Zanzibar Recommendations

[andyjeffrey]

Hi There,

Currently travelling in East Africa and planning to go to Zanzibar to do my PADI Divemaster.

Can anyone recommend any particular towns/dive shops on the island for this?... obviously looing for a good outfit in terms of training and safety, but also interested in opinions of which areas of the island are the best for diving in terms of marine life, vis etc.

Many Thanks,
Andy

 

[Lord Melch]

You might want to dry these guys, a pal of mine dived with them a lot, run by Aussies (you can't help that)

One Ocean :: The Zanzibar Dive Center

Some more info here :

http://www.divethedream.com/TheAdventure/Tanzania/Zanzibar.htm

 

[Luko]

Hi There,

Currently travelling in East Africa and planning to go to Zanzibar to do my PADI Divemaster.

Can anyone recommend any particular towns/dive shops on the island for this?... obviously looing for a good outfit in terms of training and safety, but also interested in opinions of which areas of the island are the best for diving in terms of marine life, vis etc.

Many Thanks,
Andy

Andy,

been once in Zanzibar in 2007, and was quite disappointed with both dive conditions and organizations.

Obviously some of the dive shops were there only to get a max of money, independantly of returning any satisfaction back to their customers.
At the time, I was settled at Blue Bay Resort(Kiwengwa), One Ocean was the dive center, which was way overpriced (charging something like more than 120USD for a two dives trip -each dive not more than 45mn-, no other snacks than bananas and bread in between dives... i've seen much better for half the price! ) and somehow not very honest with their replies.

As I am a photographer, I warned the american guide that I would be slow and tailing his group of 8 divers -which I found was too important for a single leader!-, though he didnt seem to care much, and eventually lost me after 20 mn. He came back to fetch me after 5mn as I had already launched my SMD and was going to surface.
Needless to say I stopped diving with them after one day and 2 dives... fortunately my dive trip was continuing in Mozambique, where price is half (although the lady managing the center replied that paying 120USD for 2 dives was the usual fare in the US, as I responded that AFAIK I wasn't diving in the US , she tried to convinced me it was the norm in East Africa, even more expensive in Moz.) and professionnalism twice as serious.
Apart from the bitter experience of the dive center organization, I wasn't very impressed with the spots we dived on... viz was fine, but I found coral & fish life was a bit tame compared to Red Sea, South Asia or even closer Northern Mozambique. keep in mine I only had two dives (but on the other hand I've hardly heard divers who where flabbergasted with Zanzibar diving, it also took me a few dives to compare Moz teeming coral life to Zanzibar's)

In conclusion, my Zanzibar diving was some of the less attractive I've ever experienced... ..Since you're in East Africa, if you want really serious diving continue down south to Pemba Mozambique (Not the island in Tanzania, I am speking of a beach resort in the moz state of Cabo Delgado), I bet it would be cheaper for you, check for instance Pieter's CI divers or Pemba dive and bush camp.

One Ocean might have changed owners, as it was at the time managers from the US, definitely not Aussies.

Nonetheless if you stick to Zanzibar, I've heard better things for dive centers around northern Nungwi, which is also closer to Mnemba island, where most of the diving is done in Zanzibar, and also the place for budget or backpacker accomodation.

 

[simonru]

I profess an interest as i have done all my training with them... up to PADI IDC Staff Instructor.. but for a well run dive operation Buccaneer Diving - 5 Star PADI IDC Centre, Kenya, Zanzibar.

But the Divemaster internships tend to be based in Mombasa where there is a higher frequency and variety of courses and larger number of instructors to take you through the practical application part... and in November they do the IDC.

 

[Christopher_B]

Mnemba and Kendwa on Uguja (commonly called Zanzibar) have excellent divign and great fishlife - Luko - you missed out. Pemba island (the other half of the Zanzibar archipelago) has the best wall diving in Africa with mad coral and great macro to mid-size life. More info here, and links to articles and pics Tanzania and Zanzibar | Indigo Safaris (c'est aussi en Francais Tanzanie et Zanzibar | Indigo Safaris). Swahili Divers / Kervan Saray Beach on Pemba offer DM internships. I can put you in touch with the owner.

 

[Sfxdiver]

I am not speaking from personal experience, but a very good friend of mine spent several months working for Swahili divers on Pemba.

He said the diving was indeed amazing - and relatively untouched or damaged, definately in comparison to Zanzibar by all accounts of divers and customers he worked with. The accounts of his dives and encounters with marine life, seeing whales (above water) and huge pods of dolphins made me very, very envious. Apparently the marco life is just as varied as the larger fish too, a photographers dream!

However I did not hear such great reports about the owner, and again please remember I am not saying this from personal experience. Although presenting a good front for guests, he was reportedly rude and made regular racist remarks towards the local employees, in their native language so guests would not understand. Working as a diver - his health was of second importance to that of money and the customer (admittedly this could be said of a vast majority of dive centres!), and also the working day does not finish once diving activities are over - he was expected to be up with and entertaining or helping the guests until they have gone to bed, an exhausting job after numerous dives and early starts. Also (as with many dive operations) days off were Very far and few between. Only when the hotel was empty did my friend receive more than one day off, after months of continuous graft.

However, this was definately over a year ago at least and perhaps the owners have changed/things were not as extreme as they seemed.

Either way, Pemba's diving is very highly rated! Hope this is of some help - share what you find!

 

[Christopher_B]

made regular racist remarks towards the local employees, in their native language so guests would not understand. Working as a diver - his health was of second importance to that of money and the customer (admittedly this could be said of a vast majority of dive centres!), and also the working day does not finish once diving activities are over - he was expected to be up with and entertaining or helping the guests until they have gone to bed, an exhausting job after numerous dives and early starts. Also (as with many dive operations) days off were Very far and few between. Only when the hotel was empty did my friend receive more than one day off, after months of continuous graft.

However, this was definately over a year ago at least and perhaps the owners have changed/things were not as extreme as they seemed.

Either way, Pemba's diving is very highly rated! Hope this is of some help - share what you find![/B]

I worked at Swahili Divers in 2009 and now send clients there. The owner speaks to the locals in Swahili as they only speak very limited English in the most part. (Though this is being remedied through the provision of English lessons). Raf expects quality from his staff, both local and foreign. If you don't do your job properly, an earful from the boss in a language you understand is not unreasonable.

Raf is a character - being an Indo-Turk or Turkish-Indian (depending on what he is talking about), educated in the UK a strong character is a natural result and you need some to live and run a business on Pemba - that i would liken to a modern-day, browner Basil Fawlty (and have done in various publications). His wife is a Dutch anthropologist who has studied coastal communities on both sides of the African continent. I would suggest that saying he is a racist is uninformed, unfair, and inappropriate at best.

Dive safety is paramount and one of the points he is very particular about. Dive groups are small - one dive guide per four guests typically, and dive guides carry emergency satcom transmitters - I have never seen this anywhere else and I have dived around the world as a photo-journalist. Surface intervals are a minimum of 90 minutes. Company policy on diving is clear, written, and enforced. Dive staff who do compromise it are sacked. Lazy or ambivalent staff don't last (and whinge to their friends apparently).

A dive master or instructor's job does not finish when they get out of the boat. Kit has to be cleaned and the following day's diving prepared. That said, it is hardly hard work. After a morning's dive there is a leisurely lunch and time to relax before either an afternoon dive or preparing kit, greeting new guests, and kitting them up. Everyone eats together anyway, and having a chat with guests from a wide range of backgrounds before, during, or after dinner, for me, is a great way to broaden one's horizons and relax. How having a chat can be credibly described as exhausting is beyond me. There are far harder jobs around. When you agree to work there, it is clear that the working week is a six-day week. Personally I found it a great experience, and the diving is excellent. Photographic opportunities are top-class and I will be going back in November to run a compact camera photography workshop there

UW Compact Photo Workshop | Indigo Safaris

and the world-renowned marine biologist Dr Ewald Lieske likes the place too

The Expert’s Opinion | Indigo Safaris

 

[turkbalikadam]

Hi! This is Raf, I am the Director of Swahili Divers. SFX Diver is correct in that I demand excellence, safety is paramount. Instructors do sadly fall by the wayside when they do not come up to my high standards. Regrettably it is easier to say "Raf was a swine", rather than "I wasn't good enough". I also speak swahili (badly) and my Pemban staff don't speak too much English. So I have brought a TEOFL teacher over to teach them English. SFXdiver is also correct as is ChrisB that we have some of the most intriguing diving. Big things and small. Our water is blue, our walls deep and Pemba is an addictive little island.

We do do divemaster courses, and we charge, if you are NOT good enough, you don't get the certificate until you come up to standard. If that means staying 3 months so be it. If that means you have to leave with no DM ticket, so be it. I will not certify any divemaster that I would not happily employ. (Obviously I don't have a million jobs, but this is the principle)

What I take objection to is the call that I am racist. I know what racism is:

I was brought up in the UK as an ethnic minority, and was subjected to racist abuse for a few years at school.

I also receive racist abuse when I go to Germany every year for the boat show.
In Pemba, as I tell all my instructors, we are the minority, we are guests, we have to behave. Pemba has a unique working environment, it is hard, and instructors who are useless are invited to find alternative employment where they will be happier.

Sure no one is perfect, but I am no racist.

 

[Christopher_B]

SfxDiver, other than the potentially slanderous nature of your unsubstantiated comments (the fact that you are reporting what someone else says they understood of a conversation in a foreign language does not negate the fact that you are the person posting them in the public domain), you might want to consider the possible effect negative comments could have on the local people who depend on the place for employment, especially at a time when the travel and dive industry, like many others, are struggling.

 

[simonru]

SfxDiver, other than the potentially slanderous nature of your unsubstantiated comments (the fact that you are reporting what someone else says they understood of a conversation in a foreign language does not negate the fact that you are the person posting them in the public domain), you might want to consider the possible effect negative comments could have on the local people who depend on the place for employment, especially at a time when the travel and dive industry, like many others, are struggling.

I think it's liable rather than slander since it's the printed written (or broadcast) word.
And saying "I heard someone say" or "it's reported that". Maybe the webmaster should remove this post?