerfish and small emperors also called changu. You will also see barracudas and bluefins trevally along with reef sharks and giant eagle rays hunting the rich underworld while shoals of blue-striped and yellow kashmiri snappers fill the landscape with splendid hues.

Also watch out for the stingrays hiding out in the sea caves, and as you make for the surface, you might encounter spinner and bottlenose dolphins playing on the surface or investigating the divers. While staying on Mafia Island, you can also go on shore diving trips in the night. There are three main dive shore areas with fascinating reef names like Chekechea, Frogfish Town and Nudi City. At 10 meters below the surface, you can spot frogfish, stingrays, harlequin shrimps, crocodilefish, seahorses, spanish dancers, octopus, squids, nudibranchs, a kind of sea slugs and many more.



There are other scintillating sites inside Chole Bay like at the Kinasi Pass and Milimani (north and south), Chole Wall, Coral Islands, Coral Gardens, Corinne's Reef, Pyramid and Msumbiji, but you can also go diving outside the bay where you could spot giant reef rays, groupers, jacks, snappers and sometimes sharks. The dive sites outside the Chole Bay are Kinasi Pass Entrance, Juani Reef, Dindini Wall (north and south), Mikadini and Jina Wall.

You could also add daylong south sandbanks diving trips to your AfricanMecca holiday itinerary when traveling around Mafia Island to view dolphins or whales during their migratory seasons. Experienced advance divers can experience the thrill of exploratory scuba diving and the chance of discovering an as yet unfamiliar underwater cave or cliff (read more on when is the best time to go to Mafia).

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