TOP 5 REASONS ON WHY YOU SHOULD VISIT MAFIA FOR VACATIONS

Why Go To Mafia For A Beach, Marine, Cultural & Historical Vacation

Part of an archipelago of islands, off the coast of Tanzania in the Indian Ocean, Mafia Island was an important port on the trade route in the 8th century. Merchants traveling to Madagascar and Mozambique would use the island as a stopover and called it “Morfiyeh” while the island natives called it "mahali pa afya" meaning "a healthy abode". As time passed on, it forgot to include Mafia in the modernization process. And, when you visit the island today on your beach holiday in Africa, you will see that life is progressing very much as it must have been many centuries ago, but without the stir of a trade port.

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1. Remote Island Vacation

Mafia Island is the southernmost of the islands giving you the impression of being completely cut away from the rest of civilization. Arrive on your island hopping tour of Tanzania with AfricanMecca and you will be enveloped in a timeless, tranquil ambience where the most essential issue of the day could be taking a long walk on the powdery soft sand beaches, deciding what to eat for lunch and dinner, enjoying the warm sun and the gentle ocean breezes, all without hordes of tourists and large resorts.



The locals appreciate their unpretentious life of fishing, farming and weaving baskets and mats, and actually make efforts to keep the outside capitalist world at a distance. Mafia is covered with lush tropical vegetation and abounds with fruit trees, baobabs, palms and mangroves.

This remarkable natural world in turn hosts distinct creatures such as varied avian life from butterflies to birds including fruit bats, monkeys, small antelopes, wild boar, bushbabies and interestingly, hippos. Rich with the marine treasures of the Indian Ocean, you must also visit one of finest marine parks of Tanzania while on your diving or snorkeling trip in Africa, the Mafia Island Marine Park, that spreads over an area of 822 square kilometers (317 square miles).

2. Swim With Whale Sharks

Mafia Island has a rare treat in store for your marine vacation in Tanzania – swimming with whale sharks. They are the largest fish in the oceans of the world and can reach lengths of 12 meters. These spectacular creatures with their distinctive spots and stripes markings seem to favor the areas around the island and are known to be present almost all the year round; though best time to visit is October to March when they are spotted feeding on the higher surface. Most of the individuals are males.



Their favorite food is plankton, and you will be filled with awe as you watch them feeding as you snorkel or dive around them. These gentle giants tend to ignore humans and despite being cousins of orcas, they are completely harmless. As you will learn on your Mafia Island travel, special efforts are being taken to ensure that these animals and their feeding grounds are not disturbed in any way by increased human activities. Care is also taken so that they are not harassed, frightened touched or chased.

3. Intimate, Small & Personalized Beach Lodgings

When choosing your Mafia accommodation for your unique, remote beach escapade in East Africa, you could opt to stay on Mafia Island or on the tiny isles of Chole. Each of them have distinct cottages that will allow you to enjoy traditional island living. For instance, located on Chole Island is the mid-range Chole Mjini Lodge that offers you a collection of 7 treehouses that are fashioned around baobab trees, each given names in numerical Kiswahili that are pleasant-sounding to say aloud.



Then there is the Kinasi Lodge that combines elements of Shirazi-cum-Swahili architecture bounded by a coastal theme. They have 13 cottages in all with thatched roof and furniture made from cane and wrought iron. To simply revel and absorb the serenity of the island, spend your siesta time in a hammock on your cottage patio.

Pole Pole in Kiswahili actually means “Slow, Slow” and aptly describes the ambience of the island. They have 7 decked bungalows for discerning AfricanMecca guests, each made with thatched roofs and walls supported by wooden poles on the exterior and part limestone on the interior. The decor is typically coastal living, and you will see handcrafted furniture scattered about weaving an island spell around you.

4. Unique Snorkeling & Scuba Diving In Mafia Island Marine Park

Mafia Island has the distinction of being located in one of the prime spots between the Rufiji Delta on the west and the Indian Ocean on the east. This makes the island the perfect habitat for long, unbroken lines of coral reefs that extend from Kifinge (Forbes Bay) in the north to Tutia in the south. Tepid waters and the shelter of the bay have transformed the area into an unbelievably beautiful world hidden below the vast waters of the ocean.



Go on a snorkeling and scuba diving excursion at the marine park and you will enter a realm of soundless tranquility where a stunning diversity of coral shelters more than 460 species of fish and other marine creatures visible in the gentle rays of the sun filtering through crystal clear waters. Look for fascinating reef denizens such as malabar groupers, sweetlips, small emperors or changu, potato groupers, triggerfish, angelfish, bluefins trevally, barracudas, reef sharks, yellow kashmiri snappers, dolphins, giant eagle rays, only to name a few.

5. Discerning Island Excursions

The rich cultural heritage of this remote nook of Africa is reflected on the coastal islands of Tanzania, and as you tour around the island of Mafia, you will see ruins of the olden Kua civilization at Juani Island alongside other kinds of edifices echoing the past such as the lighthouse at Ras Mkumbi in northern Mafia. The sandy beaches of Juani are also the favorite nesting site of green turtles. Enjoy a picnic afternoon on the sandbanks of Funguni and Mange Reef, or take a dhow-building lesson on Chole Island.



View the fruit bats of Popo Park or the crab plovers migrating in November. You must also visit the exquisite white beach of Lua Cheia and the farms of Mafia Island where coconuts, rice, cassava, pigeon peas, pineapples, cashew nuts, mangoes, beans, paw-paw and many more items are grown. Go on an afternoon fishing trip on the Mafia Channel, and later sign off your day viewing the striking sunset over the Indian Ocean on a boat cruise.

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