Africa’s First Underwater Hotel Room Opens in Zanzibar

If you are not scared to have tropical fish and perhaps even sharks peep through your bedroom window, 4 metres under the surface of the Indian Ocean, then this unique underwater room of The Manta Resort on the Zanzibari island of Pemba is surely making its way on to the proverbial bucket list of places to visit and stay at.

Accessible by boat from the shore of the main resort, those privileged to stay for a night or more will be treated to the spectacle of marine life from the reef below, at day illuminated by the sunlight shining through the water and at night through spotlights which shows the guests who and what is lurking out there in the waters around them.

The unique room was designed by Swede Mikael Genberg who opened the first of such experimental rooms in the year 2000 on a lake near Stockholm. The idea, though followed through in other parts of the world like Florida and the Maldives, has not before been seen anywhere on the African continent and Pemba can rightly claim an African first for the launch of such a novel idea.

Pemba is renowned for some of Tanzania’s best diving spots and while generally quieter than the main Zanzibari island of Unguja, it is also a destination with much lesser tourist numbers probably due to the added time it takes to get there and the added cost of flying to Pemba, or taking a boat from Unguja or the mainland. Those visiting however have put up great reviews on TripAdvisor, suggesting that together with the equally if not even more remote Mafia Island this is a secret tip for an absolute dream holiday on a tropical island.