Mafia Island

Geography

The Mafia archipelago consists of one large island (394 km²) and several smaller ones. Some of the smaller ones are inhabited, such as Chole Island (2 km²), with a population of 1415. Chole Bay, Mafia's protected deep-water anchorage and original harbour, is studded with islands, sandbanks and beaches. The main town is Kilindoni. The stretch of water between the deltas of the Rufiji River and the island is called Mafia Channel. The popular rumours of pygmy hippo on the island were confirmed by the Tanzania Tourist Board in 2013 because of the first documented sighting by two tourists.

History

Mafia Island's history goes back to the 8th century. The island once played a major role in ancient trade between the people of the East Asia and East Africa. It was a regular stop for Arab boats. On the tiny island of Chole Mjini, just offshore in Chole Bay, once stood a settlement that constituted one of the most important towns controlling trade from the silver mines of Eastern Zimbabwe, which reached the town via the old ports of Kilwa and Michangani.

In the mid-1820s, the town of Kua on Juani Island was attacked by Sakalava cannibals arriving from Madagascar with 80 canoes, who ate many of the locals and took the rest into slavery.

Under a treaty of 1890, Germany took control of Mafia and constructed the buildings still evident on Chole. Germany paid Sultan Sayyid Ali bin Said al-Said of Oman M 4 million for both the island and part of the mainland coast. On January 12, 1915, Mafia was taken by British troops as a base for the air and sea assault on the light cruiser Königsberg.

The name "Mafia" derives from the Arabic morfiyeh, meaning "group" or "archipelago", or from the Swahili mahali pa afya, meaning "a healthy dwelling-place".

In 1995 Mafia Island had financial help from the WWF to make a natural marine wildlife centre which led to establishment of the first Marine Park in Tanzania. The organization continued to provide support to the Island under Rufiji-Mafia-Kilwa (RUMAKI) seascape project to improve socio-economic well-being of the communities through the sustainable, participatory and equitable utilization and protection of their natural resources. Under the current EU-WWF Fisheries Co-management Project, the organization aims at building effective long-term fisheries co-management through establishment of 10 Beach Management Units and to continue supporting Village Community Banks (VICOBA) in the Island to generate optimal, sustainable and equitable livelihood benefits, and which provide a source of lesson-learning for other coastal communities. The WWF Mafia office is under three technical staff - Paul Kugopya (Mafia Fisheries Co-management Officer), Marko Gideon (EU-WWF Fisheries Co-management Project Communication/Awareness Officer) and Renatus Rwamugira (Project Accountant for Mafia).

Tanzania's first multi-user marine park at Mafia Island was established in 1995 following management recommendations and data from surveys conducted by the Society for Environmental Exploration.

In August 2016, a diver, Alan Sutton, from Seaunseen, who had originally been looking for the remains of an old fort rumoured to have been washed away to sea, but instead he came across the remains of a wall stretching almost 4km off Mafia Island. The discovery was detailed in a blog post by Sutton, with images showing remnants of the wall.

Airport

The island can be reached from Dar es Salaam by flights operated by Auric Air

Administration

The Mafia District is administratively divided into 7 wards, listed with area and population: