Places | Pemba

Pemba, Tanzania

Pemba is the most northern large island in Tanzania and part of Zanzibar. It's seperated from the mainland by a narrow but deep (700m) channel. Pemba is surrounded by reefs and islands and provides many sheltered anchorages for a cruising boat.

The diving is supposed to be world class, but we were a bit disappointed. Perhaps we did not see so many of the famous large fish because the visibility was rather limited. We also wondered if Pemba was suffering from overfishing. Wherever we went, day and night, we saw people engaged in fishing activities. Women were collecting on the exposed reefs during low tide, fishermen in boats were setting nets, others were handlining from tiny dugout canoes, or spearfishing around their anchored little boats. We saw this everywhere all the time. The reef flats we saw when looking for a nice place to snorkel were all rather barren. However, having said that, we also saw many schools of fish jumping from the water. So we are not sure whether the fishing in Pemba is sustainable or not.