
Kinasi Wall
Mafia Island · Tanzania
Kinasi Wall is Mafia Island Marine Park's most celebrated dive — a sheer coral drop-off descending from 5 metres to beyond 40 on the island's northwestern edge, its face encrusted with enormous sea fans, black coral trees, and colonies of cup corals that burst open at night in a dense curtain of feeding polyps. The wall's crevices shelter moray eels, large lionfish, and resting nurse sharks, while the blue water off the edge regularly delivers sightings of eagle rays gliding in formation and the occasional reef shark hunting along the thermocline. Between October and February, whale sharks patrol the wall's upper section, filtering the plankton-rich water that accumulates where currents deflect off the face.
Conditions
Depth
5 to 40 m
Advanced depths
Current
Can be moderate
Can pick up on the edge
Visibility
20 to 30 m
Clearest in the calm season
Water
23 to 30°C
3mm wetsuit
Month by month
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water (°C) | 27 | 27 | 28 | 28 | 26 | 24 | 23 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 |
| Vis (m) | 15 | 15 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 15 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 15 | 15 |
| Current | Moderate | Moderate | Gentle | Strong | Strong | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Gentle | Gentle | Moderate | Moderate |
Your chances of seeing each animal
Miller'S Nembrotha
Last confirmed Oct 23, 2025 · 2 records
Likely
About 6 in 10 dives
Whale Shark
Last confirmed Jan 14, 2026 · 2 records
Sometimes
About 1 in 3 dives
Common Seahorse
Last confirmed Jun 26, 2024 · 1 records
Sometimes
About 1 in 3 dives
Leaf Scorpionfish
Last confirmed Mar 1, 2025 · 1 records
Sometimes
About 1 in 3 dives
Spotted Eagle Ray
Expected
Known here, not yet in recent logs
Lionfish
Expected
Known here, not yet in recent logs
Giant Moray
Expected
Known here, not yet in recent logs
Gear