Pemba Island lies 80 km north of Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean — Tanzania’s second large island territory and one of East Africa’s most overlooked travel destinations. Where Zanzibar has been heavily developed for mass tourism (Stone Town receives hundreds of thousands of visitors annually, the beach resorts at Nungwi and Kendwa are densely built up), Pemba remains essentially untouristed — a hilly, deeply green island of clove plantations, mangrove channels, and fishing communities that receives perhaps 5,000 visitors per year. For travellers who want Indian Ocean beauty without the tourist infrastructure, or whose interests include agricultural heritage (Pemba produces approximately 75% of Tanzania’s cloves and has been the centre of East Africa’s clove trade since the 19th century), dhow sailing, or pristine dive sites, Pemba represents the Indian Ocean experience closest to what the region looked like before mass tourism arrived. This guide covers Pemba for 2025.
Getting to Pemba
By air: Coastal Aviation and Auric Air operate scheduled flights from Zanzibar to Chake Chake Airstrip on Pemba (30 minutes, approximately USD $100–130 one-way) and from Dar es Salaam (1 hour, USD $130–150 one-way). Flight frequency: 2–3 flights per day on each route. By ferry: the MV Serengeti (Azam Marine) operates an occasional Zanzibar-Pemba ferry service (5–6 hours) — unreliable schedule and rough open-channel crossing make this the less recommended option. Fly Pemba.
The Clove Estates
Pemba’s clove industry (introduced by Omani planters in the 1820s and expanded under the Zanzibar Sultanate’s agricultural program) covers approximately 60% of the island’s arable land — the dense, dark-green clove tree canopy gives Pemba a distinctively lush, hilly landscape quite different from Zanzibar’s flatter topography. Visiting a clove estate (ask your accommodation to arrange through local farmer contacts — no formal estate tour infrastructure exists): the clove harvest (August–November) is the most interesting time — Pemba’s entire community participates in the harvest, picking the immature (pre-flower) clove buds by hand from the trees and sun-drying them on woven mats for 4–5 days until they turn the characteristic dark brown. The distinctive clove scent (a combination of eugenol, the essential oil used in dentistry and flavouring, with aromatic aldehydes) permeates the air during harvest season — arriving on Pemba in September with clove drying across every available surface is a genuinely unique sensory experience.
Dhow Sailing
Pemba’s sheltered western coast (protected from Indian Ocean swells by the island itself) provides excellent traditional dhow sailing conditions — the local sailing dhows (ngalawa outrigger canoes and larger jahazi dhows) are the primary transport between Pemba’s coastal villages and the offshore islands. Arranging a dhow trip: negotiate directly with fishermen at the Mkoani ferry port or the Chake Chake channel — a full-day fishing/sailing excursion with lunch at a sandbank or uninhabited island can be arranged for approximately USD $50–80 for a group of 4 (full negotiation required, no fixed tourist pricing). The dhow sailing experience at Pemba is genuine rather than staged — many of the boats you’ll sail on are actively used for inter-village transport and fishing, not purpose-built tourist vessels.
Diving: One of East Africa’s Best Reef Systems
Pemba Channel (the deep-water channel between Pemba Island and the Tanzania mainland) is one of the Indian Ocean’s most biodiverse marine environments — the channel’s depth (600+ metres) and strong tidal currents bring nutrient-rich cold water that supports an extraordinary reef ecosystem on the channel walls and the island’s surrounding reef system. Pemba’s dive sites: the island has some of the most pristine coral in the Western Indian Ocean — the reef walls on the northwest coast (Shimba Hills Reef, Mesali Island) have vertical drop-offs with hard coral coverage of 70–80% (Zanzibar’s most visited sites are 30–40%), enormous sea fans, and fish density (Napoleon wrasse, bumphead parrotfish in schools of 100+, whale shark occasional April–July) rarely seen at more-visited Indian Ocean sites. The one operational dive centre on Pemba: Manta Reef Lodge (on the northwest coast, USD $60/dive) — accommodation-and-diving packages from USD $200/night per person all-inclusive.
