Mafia Island Lodge

The Mafia Island Lodge stands amidst tall palms on a sandy beach in Chole Bay, in the heart of the marine park near Utende village on South coast of Mafia. This island is the largest of a small archipelago of islands and atolls and is truly a paradise in the Indian Ocean. Chole Bay is the only beach unaffected by the tide.

The main lodge has a relaxing atmosphere with a large open restaurant, bar and lounge area.

The Beach Bar is the perfect place to relax with a cocktail and watch the African sunset or enjoy a lunch of freshly caught fish, salads and sandwiches.

The Lodge features a fully equipped dive PADI center, excursions, snorkeling, sailing and gift shop. Board games, table tennis and volleyball are also available.

Mafia Island Lodge has 14 Superior rooms, 18 Standard rooms and 2 Family rooms. They are all self-contained with air conditioning. Twin and double beds are available. The Family rooms, which are made out of 2 comfortable connecting rooms with one shared bathroom, each have their own veranda overlooking garden and sea. They may comfortably accommodate a max of 5 guests. All rooms have garden and sea view. Hot and cold water is available 24 hours a day.

Mafia Island Marine Park provides a pristine and unspoiled paradise for divers and hosts a magical and untouched ecosystem of beautiful coral reefs and sandbanks. Almost all Mafia’s best diving is at depths of less than 30m making it a sport diver’s paradise.

The reefs of the archipelago offer a staggeringly beautiful and varied display of marine life. The excellent condition and high diversity of the reefs mean that most kinds of tropical marine habitat occur here including exposed fringing reefs, rock walls, soft coral and algae dominated reefs.

So far, over 400 species of fish and 48 genera of coral have been identified, and Mafia’s position adjacent to the Rufiji River makes for a unique ecosystem, also partly responsible for one of the longest whaleshark spotting seasons in the world in the channel between Mafia and Tanzania.

Fifteen years of Marine Park protection and supervision has ensured noticeable effects in terms of large, healthy corals and big schools of fish, and it is common for divers to comment on the size of our pelagic species, namely groupers.