Mafia Island lies in the Indian Ocean off the Rufiji delta, about 130 km south of Dar es Salaam, and is reached by a short scheduled flight. The main island covers 394 km² and had 66,180 residents in 2022, most living from fishing and small-scale farming around the town of Kilindoni. The island's southern and eastern waters form the Mafia Island Marine Park, Tanzania's first multi-use marine park, established in 1995 and covering 822 km². Its core is Chole Bay, a deep, reef-sheltered anchorage dotted with islets and sandbanks, where the diving and snorkelling are concentrated. Off the west coast a resident population of whale sharks is seen from around October to March, and swimming with them is the island's best-known activity. On Juani Island the ruins of Kua, a Swahili trading town, and on Chole Island the remains of a nineteenth-century settlement give historical interest. Lodges are few and small, so the island stays quiet compared with Zanzibar.
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