When South Africans hear “Pemba”, they immediately think Mozambique, prompting a little geography lesson. Pemba Island, Tanzania, is part of the Zanzibar archipelago and is situated to the north of Unguja Island, which is the one most people think of when talking about Zanzibar.
Out trip had been in the planning for a long time, ever since we heard that Michael and Carlotta of Afro Divers were building their own lodge. Our initial November 2025 plan had to be postponed due to some logistical problems at the new lodge, but finally we were on our way.
After a night sleepover at the airport City Lodge in Johannesburg, we boarded our early morning Safair flight to Zanzibar.
Once through the chaos of Customs & Immigration upon arrival in Zanzibar, we had to find our way to the Domestic terminal for our Auric Air flight to Pemba Island. Fortunately we found a very helpful porter to guide us and help with our luggage, since this would have been quite a mission otherwise.
The flight to Pemba, in a Cessna Caravan, carrying a pilot and 13 passengers, took about 35 minutes.
This was followed by an hour’s drive, going progressively more off the beaten track.
Eventually, 12 hours after we started queuing for check-in at OR Tambo International Airport, we arrived at Afro Divers lodge, to a very friendly reception in Paradise.
After catching up with Michael and Carlotta over a couple of beers, we sat down to an excellent dinner of Fish Ceviche, followed by a Beef Burger. We decided to skip dessert and opted for an early night in preparation for our first day of scuba diving in three years.
During dinner, we had an interesting visitor to our table.
Etienne's Camera 