The island of Mafia, located just 25 kilometers off the coast of Tanzania and 160 kilometers south of Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean, is less known of its “close”, but equally fascinating and definitely less touristy place. Much of the coral reef that surrounds its coastline is protected by a marine park established by the Government of Tanzania (living there more than 50 varieties of coral, turtles, dugongs), while inside the vegetation you can find mangrove forests, palm trees, baobabs and rainforests, where you can meet many species of monkeys, flying foxes and bushbabies.
But where does the name of the island come from? It is certainly a tribute to “our thing” rather than  being a contraction of the Arabic term “morfi’a”, which means “archipelago” (in fact the island of Mafia is the principal of an archipelago of nine islands). A second possibility is that the name comes from the first family of merchants who settled there from Yemen, the Ma’afir of Merku. A third possibility is that Mafia refers to an ancient Persian word which means “water”, because the island is rich in springs, or, as a last resort, may derive from the Arabic word “mafi”, which means “junk” but considering the beauty of the island this explanation seems unlikely.
The best time for diving is the one that runs from September to March. The place is easy to organize excursions and activities both in the beach and on land. The island is accessible by air from Dar es Salaam and the flight takes about 35 minutes. You can also choose from various options for staying on the island, such as the Mafia Lodge, the Butiama Beach, with sea view bungalow, or Pole Pole, which, among other things, is reported by Travel + Leisure as one of the 25 best ecolodges on the planet.
Mafia Island on the map
By Ina K
Photos: safari-partners , jenkinson2455
