Travelling to Southern Tanzania is a huge adventure. The region gives you the rare opportunity to explore the Indian Ocean coast and the Swahili ruins – all by yourself with no tourist on site.

In deed, the beaches of southern Tanzania have much that is unexplored, thus offering the chance of exploration to the visitor.

Mtwara is the gateway into Southern Tanzania for tourism. Access to and from Dar es Salaam is easy with requent and regular flights and sailings. Mtwara is a laid back town and is spread out over a large area.

The town is close to the Mnazi Bay Marine Park where it is possible to experience some of the most isolated dive sites on the coast. The town makes an excellent stop-over for trips to the Marine Park.

Mnazi bay was once known as the place to pick up dhow transport to Mozambique. Nowadays, visitors are motivated more by the miles of white sand and the presence of coral reefs close to the shore, which provide excellent snorkeling - even at low tide is good for exploring the coral reefs.

There are many water birds at Mnazi bay particularly waders which include  the Greater Sand - Crab Plover - Brown-headed Parrot - Mangrove Kingfisher - Four-coloured Bushshrike and the Zanzibar - Black-bellied Glossy-starling.

The area is recognized as being internationally important for its biodiversity, with a variety of mangroves, sea grass beds and coral reefs that provide livelihoods to the local communities. Mnazi bay is quite shallow and just to the north of the Ruvuma River.

Mnazi bay is protected on the seaward side by the Rawira peninsula to the south and by a series of small islands to the north. The government  of Tanzania is looking to the future and plan to develop the area for tourism – it is an ideal location to unwind after a Tanzania game safari in the Southern Circuit of Tanzania. The local communities are extensively involved in the running of the park which will ensure that the local communities benefit from tourism.

International gateway to Southern Tanzania is the city of Dar es Salaam. Known as “Haven of Peace” by its aficionados, Dar es Salaam can be reached through regional hubs at Nairobi and Johannesburg and to a lesser extent Addis Ababa. Dar es Salaam airport is also accessed from other Tanzania airports that serve domestic as well as international flights. These include Kilimanjaro International Airport and Dodoma airport  among many others. There is a ferry service between Mombasa in Kenya and Dar es Salaam.