Overview
What makes this journey special
Sail by dhow to the most traditional village in the Mafia archipelago – a fishing and boat-building community little changed in generations.
About an hour’s sail south of Chole, Jibondo Island is the most traditional of the archipelago’s settlements. Most of its two thousand inhabitants live from fishing – especially for sharks – and from octopus baiting on the reef flats.
Jibondo is renowned as a boat-building centre, with much of the timber brought from the forests around mainland Kilwa. In the village centre, look for the carved door frame on the mosque, said to come from the old settlement at Kua on Juani Island.
The excursion runs with the tides inside Mafia Island Marine Park. Your guide times the sail so you can walk the village, watch dhows being built by hand and stop to swim or snorkel at a sandbank on the way back.
