Thanda Island lies inside the Shungi Mbili Island Marine Reserve in Tanzania’s Mafia Archipelago, taken on an exclusive-use basis by one group at a time. Green and hawksbill turtles come ashore to nest on its beaches. Whale sharks feed in the channel to the south from October to March. No other guests share the island, the reef, or the boats for the length of a stay.
Blacktip reef shark pups patrol the shallows off the beach.
The house reef holds more than 200 species of fish. Blacktip reef shark pups patrol the shallows off the beach. Eagle rays and giant groupers work the coral, and dolphins pass through the reserve on their own schedule. Snorkelling gear, dive tanks, kayaks and boats wait in the boathouse, and on the horizon fishing dhows drift, working waters that belong to Mafia Island’s communities rather than the resort.
Swedish entrepreneurs Christin and Dan Olofsson spent ten years negotiating, planning and rehabilitating this uninhabited coral island before Thanda Island opened to guests in August 2016. Christin designed the interiors herself, and her hand is in the white wainscoting and the pale blues and yellows, and in the indoor aquarium set into a wall of the main villa.
A glass-sided pool rises from the main deck like a lit blue cube.
Hand-beaten copper bathtubs are carried down to the sand at the water’s edge and filled with Zanzibar oils and flowers. A glass-sided pool rises from the main deck like a lit blue cube. Inside the villa there is a Steinway, a shelf of Hemingway, a cigar humidor and a wood-fired pizza oven. Power comes from a solar farm, fresh water from desalination and stored rainwater.
The main villa holds five air-conditioned suites, each with a king bed, its own lounge and an ocean-facing patio with showers indoors and out. Two double-storey wooden bandas stand on the far side of the island, hand-carved and roofed in makuti, open enough for the sea breeze to move through them at night. Shared spaces run to a library, a gym and a cocktail bar, and to a dining table set beneath a peaked shingle roof. Extra beds go into the suites for children, and the whole house belongs to whoever has taken it.
Guests complete preference sheets before arriving, and the kitchen works from those. Lobster and crab are bought that morning from fishermen on Mafia Island, oysters lifted off the reef and shucked on the beach, fish curries built on hand-squeezed coconut milk and Zanzibar spice. Lunch is often taken on a tidal sandbank, where the staff put up a tent, carpets, lanterns and a working grill. The incoming tide erases the whole strip of sand before the afternoon is out. Dinner might be a fire on the beach, or a table laid on the deck of an Arab dhow.
The incoming tide erases the whole strip of sand before the afternoon is out.
Whale sharks feed in the Mafia Channel from October to March, and the island’s boats go looking for them. Diving runs on gear made from recycled ocean plastic, with PADI instruction on the house reef minutes offshore and excursions into Chole Bay inside the Mafia Island Marine Park. Seabobs, jet skis, paddleboards and kayaks come out of the boathouse, a dedicated boat handles the game fishing, and a helicopter can be arranged for a day in Zanzibar or a spice farm on the mainland. Ashore there is a floodlit tennis court, a yoga pavilion and a forest trail past nesting egrets.
Rianne Laan has worked as resident marine biologist here since 2017, and Ropes of Hope, a coral nursery programme, employs people from Mafia Island to build rope and mangrove-pole nurseries, grow coral fragments and plant them back onto damaged sections of the house reef. Guests can join the monitoring work alongside her, and nesting turtles are tracked through the season. Mafia Island’s rangers use the island as a base for patrols against dynamite fishing, and a staff of more than forty, most of them from Mafia Island, keeps the place running.
accommodation
Five air-conditioned suites in the main villa, each with a king bed, a private lounge and an ocean-facing patio with indoor and outdoor showers. Two double-storey timber bandas on the far shore sleep four apiece under makuti thatch, with a king bed on the ground floor, two single beds above and open sides for the breeze. Only one group stays on the island at a time.
activities
Snorkelling and diving on the house reef minutes offshore, dive trips into Chole Bay inside the Mafia Island Marine Park, and whale shark boats from October to March. Seabobs, kayaks, paddleboards, jet skis and game fishing from the boathouse. Sandbank picnics, dhow sailing, tennis, yoga and helicopter days across the Mafia Archipelago.
conservation
Thanda Island works with Sea Sense, the Marine Megafauna Foundation and Tanzania's marine parks unit, and gives Mafia Island's rangers a base for patrols against dynamite fishing. Resident marine biologist Rianne Laan works with the Ropes of Hope coral nursery programme, alongside hospitality training and fishing education for young people on Mafia Island.
Get in touch and let’s start the conversation. An initial consultation helps us understand what you’re looking for, whether that’s specific experiences, luxury touches, or marking a special occasion, and from there we’ll guide you through what’s possible so you can decide if we’re the right fit.
Most guests fly into Dar es Salaam and then take a helicopter directly to the island, which takes around thirty five to forty five minutes and is far the simplest arrival. The alternative is a light aircraft to Mafia, about thirty minutes, then a private boat of roughly half an hour to an hour depending on the sea.
Because the island goes to one party at a time, the helicopter often makes sense for the group as a whole. We cost both and time them so nobody is crossing open water at dusk.
It should not be treated as malaria-free. Tanzanian guidance from TravelHealthPro, the UK's official travel health service, and the CDC covers areas below 1,800 metres and names the coastal islands, Mafia among them. The exposure is relatively low compared with the mainland safari areas, but low is not none.
We do not make medical recommendations, and we would not want to. We arrange travel; we are not doctors. Which tablets suit you, how they sit with anything else you take, and what is right for a child are questions for your own doctor or a travel clinic. On the practical part, dusk is the hour that matters, so long sleeves, long trousers and repellent are worth the packing space.
Yes, and taking the whole island is what makes it work. Children of all ages are taken, including very young ones, and cots, toys and games can be arranged in advance.
With exclusive use there is nobody else's holiday to consider, which is the real advantage with small children. The pool, the beach and the sea all need close supervision, and the staff are used to that. Tell us the ages and what you want the days to look like and it is set up before you arrive.
Hot and humid the year round. The long rains fall roughly March to May, with April the wettest month, and short rains come around November and December. June to October is the drier stretch, and July to September the most reliable.
Pack light cottons, swimwear, a sun hat and high-factor protection, reef shoes and a long-sleeved rash top for snorkelling. The sun on water here is fiercer than it feels, and anything forgotten is a long way from a shop.
June to October for the best all-round weather, calm seas and the clearest water, with August to October the strongest of that stretch for diving and snorkelling.
Whale sharks pass through the wider Mafia waters from around October to March, with November to February the best of it, so October and November are the compromise that gets you both good sea conditions and a chance of them. April and May are the long rains and we would avoid them.
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