After our full day sightseeing of the island, we ended up in Utende, a village on the southeast coast of Mafia Island, situated within the boundaries of the Marine Park (🎟️59,372 TZS). It is East Africa’s premier diving and marine life destination, offering diverse habitats and encounters with whale sharks, humpback whales, and turtles. Divers and snorkelers can see a wide variety of marine life, including potato cod, eagle rays, diverse tropical fish, and healthy coral gardens, in sites such as Kinasi Pass in Chole Bay. As a part of the Marine Park, visitors are subject to a daily conservation charge, even if they are not visiting anything, and you can simply feel how this nonsense fee is killing the tourism business and development of the area.
