Mafia Island

We just got back from a fabulous 5 nights on Mafia Island with the Banks family and Webb and Jeff.  Mafia is a very small island off the southeast coast of Tanzania.  Mafia is known for it’s diving/snorkeling as well as it’s proximity to the annual whale shark migration.  The whale sharks were the primary reason that we chose Mafia for this holiday’s excursion since they typically are spotted in the area from Oct/Nov – April and the kids have a long holiday from school over Christmas.  You can imagine how excited we were when we could see the whale sharks from the plane (average 30 feet long) on the approach to Mafia, but more on that later.

Mafia is a small island and definitely one of the quieter areas that I’ve ever visited.  No tarmac roads, no street signs, friendly people, and gorgeous ocean…what’s not to love.  Our first stop was Ras Mbisi Lodge on the main island of Mafia.  It reminded us a lot of Emayani Beach Lodge in Pangani.  I think it had 7 bandas, a pool, and a central restaurant/bar/pool area.  Unfortunately the pool looked totally gross and green when we were there, but we were assured that it was safe to swim in.  The kids sure didn’t mind the color, but it was a little disconcerting to not be able to see them when they dove under water.  We spent three nights here reading, going for walks on the beach, and enjoying the ocean breezes which were really more like gusts and hence, kept us from going out on whale shark expeditions. Weather and waves be damned, on the third morning we finally decided that if we couldn’t go from the lodge then we’d try an outing from the main bay in Kilindoni which is where they had been spotted the day before.  We were moving lodges that day anyway and had to get back to that area to get picked up, so we just left a few hours earlier to try our luck.  Well, apparently it wasn’t in the cards for us and after a couple hours on very (!!) rocky seas and a couple of sea sick people later we gave up and called it a day.  I actually enjoyed the outing quite a bit and was shocked at the number and size of jellyfish that we saw.  We are talking thousands and thousands of fairly harmless clear jellies (pictured below), but also the biggest jellyfish that I’d ever seen.  Imagine connecting your arms in a big circle in front of you…yep, that big.  So, even if we did see the whale sharks that day, I’m fairly confident that very few of us would have actually decided to jump in and swim with them. 

Arrival on Mafia:

View from our banda:

So many jellyfish.  Who knew that jellyfish bodies were so fun to play with?  Between the jellyfish in the ocean and the green pool, I didn’t spend any time in the water, but the ocean breezes made that okay.  (The jellyfish were primarily harmless and I’m just a big wimp and don’t like the idea of all the stuff around me….no one else seemed to be bothered by it)

Long walks on the beach looking for pirates

Watched fisherman pulling in their (illegal) fishnets.  If only they were trying for all those jellyfish and sea urchins that they caught….

After the failed whale shark outing we went over to the even smaller island of Chole where there is no electricity, running water, cars or even roads.  We stayed at the fabulous Chole Mjini Lodge.  The lodge is set amidst very old ruins.  It felt so much like we were living a Gilligan’s Island experience; staying in tree houses (with the exception of Webb and Jeff who stayed in the only ground level house) with no electricity or running water, getting water out of buckets with coconuts stuck onto sticks…It must seem hard to imagine a high class lodge without running water or power, but this was it.  Lights were all little solar lanterns, showers were heated with a capful of kerosene poured into a very ingeniously designed contraption, and dinners were privately served among the ruins or overlooking the ocean.  The food was lots of fresh fruits, breads, and seafood and the boat/snorkel outings were a highlight.  Although this place probably isn’t for everyone, we thought that it was amazing.  This will definitely be on our return visit list. 

Our tree house was #Saba/Seven (although Anderson said since it’s the furthest it should be called zero).  It was two stories with a king bed on the main floor and two twin beds upstairs (for the girls). The showers and toilet are separate (but private).  Coffee, hot chocolate, and biscuits were hoisted up by pulley in the morning and we’d enjoy that on the ‘veranda’.  Luckily they also kept a pee bucket there to be used during the night.

The outdoor shower with a kerosene lantern thing below to heat the water.  Literally a capful of kerosene was enough for all 5 of us to shower with. 

On New Year’s Eve we ate overlooking the mangroves and ocean. The kids were served an earlier dinner in the main restaurant area and then we’d send them back to the treehouse to watch a movie with an askari (guard) at the bottom of the stairs in case they needed anything. (Okay, I realize that the movie/iPad is totally not the vibe that we were going for on this particular experience, but having an adult dinner trumped life without technology).

Dinner the second night was served in the ruins (that was not our dinner table: picture was highjacked from Chole’s website, but that’s where we ate one night)

We had great snorkel trips and boat rides.  It was much calmer on this side of Mafia.  All 5 kids really got into seeing all the fish and corals.  I loved swimming with Ash when she’d get so excited about seeing something new.  Definitely some of the best snorkeling I’ve done, if not the best.  Have I used the word amazing too much yet because it also applies here?

We also did a walk though the village on Chole.  In the first picture those all are fruit bats hanging down.  At night they’d all fly right over our treehouse toward the main Mafia Island. They were much bigger than the bats I’d seen before.  We also visited the shipyard where they were building boats.  All done without power tools…really cool to watch. 

Watching the sunset from Chole over Mafia.  Another great African sundowner experience. 

Our boat that we had all weekend was aptly named Bibi na Babu (Grandma and Grandpa in Swahili).

Jeff got to be the co-pilot on the plane from Mafia back to Dar Es Salaam.

On the flight from Dar to Arusha we had a nice view of the peak of (snow-covered) Kilimanjaro exactly 3 weeks from the day that we start the six day trek.  Time to work off that vacation and get serious again.  Another African adventure awaits.