Sep 23, 2024
Excellent tour very well organized logistically - The tour was very good and everything went as planned.
The staff picked us up on time at the hotel's beach in Kendwa.
We started the boat tour in search of the dolphins and after a few minutes we managed to find a group. We swam near them for a few minutes and then we go for snorkling. We had a meal with very tasty fruits and saw various types of fish, sea stars and others. We went to Nungwi Marine Turtles Mnarani, to feed and nothing with the turtles. At the end, a taxi was already waiting for us to take you back to the hotel. All very well organized logistically.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Aug 30, 2024
Amazing trip! - Amazing experience! The guides know what they’re doing to help you spot the dolphins/find star fish! The dolphin spotting was good but seemed quite stressful with a lot of boats looking for one lot of dolphins. Defo recommend this excursion as you get to see so much in only 5 hours!
Review provided by Viator
Aug 8, 2024
Awesome! - Great experience with nice people. Were picked up on the beach and driven out into the open sea. Got into the water with dolphins. Even when snorkeling all promises were fulfilled! Fresh fruit was served at the stop at the sandbank. Finally we visited water turtles, were able to get into the water and feed them. But beware: they bite!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Aug 7, 2024
Amazing experience - Amazing amazing amazing experience!! Suleiman and his brother Juma were great guides. They took us everywhere included in the itinerary and did not rush us. We were able to take our time and enjoy the experience. Highly recommend! Asante Sana!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sep 14, 2024
Sea turtles are a must - The snorkelling was good and it was fun to visit the sandbank. Unfortunately the weather was not great which made it quite cold on the boat (but not that the organisers could do anything about this). Lovely fresh fruit as a snack. The weather also meant we couldn't swim with the dolphins as too choppy and we only saw them briefly. By far the best bit of the trip was the sea turtles aquarium. Getting so close and feeding the turtles and learning about the conservation was the best part of my whole time in Zanzibar.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Aug 28, 2024
Beautiful experience on the Indian Ocean - Great tour. We were picked up at our lodging and they came the day before to make sure they could find us, which was appreciated. You have to pay your way home but they provide a taxi you can use. Indian ocean is beautiful. Snorkeling was great, they provided delicious fresh fruit for a snack, we saw lots of dolphins and enjoyed feeding the sea turtles. The only downside was when we got caught in the rain-there is no cover on the boat so we were cold and wet for that part. Thankfully it did not last too long.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sep 21, 2024
Sketchy. - The pick up by boat at our hotel beach was nice and snorkeling was very good with abundant fish. However, do not expect to actually swim with dolphins. Our boat and 20 others chased a group of dolphins in the open ocean. A few people got in the water but roaring boats made that dangerous. The turtle rescue sanctuary was very good. As we left the turtles, a guide said that according to our contract, pickup at the hotel was included but return was not. He tried to swindle us. We had papers showing our drop off was at the meeting point - our hotel. We then got the taxi ride back.
Review provided by Viator
Jul 14, 2024
Sea Turtles were really amazing - I wish I could split the day and rate it as separate experiences.
Sea Turtles - 5 stars - amazing!
This was so special. We were taken off the boat and walked a short distance to the aquarium and into the lagoon. The guy who met us was friendly, and told us about the turtles, got seaweed for us to feed them, and led us down the steps. The tide was out, so we couldn't "swim" with the turtles but we paddled, got to feed and interact with them and it was very relaxed with no pressure to rush our experience.
Transfers - 5 stars - lovely driver and on time.
Did exactly what we needed, with a friendly driver. He waited for us and took us back to the hotel too.
Dolphins - 2 stars
We waited around at the start with no explanation of how long we would wait or what to expect from the day. There was still no explanation when we got in the boat and set off. The crew hardly engaged with us being more interested in looking at their mobiles. When dolphins were spotted, there were so many boats and it was all really rushed to jump off the boat and get back on quickly because the dolphins had swam on and the boat needed to chase them. Some of the boats were positioning themselves to trap the dolphins, and I didn't enjoy the whole pursuit style of it.
We spent approx 15 mins snorkelling which was enjoyable but with so many boats, and some of them moving off while you were in the water very close to you, it didn't feel safe. We then went and spent ages on the sandbank. There was nothing to do, and the crews from the boats all got together and sat around talking to each other.
On the way back we went to a place where there were star fish but we were warned about the sea urchin so decided not to get in the water there.
Wish we had just done the sea turtles without the rest of the day.
Review provided by Viator
Sep 25, 2024
Put us in danger- would not recommend. - Positive:
- Turtle aquarium was good, transfers were included.
- Didn't get to see dolphins but saw a Marlin
Negative:
- A warning for anyone who may get motion sickness- the ride is very very bumpy.
- They first drove us into very choppy waters before pointing for us to put on the flippers and snorkels and to get in the water. The guide did not speak English as advertised and basically just pointed to the water.
- My husband had never snorkelled before and although I am an ex competitive swimmer and an experienced snorkeler I felt apprehensive looking at the current of the water we were in. We had to ask several times for a life jacket for my husband and eventually along with the two other women with us found them ourselves on the boat for him and one of the women.
- My husband got in and started to be swept under the boat and asked for help, the guy on the boat did not understand and just said "hakuna matata". My husband got back into the boat as he was scared. I stayed close to the boat attempting to snorkel with the other two women but the current was strong and pulling us along quite quickly and far.
- When my husband got back on the boat, without ANYA communication, the boat DROVE OFF leaving myself and the other 2 women in the water on our own with only one of us wearing a jacket! They left for 5 minutes, we were waving to other boats for help and I was starting to feel really tired from treading water so after 3 minutes (I've got it recorded on my GoPro which was attached to me) two of us ended up having to hold onto the woman with the life jacket.
- We quickly got back on and my husband said the guy rode off to talk to someone else on another boat. The man loosely asked if we wanted to snorkel more and we said no because he left us alone and we could have been in danger and he did not seem to care and just drove to look for dolphins
- We did not see any dolphins and after looking for 30min on choppy water and rough driving we asked if we could stop looking for them, he did not understand the request so continued to roughly drive for another 30min at which point all 4 of us said we felt sick.
- Did not stop at any sandbank for a picnic. They just cut some fruit to give us in a very bumpy boat ride
- As we approached the beach near the title sanctuary, the second guy jumped off the boat and just threw 4 starfish onto the boat for us to look at, there was no snorkeling in this part.
Overall, I would not recommend this as I had found another tour guide on here for another tour the day before and found him way more informative, a trained guide and he really cared about our experience. We then cancelled any tours booked on viator and went exclusively with him because this one broke our trust and we did not feel safe with them at all.
Suleiman the owner did check in with us at the turtle sanctuary to see if we were OK and we said it had been OK but not good. But then we left in the cab to go home.
The two stars they got on here were purely for the fact that we had a good taxi driver and the guys at the turtle aquarium (not from this company) were amazing and made it worthwhile. I'd recommend finding a local guide/cab company yourself to communicate with and book.
Review provided by Viator
Jul 17, 2024
Sliced foot - I was really looking forward to this trip but unfortunately we did not have a good time. Within 5 minutes of locating the dolphins, coming back in from the water, I climbed up the ladder of the boat and slipping. Once I was back on the boat I realized I sliced inbetween my two toes quite deeply off the ladder and my foot was pumping bleeding. My partner had to wrap his tshirt around it and when he asked for first aid box, they had none! What kind of boat doesn’t have first aid? And offered a tissue? When we showed the man on the boat, he laughed and said it’s fine, you need the ocean, salt water is good! Bare in mind we still had another 4 hours on this boat! The doctors were horrified to see my foot, they had to deeply clean it and told me I had sepsis from the ladder as my foot was the size of a balloon and bruised, I got a tetnus shot and 3 stitches! And the men on the boat saying it’s fine! Offering no help whatsoever, just want their money. Highly disappointing. Regardless of my foot, i did not enjoy how many boats chase after these poor dolphins and corner them in for entertainment, from the dolphins, to this fish, to the beach, everything is so far apart that you spend most of the time on the boat.
Would not recommend!! Do not book!
Review provided by Tripadvisor