Two guards leaned against a shed, indifferent to the fact that a plane had just deposited the islands tourists on the runway. A handwritten sign above the door read Mafia Airport. I didnt know what Id let myself in for, but in a place called Mafia it had to be an experience.
Mafia is an island in the Indian Ocean a short distance from the Tanzanian coast and about 100 miles south of Zanzibar. Hardly a tourist Mecca, but then I wasnt looking for crowds and nightclubs. The author of the Bradt Guide to Tanzania has never met anyone who has visited Mafia Island, and he didnt get off the boat when he sailed that way. It was of little surprise, therefore, that I was one of only six people arriving that day.
What was a surprise was that the family was met at the airport and that my companion and myself were not. There was no public transport, no taxis and no traffic. In fact, I was starting to believe that the Land Rover which had left us was the islands only vehicle. A second Land Rover eventually arrived, a battered pickup that should have been put out to grass 20 years ago. We were loaded into the back with the luggage and bumped across the potholed, creviced remnants of a washed-out road.
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My apprehension vanished the moment we arrived at Kinasi Lodge. There was an instant transformation from the run down to the stylish. Set on a bank in palm-shaded grounds, the complex of thatched huts overlooked a mangrove-fringed coral beach on Chole Bay. I was so surprised to find electricity, plumbing and running water that it didnt matter that a clutch of bright red-striped frogs had taken up residence in the waste pipe.
Apart from its name, which means no place in a dialect of Swahili and Arabic, Mafia has some prime attractions. The lack of development has preserved an air of tranquility. It is also the place to dive, boasting a coral reef with one of the greatest biodiversities in the world, perhaps second only to the Great Barrier Reef.
Diving is exceptional around Mafia. Chole Bay provides good diving conditions to see an array of smaller reef fish. There are some 53 genera of foliose corals and an abundance of branching, fire and staghorn corals.
Larger marine life can be seen in the Kinasi Pass, where the tide can bring two-metre groupers, snappers and ribbontail rays, humphead parrot fish, cobia, and sharks and turtles. The Mchangari wall starting at a depth of five metres is a vertical drop of 25 metres and gives dramatic views.
Sports fishing has also been encouraged for deep water and coral species. Kinasi has a scuba centre with a PADI dive instructor, and also offers anything from a few hours from a dhow in the bay, to trips to more remote stops.
The islands are so close to the mainland, that there is an extraordinary interface between estuarine, marine and coral reef eco-systems. It is a place where inland and sea birds share the skies and sea hippos swim out from the mainland. Beyond the mangroves and coral beaches lie rich sea grass beds where dugongs feed. This range of habitats prompted the creation of the countrys first national marine park in 1991, for which a management system is being developed by the Worldwide Fund for Nature.
The next morning, I took a stroll around Utende, the local village, and a young lad was appointed to show me around. Jambo Steve, I greeted him drawing on my Swahili vocabulary which consisted of about 10 words. How do you say Steve in Swahili? I asked. In Swahili we say Steven, came the reply in perfect English. I decided to keep the other nine words to myself.
At the other end of the village we came to Mafia Lodge, the second lodge on the island. The family that arrived with us were the only guests and as far as they knew there were no facilities for diving, fishing, or excursions. It consisted of a split-level terrace of concrete chalets. Although upgraded, they were unsympathetically designed with stone cladding and green roofs.
The village had largely grown up to service Mafia Lodge but now, with annual occupancy down to 5 per cent, it was generating little income. With so much dependent on tourism, it illustrated a need for projects to work with the local community.
Later that day, across the bay on Chole Island, I was to see a remarkable example of just how this could be done. Three years ago, the islanders had a meeting with 210 of the 217 adults attending. They voted to develop the island for tourism with a plan to build a school, clinic and water collection system and invited a hotelier called Emerson Skeens to help. The funds came from a 50 per cent grant from the British High Commission, 10 per cent from the villagers and 40 per cent from Skeens.
Beyond the beach we came to the tourism part of the project. The lodge was still embryonic, with half-inch platforms and frames between the baobab trees. One hut had been built on high stilts overlooking the site, a kind of tented tree house with a thatched roof.
A few days later I caught up with Skeens in Zanzibar. He was suffering from nicotine withdrawal and the after effects of an over-indulgent party. Despite this setback, he exuded extroversion.
I give parties you see, he croaked. Theme parties. Last night we held one in the Sultans baths all decked out with carpets, dancing girls, fire-eaters and the lot. I had a feeling I wasnt going to hear the details. I could see why the project at Chole appealed to him, but I could also see why the people of Chole had chosen him to bring something different and sympathetic to their island.
There has been a great deal of development on Zanzibar. In the north there are dive centres and beach chalets, secluded bays, fishing villages and coral sands. But there are also large resorts where guests fly in for a beach holiday.
Famed as the Spice Island through, Zanzibar has always been an exotic location. The spice trade is fascinating and excursions take visitors to the spice gardens to see how the plants are grown. Atmospheric as this is, it is quite different from the garden plots in Mafia and Chole where the only things grown are staples for local consumption.
In Stone Town, Zanzibars capital, there seemed to be more hotels than there could be tourists. Yet for a few months a year they are full. 60,000 visitors annually fill the hotels that range from the luxury Serena Inn to quiet B&Bs. This is a far cry from the 500 to 600 foreigners that visit Mafia.
As I left the Tanzanian islands, I was struck by the unique situation. With Zanzibar as their benchmark, both for economic development and as an example of dangerous over-expansion, the islanders of Mafia and Chole are approaching tourism differently.
Tourist developments here are done with an extraordinary style, based on dreams and bordering on fantasy. Yet the projects work, and are benefiting the people and environment. I left with the confidence that Mafia will always maintain its integrity.
Mafia Island in Tanzanias Indian Ocean is the place to dive, boasting a coral reef with one of the greatest biodiversities in the world.