Private Dolphin Tour And Snorkeling At Mnemba Island Reef

Mnemba Atoll felt like stepping into a postcard — warm turquoise waters, dancing fish, and a surprise sea turtle gliding by. We also swim with dolphins nearby. Pure magic. If you do one thing in Zanzibar, make it this.

Arrived to a rough sea. Was surprised we had no safety brief or reassurance about the sea conditions. In fact we were told very little. Arriving at the reef about a dozen body’s were already anchored. Less than 10% of people were venturing into the water. It was too rough. Others were visibly unwell. We did snorkel, it was an amazing if brief experience. There were no dolphins. Obviously superior beings to avoid the weather conditions. Dolphins of course we have no control over but I feel that today’s trip was purely to income generate and not good value.

Hmm a bit pricey. I suspected they act as the middle men between the toutists and those who actually own the boat and gear at the location. I highly recommend tourists to take a cab straight to the location, then hire a boat. It will be soo much cheaper.

We stayed in Zanzibar 4 days and have chosen Ali for our excursions thanks to very good reviews on TripAdvisor. Ali was really kind and caring. He organized 2 private excursions for us: - excursion to the island of Mnemba, where we were able to see dolphins and swim with them. After swimming we went back in our private boat and got a big and delicious platter of local fruits. Then we had a fantastic lunch in a small restaurant on the beach with a great view. We ate fish, octopus, shrimps and lobsters (all included). - We also trusted Ali for a second combined excursion: Prison Island, Stone Town and spice farm. Everything was perfect. As for Mnemba Ali came to pick us up at our hotel. Everything was perfectly organized. We had a fantastic guide to visit every thing. We learned a lot (history, culture, economy, way of life, the various spices the country is growing and exporting… The service offered by Ali is truly professional. He is an honest and serious person. In addition, his prices are affordable and very reasonable. If you are looking for good value for money, do not hesitate to contact him. He will be able to meet your needs and advise you based on what you want to do. He offers many customized quality programs. He can search a guide speaking your language. We strongly recommend Ali. Below are his contact details, do not hesitate to call him or contact him by WhatsApp : Ali +255 778 943 116 Thanks a lot to Ali for everything.

We booked the Tour in Kiwengwa with Consiglio, i saw the Dolphins the very first time. Unfortunately, nothing remained of the initially positive impression. More than 15 boats were chasing them, jump in for a minute and go out hunting all over again. The snorkling was even worse i have never seen something similar! Destroyed the corales with the anchores! How you can earn such good money with such damage to nature in 2024 remains a mystery to me. The guides, agencies, hotels and even Tripadvisor should be fined for this.

Let’s start with this was not a 4 hour tour. For us it lasted 2 hours - including from the time we were picked up at your hotel. We were picked up at 7am and were done by 9:10am. Then - swimming with the dolphins experience went south quickly. Once we navigated to a soo in the ocean we waited for the dolphins. That was ok… however, at least 10 more boats were already which, at the moment, was not a big deal for us… Once there was word that dolphins had been spotted, it become, literally, a boat race to get to the dolphins. All boats circled the dolphins and we were yelled to jump… by the time we and everyone else hit the water, the dolphins had been scared and submerged. We found ourselves in the water getting hit or avoiding being hit by the boats. We were asked to get quickly on the boat so we could chase the dolphins and repeat. By the second attempt there were just too many boats and we knew it was not safe nor worth to jump in the water at this point. In addition the dolphins were scared so they remain swimming on the bottom of the ocean. We felt awful for the dolphins! After this we went snorkeling. The experience was good but again too many boats and people. We snorkeled for about 15 minutes. When we returned to the boat, we were offered pineapple, papaya, ripe avocado, and small bananas which were just cut without any sanitary consideration, while we were swimming and placed in a tray on the floor of the boat. So the tray got salt water on it almost immediately. This is raw-No napkins, no plates, no sanitary protocol. NO SANDBAR - part of the tour included the sandbar. we were told there was no sandbar because at that time of the day the water is high. Wish they have clarified this in their promotion. So we headed back to the shore where we were dropped at a beach to get transported back to our hotel - under other circumstances I would have come to terms and accepted the disappointing experience but with a price tag of $135 per person - it is a rip off.

Amazing , swimming with wild dolphins is surnatural . The water is warm , the corals are amazing , not to many paole, well organnize from A to Z

This was one of the few places that do pick ups from further down the island which is such a bonus but the experience itself was absolutely amazing. The captain made sure we were ok the whole time jumping in with us when we swam with dolphins always checking in that we were ok and were able to see them. The snorkeling was also amazing the captain was showing us the different fish and telling us about them took photos close up further down of the reef and of us it was such an exceptional experience I would highly recommend to go with them especially seeing other boats with people jumping in without the captain it just made you feel safer with him there with you as he also held the hand of one of our friends so was slightly scared. The fruit was also amazing and freshly cut onboard.

Horrible experience. Driver came 1h late. We were with the dolphin not even 5 minutes. I would not recommand this trip. It’s actually worth 0 start !

The private taxi picked us up on time and he coordinated with the boat operators as soon as we reached the beach! I recommend going early around 6:30am. Not too many boats at all and more chance of seeing Dolphins.. we swam with the dolphins for a really good period of time. They didn’t seem alarmed by our presence. The guys on the boat held our GoPro for us and got some great footage! Couldn’t have asked for more!

Boat & ocean lovers, don’t miss this opportunity to Enjoy the beauty of the nature at Zanzibar - Mnemba Island. The Best part of the trip was seeing wild dolphins in their natural habitat. There was no need for all kind of fresh fruits or snorcheling with different type of fishes. Captain Mário did manage it all! Only thing we needed to do was come to the beach in the time that we selected. 100% recommended from us! Thank you Captain! 🩵

Lovely experience with my family, for the first time we had actually swim with the dolphins 🐬, the experience was completely different with what we have done in other countries. We started the trip early at 5:00 a.m, it was unbelievable and the only sad thing is that we didn't bring go pro to film it. Sutan Tours did an amazing Job.

Extremely flexible and great care! Had a lovely time swimming with the dolphins and snorkelling at the reef!

Fantastic trip, seeing the Dolphins under the water whilst we were snorkelling was the best experience of the holiday.

Terrible experience. They are disorganized. Pick up was not planned well, boat was late, drop off at unknown location without any information. Tour operator guy was very rude and arrogant. Even after providing him all the details about my address, he did not pick me up by boat. He took me to another meeting point by walk , from back alley, village area when I was wearing a bikini. I was solo and he took me to very unsafe area by walk. Lot of Masai were chasing me. When I called operator , that guy was shouting at me , talking arrogantly and said my negative reviews wont affect them. For girls and family, this tour is not safe.

Way to many boats circling around and crashing imot each other and it was really chaotic. I think it also scared the dolphins

I cant recommend Sultan Tours. We had booked two tours with them during our stay. Trip 1: Unfortunately we were sick and wanted to rescedule the trip. We contaced them 3 hours before the trip. They told us it wasnt possible anymore, as the driver was already at the hotel (3 hours befor pick up?) and we would have to book it again (which we didnt). We then asked for a possible partial refund. They were very communicative at first and asked us to go thru viator as we booked the trip with them. This would take a few days. So we did that. After we did the second trip, they told the agency that they wouldnt give a partial refund and blocked our number on whatsapp and didnt respond to any communication anymore... Trip 2: We booked the private Delfine Tour with pick up at 7am. They asked us to pick up already at 6am, as the chances to see dolphins where higher in the morning and there would be less people. We agreed. Pick up worked fine and we were on the sea with just 3 more boats at the beginning. But then we didnt went dolphin watching, first they took as snorkeling and we waited so so long to look for dolphins, that at that point we were on the sea with around 50 other boats. In addition they dont respect the dolphins at all. As soon as one boat sees one, all the boats start chasing them, cutting of their way, circling them and pushing them.in other directions. Also please note that you can no longer visit the island mnemba, as it has been privatized. So you will just we driving around the island, not allowed to set foot on it. We were not informed about this prior to the tour, nor was it mentioned anywhere.

My favorite part of my trip to Zanzibar. Highly recommend their group for their organization. You get picked up at 6-8 am the driver is super respectful. You get dropped off at the beach where the guide will take you to three stunning destinations dolphins, snorkling, and finally a gorgeous coast line at mnemba island. All my friends went followind my recommendation and had a memorable experience

TLTR: Overall, a truly great experience but only if you do see some dolphins in my opinion (and there only a low- medium chance you may not see them). Rest of the activities were good but not something I would go out of my way to experience. The experience was quite good and broken down into three parts: 1. Boat Ride & Guide: The guides were very hospitable and made things very easy for us. They listened to when we were feeling a little rough on the boat and they gave us a good explanation to the marine life and island whenever we had any questions. They provided us also with a fruit platter which was some of the freshest and tastiest fruits I have had in a while. 2. Snorkeling: The snorkeling spots were much deeper into the ocean than we thought, the guides took us to a good spot where we saw the coral reef and a decent number of fish. However, the corals seemed lackluster as they were grey and lacked a variety of fish. It might be the case that they are slowly dying from the constant boats that pass by and drop anchors but I am not completely sure. This part of the tour in my opinion could be less focused on or skipped altogether. 3. Dolphin Swimming: More than swimming it feels like you’re chasing the dolphins to get a chance to see them underwater. The dolphins did take some time to find (and while waiting we did the other activities) and there were many other boats at the location when the different boats work together communicated to spot them. This was definitely the highlight of the tour when you get a chance to see them up close however they do move quickly so it’s only a few seconds each time you dive in. I’m not sure on how ethical this is given that the boats do feel like they chase them every time they come up for air however to be honest this did have a sense of thrill to it. I don’t believe they do any harm since it seemed like the captains let the dolphins do their thing and just try to get close to see them (I’ve not researched into the topic so this is just my feeling during the experience).

We had really a nice time on this tour! The staff was very friendly, and accommodating for the pick up time in front of our hotel. We made snorkelling at sunrise & after we swam with dolphins (not too much people because we were here very early)! It's worth going early because we were only 3/4 small boats, rather than going on a dolphin hunt with hundreds of tourists which also try to touch them and thus make them flee. A good point for this crew which was concerned about the environment by giving the recommendation not to touch anything (corals, fishes...) We got also fruit after snorkelling. It was a great time & I recommend Sultan tour ! Thanks guys

That was a nice trip actually and the organizer was really helpful plus we had a baby so during the snorkeling the guyz helped us to hold the baby which it made difference to enjoy our trup

This was a fun day in and out of the water. Despite the rain and minimal dolphins, our guide was very accommodating and friendly which made for a nice trip. You cant control dolphins so if you want to get a good chance at swimming and seeing a pod of them I strongly recommend going as early as possible.

My wife and I had an amazing time on our private tour with the dolphins and swimming around the reef.. it was our honeymoon and such a great experience. We truly appreciate the service and hospitality. Great tour guides and also the company was great to deal with. Very happy we chose SultanTours Zanzibar. If you are thinking of booking a trip - make sure to book with this company. Thank you again everyone at SultanTours.. great memories forever.. thank you for sending us the pics and videos of our swim with the dolphins and fish. 🙏🇨🇦 Much love. J & B

We had an amazing time on this tour!! We booked this last minute the evening before and we’re picked up on time at 7:00am. I did make sure to confirm this via WhatsApp with the company just to be sure. We swam with the dolphins which was one of the most incredible experiences you’ll ever have! Then we went and swam with tons of fish over a reef which was also fantastic! We found Nemo and Dory! We got water and fruit on the way back. Great time, one of the best things we did in our trip!

Great morning, got to see the dolphins and also sand bar and some Colorful fish. Pick up from our resort was great- AC van. We have 4 kids and loved it

Our captain was excellent, our guide was extremely helpful (even grabbing the camera, diving deep, and getting some great footage for us), and the food was delicious. Highly recommend!

Never responded when contacted and claimed to arrive 30 minutes late after i had to book with someone else last minute. Refused to give me a refund and i had to dispute the charge with my credit card company.

Fun to see the dolphins and the snorkeling was very good. The 2 locals on the boat were very good about listening to what we wanted to do, and also led us around the reef when snorkeling, seeing lots of things. The evening before the tour, we got an email asking to change the pickup time from 9 to 7. We replied that was fine, but apparently emails take a long time to reach the recipients, and they said they never received it. So we waited 2 hours for our pickup. Instead of a reply button, they should have said to call if that’s the only reliable way to get in touch.

We got a text at 6:30 in the morning while we were asleep, trying to arrange to pick us up earlier than we had originally arranged, as they said "chance of seeing dolphins after 9:00 was very low." As we didn't receive the text until after 8:00, and we had gotten in so late the night before, we opted to keep the same pickup time. Our driver picked us up from Stone town and drove to the beach, maybe 45 minutes away. The whole time he played really loud nasty rap music with explicit lyrics. Not a fan. Our boat was tiny and looked sketchy. Our captain looked like a teenager, and I was sad he wasn't in school. He spoke almost no English, although he did the best he could. There were four of us, but only 3 snorkels, so I didn't get to snorkel at all. My friend said the snorkeling off Mnembe was fabulous, like swimming in an aquarium. I had to take his word for it. Our fruit was was delicious, although I noticed a lot of the pineapple tops and other things that the men were throwing in the water were simply washing up on the beach. Despite our late start, we saw lots of dolphins. We got so close to the dolphins - I am sure that the kind of dolphin harassment we participated in would have been illegal in the United States. There were a ton of boats and people diving into the water. I am surprised no one got hit by a boat. It was a little crazy.

We paid for and had a confirmation. They never showed. We tried email, call, what's app, and Google chat, and receive no reply. Hopefully I can get money back from credit card company

NO LIFE JACKETS ONBOARD OF A SMALL BOAT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WAVY OCEAN! The answer we got is that “we should have asked for life jackets in the beginning if we want them” NO DOLPHINS WERE SPOTTED IN THE SO CALLED DOLPHIN TOUR. The description is inappropriate. It does not seem to be easy to spot dolphins as claimed by the advertisement. THE CREW DOES NOT SPEAK ENGLISH. If you combine this with the lack of safety you can just imagine how stressful the trip was! THE TEAM HAS DECIDED TO CHANGE THE PICK UP TIME WITHOUT INFORMING US IN A TIMELY MANNER. The night before the departure, the team has replied to an email I have sent on that day telling that they prefer a pick up two hours earlier. With the very bad internet connection I had in the hotel, it was practically impossible to avoid confusion due to lack of professionalism and carelessness of the organizers who did not inform me for weeks about the change in the pick up time.

Beautiful snorkelling and view of fishes and coral reef. Frsh fruit snacks were good. Guide/captain was on time, but otherwise did not engage with us much. Great to swim with dolphins, but the amount of boats and activity around the dolphins must be very disturbing to them. I would advise going when there a re fewer tourists.

Excellent! The guide was very kind and we snorkled a lot. Recommend for bigger groups that want a private tour. This is a private tour. If you are solo and want to book for cheaper then wait until you are in zanzibar to book.

This was a wonderful experience. The guides were very friendly and my wife and I where in good hands. It was a lovely boat trip. The snorkling was very beautiful. We also got very delicious fruit and were offered water. After that we saw the dolphins and went to Mnemba beach. It was very lovely.

From the planing process few months before, to the end of it, it was a 5-star excellent service. Ahmed who helped us with all the big and small questions about the trip was amazing. This helped us a lot on what we need, how it works etc. He was very helpful, he listed to us, he answered all our question and genuinely very nice guy. We definitely recommend doing it!

Incredible trip, and it is the only trip that we ever did in Zanzibar. we loved the snorkeling so much, the water so clean and clear with so much of sealife. We did enjoyed much the snorkeling and the Sandbank.

I really had a great time on this trip, the snorkeling experience was amazing and Ahmed did snorkel with us, I saw so many unique species of fishes and amazing corals. Also it was our first time to see dolphins in their nature, we did book dolphins watching trip in Seychelles but we didn't saw any but on this trip we saw plenty of dolphins so closer and we got a chance to swim next to them.

We really enjoyed this trip! It was private with just my partner and I so felt very special. The two guys on the boat were very friendly and professional. We spent an hour snorkelling, visited a beautiful tropical island then went to see the dolphins. There was delicious fruit too.

Our most memorable trip in Zanzibar, everything was very well organized. We did get to meet the most friendliest dolphins in my life playing around you so calmly. The ocean was so calm with best colors that makes it look like it is not real, like you are on a dream or an imagination. You should do this trip, The Sultan Tours is the best in Zanzibar.

After the booking was done. I spent one day between viator and the tour organizer to change the place of pick up. The tour operator did not want or could not do the necessary steps. During the tour absolutely no explanation have been provided to snorkeling beginners. After the dolphin watching we have been snorkeling and the boat captain gave food to the fishes so that they could come close.

great excursion! not transmitted emotions! well organized! if I hadn't seen the dolphins myself and hadn't dived, I would never have believed it.

What a lovely day, words cannot describe the hospitality and better treatment. We started the trip around 8 a.m, went to the dolphins and we did swim very closer to the dolphins, it was our first time seeing so many dolphins and later we went to the reef and snorkel, it was such a great snorkeling experience, we so many fishes and beautiful corals. I really love everything on this trip.

It was a beautiful and amazing morning with dolphins and a lot of fish to watch. view is really Nice too. Thank you

Ohhh my favorite trip in Zanzibar, Ahmed and Msomali were so supportive, at Dolphins, Ahmed help my kid swim with the Dolphin and at the reef he took us all around to explore, it was so beautiful, we so alot than what we expected so colorful and beautiful fishes.

Excellent experience. Traveled with my mom who has some difficulty swimming. Ahmed and his staff were happy to help her snorkel and ensured we both enjoyed the beautiful underwater sea-life!

This entire trip was magical, and memorable. Ahmed and his team were kind, on time and organized! It was a great experience for our family of 5! They picked and dropped us off at our hotel, and had a boat ready and waiting for us. They had water and fruit and handled all aspects of the tour well. The dolphins were incredible to see and they helped ensure we not only got to see them from the boat but also snorkel to see them under water. We saw two sets of dolphin families very close to our boat! We went to a coral reef and caught some beautiful and colorful fish and had a lovely time on the sandbar! He didnt rush us at all and went at our pace for the day which we appreciated so much. 5 plus stars for this tour and highly recommend to with kids!

What a wonderful adventure! This is definetely one of my favorite memories and a MUST for anyone visiting this beautiful island. Our host was lovely, insightful, punctual, and one of the kindest souls we have met in Zanzibar. Not only did we get spoiled with the most delicious fruits (the best coconut I have everrrrrr eaten) but we were also blessed to see multliple species of tropical fish, swim in the clearest of waters, and to top it all off my sister got to swim with a dolphin! Be assured that if you were to forget your phone in the car it will be returned asap.😄 @ Ahmed...Thank you for being a wonderful host, inspector and hero all in one day.

This was such an amazing experience and well worth it. Ahmed was the best guide ever and really knew a lot about the experience and made sure I had an amazing time. Very friendly and very knowledgeable. Getting to see dolphins, going snorkeling, and hanging out on the sandbar, were all the perfect way to spend the day in Zanzibar!

It was a magical experience! Dolphins, countless colorful fish, the most wonderful fresh fruit (picked on the same day, bought on the way, from the local market, served beautifully). The colors of the sea will mesmerize you. Tip (for ignorant people like us) - wear your swimsuit, changing into it might be a bit tricky on the boat!