Tanzania Diving - an insider view (thoughts?)

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namnam123

Registered
Scuba Instructor
Messages
9
Reaction score
4
Location
Stone Town, Zanzibar
# of dives
I've been working in Zanzibar (Unguja) for a couple of years now, and I was recently speaking to the owner of Swahili Divers in Pemba (the northern-most island of the Zanzibar archipelago). I think what he was saying to me is broadly spot on regarding diving in Tanzania, and I share it below for anyone who might have any additional thoughts:

"In the recent months, I have been looking at a map of Tanzania. And have realised that if you include Tanga and combine Dar es Salaam with Latham, we have 9 outstanding dive areas in this nation. From the Kenyan Border to the Mozambique border, we have world class diving. On our two lakes, we have cichlids and in Lake Tanganyika a unique underwater world. In Mtwara you can dive on underwater mountains with pelagics in the morning and be spotting hippos in the afternoon. In Zanzibar you can dive the most excellent wreck at 12m and stroll around a world heritage site in the afternoon, in Pemba you can dive deep and long and then walk in a primeval rain forest 40 minutes stroll away. In Mafia, you can be among the fattest potato groupers, schools of fish and then sail back under canvas. We all also have some of the most prolific macro diving that I have seen. I don't wish to overplay our hand, but we have diving in Tanzania that reminds me of a meeting of the Lembeh Straights and the Pacific Ocean.

How can it be, that Tanzania is a WORLD CLASS DIVE DESTINATION, and no one seems to know about it? Every other dive destination nation of our quality and diversity is known around the world. The Philippines, Indonesia, Micronesia, are the only countries that compare to Tanzania. Even Egypt with its red sea, lacks our total diversity. Ewald Liske, the author of the Collins Reef Guide told me that the red sea has 350 species of fish. East Africa has 450-500. Isobel Pring has counted 280 alone in Mtwara, and she was not trying. I keep seeing stuff that SHOULD NOT EXIST in East Africa. As you keep reminding me, I have dived around the world - I have been to Indonesia, Micronesia, Australia, Egypt, the South Pacific, South East Asia, the red sea, Turkey, the UK, Ireland and Japan. Tanzania either compares favorably or supersedes any of these destinations in terms of dive quality and overall experience.

The only thing that I can surmise is that we have been eclipsed by being the best wildlife safari destination in the world.

...Why should a New Yorker choose Tanzania over Lembeh. Simple- it's cheaper, ($1500) closer (10hrs+7Hrs+1hr) and he can see pelagics in the morning, muck in late morning and hippos that afternoon.

In Zanzibar, I think town diving is the most underrated in the world. It's excellent- there is so much life, and you can stay in the Serena, or Stone Town Cafe, stroll to your dive dhow, not get your camera bag wet, and bob around next to sand bank in between dives. Then in the evening you are in a unique city..."

Personally, I would add that diving in Zanzibar itself has an unbelievable variety of diving options for such a relatively small island - from the above mentioned Stone Town there is also Mnemba Island (part of the Mnemba Island Marine Conservation Area, and regularly erroneously called an atoll) with approximately 7 kilometres of reef surrounding the exclusive small island itself. In the north west there is some great diving in the area of Tumbatu Island, and in the south east some fantastic diving both inside and outside the fringe reef that runs the entire length of the main island. Unfortunately I am unable to comment first hand on the diving at the southern most tip of the island (Kizimkazi).

But anyway, I was just wondering whether anyone who has dived here had any thoughts on this...
 
For marine life even the Red Sea does not compare. Every environment is different but here we have amazing macro and a chance to have once in a lifetime diving experiences with dolphins and as of today, two of our divers were underwater with a humpback and her calf. Can't wait for tomorrow!
 
I leaned to dive in Kenya, up to Instructor.... but can only compare the diving with UK, Croatia, Red Sea.
Lots of life, amazing dives, great reefs, sometimes it can get rough and vis can drop June/July August.
Hundreds of dive sites.... not a very developed dive industry Advantage: Quiet dives sites, often only 2 guest divers... but Disadvantage it's sometimes a little more expensive than diving in places like the Red Sea. But I'd invite you to the Buccaneer Diving Facebook group to see some photos.
 
Tanzania and especially Zanzibar has been on my list for a few years now. I've never dived the continent of Africa, but want to within the next 24 months. Keep posting stories (and pictures) about the diving there
 
Im trying to plan a trip currently for March 2014 and have Zanzibar and Pemba on the list along with Madagascar and the Seychelles. I understand the seasonal issues with Madagascar - hows March in Tanz for diving?.
So far correspondence ive had with Madagascar show same dive prices as here in Aus or F. Polynesia so on the high end, how does Zanzibar compare because its costing me a lot in airfares due to multi countries so im really trying to work out exactly where to dive?. Thanks.
 
We're going to Tanzania/Kenya this time next year for 6-8 weeks so my thoughts are that it sounds awesome. Very excited for our first trip to Africa.
I dove Pemba Island in 2006. It was an awesome experience. Not a lot of big stuff where we whT but the variety and number of reef fish was amazing. Make sure you go for the night dives. The Spanish Dancers free swimming and different eels,octopi and rays were my favorite part.
Most of the dives were ripping drift dives which may have been partly due to the moon/season so make sure you bring an SMB and be prepared to use it. We were often scattered all over the place, due to the nature of the crazy currents and it took quite a long time to get picked up by the panga drivers. The panga drivers were very good and kept good track of all the divers but when the currents go in all directions and divers are scattered everywhere it just takes time. Now that the Nautilus Lifelines are available at a reasonable price, I'd recommend one for this trip. It would really not be fun to drift off to Egypt,India or the Antarctic. Plus, with the pirates in those waters, well, you know.
We dove inside the archipelago of Pemba the entire time so it was quite protected and very fun to see the native Pemban's hauling lumber to the mainland. Oh, btw, do NOT take their pictures! Apparently it's forbidden for religious or superstitious reasons. They got quite agitated when we were shooting pictures of them in their old-fashioned boats one day.
The Pemba "flying foxes" are quite unique, too. Make sure you visit the slave caves just across the border in Kenya. A very sad but important part of the local heritage. You can pay a small fee and take a tour of these caves with a local tour guide.
Funally, I highly recommend bringing bags of candy and small gifts ( pencils, crayons and coloring books or notepads would be great). The children are very poor and any little gifts are very welcome and appreciated. The small village that our live aboard left from, near Dar Es Saalom, had hoards of young children and when we took a walk around town on our last night before leaving on our safari it was so gratifying to hand out treats and gifts. I wish I could remember the name of the village because that is also where our boat also had cottages if you wanted to do a land-based vacation. The slave caves were just around the corner, maybe 1/10th of a mile from their cottage. The couple that owned the place were very sweet and had only owned the business for a short time, including the boat. I would highly recommend them. They are doing a nice job in a difficult area of the world. I think they were Dutch ex-pats.
I posted a few pictures in another thread a couple of days ago and would be happy to start a different thread with more pictures if anybody wishes.
John Duggan of Duggan Diving from San Marcos,TX would be a good person to contact for details of the dive trip that our group took in 2006, since he's the person who did the arrangements.
 
Having read Spillover, there is no way you would ever get me into a bat-occupied cave in Africa!

I would guess the reason nobody knows about diving in East Africa is that the diving infrastructure there is not extensive, and doesn't do the advertising and publicity work that the Egyptians and Indonesians do. I go to Dive Expos and there are tons of people from the Red Sea, Indonesia, and the Philippines; I have never seen anyone there from Africa. I have also never seen any articles in dive magazines, print or online, about East African diving. Sounds like there are some opportunities for marketing there!
 
The bats are an attraction in themselves for me...guess it shows how we all enjoy different things. Ive really only heard of diving Africa through word of mouth, I cant say ive ever noticed a lot of Africa advertising. A tv doco on discovery gave me my first glimpse of Zanzibar underwater years ago and its been on the list ever since.
 
There is everything from whale sharks, to dramatic walls to shallow reefs chock-full of macro life. Please ask any questions you might have about diving or voyaging to Tanzania!
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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