Whale sharks
silent reefs, no crowds

mafia isn't part of zanzibar in the official sense — it sits in tanzania's pwani region rather than the archipelago — but to a traveller it belongs to the same chain of indian ocean islands. with unguja and pemba it shares the white sand, the warm water, the swahili-arab heritage. what sets it apart is what isn't there: no big resorts, no kitesurf scene, no tourist economy in the usual sense.

what mafia has instead is the mafia island marine park — 822 square kilometres of protected reef and ocean, made a national park in 1995 and now reckoned one of the best-managed marine reserves in the western indian ocean. the reefs are pristine, the fish abundant. and from october to march each year, the warm currents draw in dozens of whale sharks, who feed for months in the shallow bay near kilindoni — making mafia one of only two places in the world where you can reliably swim with whale sharks in season.

for divers, mafia is unmatched. for everyone else, it offers slow beach days, traditional swahili village life, dhow trips to the outer islands, and the rare feeling of an indian ocean island untouched by mass tourism. five to seven nights is about right. fewer isn't enough; more is a luxury.