Scuba Diving in Mnemba

Mnemba Atoll is easily reached from Matemwe, and is probably the most popular diving area in Tanzania. With many different dive sites, it offers great diving for both beginner and experienced divers. Diving in Mnemba should be on your bucket list when coming to Zanzibar.

Kichwani

This is a great dive site for beginners or divers who haven’t dived for a while. A gentle sloping wall covered in soft corals starting at 2 m and going down to 30 m. At Kichwani you will find schools of reef fish in hundreds of colours, and this site is suitable for snorkellers too. For the more experienced divers who like macro creatures, pipe fish, leaf fish and nudibranchs can be found.

Wattabomi

This is a great reef for divers of all levels. It starts in 5 m of water at Mnemba’s Moray Eel City, where scorpion fish, stone fish and moray eels can be spotted. Wattabomi is a puzzle of coral blocks which are home to frog fish, the Indian walkman, and many other reef fish. With a bit of luck, you will find blue spotted sting rays hiding under a coral outcrop.

Aquarium

Here you will find long strips of castle corals surrounded by sand. Schools of surgeon fish, moorish idols, parrot fish, groupers, giant trevallies, unicorn and trigger fish can be found hovering above the reef, while macro lovers will be able to find leaf fish, frog fish and nudibranchs. The safety stop is usually done in the blue, with thousands of garden eels popping out of the sand below.

Grouper’s Rock

As the name suggests, this part of the coral reef is home to several groupers. The reef starts at 12 m so the site is suitable for more experienced divers too. Beautiful coral formations combined with schools of small fish make for an unforgettable dive.

Small Wall

Both novice and experienced divers will enjoy this wall dive when diving in Mnemba. The reef starts shallow and slopes down to 30 m, where it drops down vertically to 45-50 m. While you can find nudibranchs, moray eels and octopuses hiding in the reef, look out for jackfish and possibly Napoleon wrasses in the blue.

Turtle Reef

Another great drift dive with a sloping reef with large schools of fish feeding in the current. With a bit of luck, a turtle can be spotted there. Watch out for nudibranchs, shrimps, scorpion fish and octopuses camouflaging between the soft coral.

Sand Banks

This is a perfect relaxing second dive after a deep first dive. There is usually a slight current so you drift along beautiful coral gardens spread out from 8 to 16 m. Hard and soft corals blend gracefully in the mild current, offering shelter to a wide variety of butterfly fish, puffer fish and sweet lips. Large schools of yellow banded snappers, big eyed trevally jacks and bat fish are often found in this area.

Big Wall

A dive site for experienced divers only. The descent is into the blue, and the wall itself starts at 40-50 m, and drops to 80-90 m. With good visibility and currents, large schools of fish can be seen here (barracudas, bigeye trevally jacks), as well as some white tip or black tip reef sharks and Napoleon wrasses. The bottom, covered in large barrel sponges and long whip corals, then slopes up to a shallow reef around 14 m, perfect to finish the dive.