Butiama Lodge, Mafia Island

We had the great opportunity of paddling one of our very own 2 Piece Duo’s in Tanzania last in October. Adventurer and now dear friend, Michel Repas, was brave enough to air freight his Duo to Tanzania and paddle along the Rufiji River Delta all the way to an enchanted paradise called Mafia Island, 150 km south of Zanzibar. After an epic adventure, he sold the Duo to the wonderful Butiama Beach Lodge, and that is where our adventure begins…

Tropical Zanzibar

One Time Airlines flies directly from Johannesburg to Zanzibar Island and has incredibly good rates all year round. We arrived within 4 hours to a very small airport, the size of our kayak shop. After a short taxi drive to Stone Town we checked in to very neat Clove Hotel and within minutes were on the beach and swimming in an ocean as warm as a bath! Heavy looking rain clouds started to appear within moments of our swim. This became our world for the next 10 days…warmth, sunshine, rain storms and lots of snorkelling. It did not take long to adjust to the laid back island lifestyle and tropical topaz blue waters.

Magical Mafia Island

Zanzibar has become a retreat for the masses after a safari on the mainland or summiting Kilimanjaro, so we were quite happy after staying 3 nights in the Northern part of Zanzibar, to take an hour flight via Dar es Salaam to Mafia island. Compared to Zanzibar, Mafia is largely untouched with only 5 lodges and very little going on, this was more what we were looking for.
Mafia Island is only 75 km long and roughly 5 km across. So we had high hopes of paddling all around the Island. Unfortunately due to new moon / Spring tides we did not go all the way around, but we feel we have to go back sooner rather than later before the masses find it. From Butiama Lodge in Kilindoni to Chole Foxes we paddled approximately 30 km in a headwind of 16 knots. it took a lot longer than we expected, so we were very happy to find Chole island, just over a 1km away from Mafia.

Chole Foxes Lodge, Chole Island

It was a long day, but so worth it once we found our accommodation at Chole Foxes Lodge just after sundown. Tucked behind the mangrove and amongst larger than life Baobab trees standing tall and proud amongst the Palm trees. The island consists of Muslim village where everyone knows each other, such a simple and rustic lifestyle, we felt immediately at home. Beautiful,honourable and such kind people was heart warming, and all the children asked was to have there photo taken, the joy on their faces when they saw a reflection of themselves will stay with me forever. It really is the simple things in life that make us truly happy. We need very little.

Snorkelling in Chole Bay

While exploring the bay at Chole, all we had was our mask and snorkel, and besides the thousands of tropical fish we did not see another soul for hours.
We absolutely loved everything about Chole and Mafia Island. We were so warmly received and well cared for, that we cannot wait to go back. We are investigating sending some kayaks over and possibly help the locals set up a kayak tripping business. We saw the most unbelievable coral and fish, in water of between 1- 5 meters. We saw a Humpback mother and calf in the centre of Chole bay and apparently November is good month to see Whale Sharks. So if you like kayaking and tropical waters, lets go back next year?!

More pictures…