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Pemba Island
Tanzanian island of the Zanzibar Archipelago

Pemba Island

Pemba Island is a Tanzanian island forming part of the Zanzibar Archipelago, lying within the Swahili Coast in the Indian Ocean.

Plan a trip to Pemba Island→From Mombasa
Get in

Getting to Pemba Island

The airport (PMA IATA) approximately 7 km from Chake Chake is served local airlines with daily flights to Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam on small Cessna-type aircraft. Flight from Zanzibar takes about 30 mins. Ferries are available to the port town of Mkoani on the south side of Pemba Island from Dar es Salaam via Stone Town in Zanzibar as well as to Tanga on the northern Tanzanian mainland.

See

Worth seeing

The best beaches (along with the foreigner lodges) are found on the north side of the island. Forest reserves with endemic animals including the Pemba Flying Fox can also be found in the north. It is also possible to arrange spice tours to visit farms where cloves are grown (the main economic export of the island).

Do

Things to do

Pemba is one of the diving jewels of the east of Africa. There are at least two dive operators (Swahili Divers and Manta Reef) operating under the PADI and BSAC codes that serve visitors. Divers' highlights include: Extensive plate coral gardens on the west coast which make for a world class drift dive and the marine reserve surrounding Misali Island.

Eat

Where to eat

While there are few formal restaurants in Pemba, most lodges (catering to locals or foreigners) operate restaurants with traditional Swahili food cooked to order. This will likely include a delicious selection of rice, curries, chapati (Indian flatbread), and seafood. Street food is also widely found along the roads of the main towns, and largely consists of chips and grilled meats.

How locals move

Getting around Pemba Island the local way

Pemba is reached by a thin, irregular set of ferries and a handful of daily flights, all funnelled through the Karume airport near Chake Chake or the port at Mkoani well to the south; once ashore, a single spine road strung with dala-dalas is what actually moves people between Wete, Chake Chake and Mkoani.

  1. 01
    Azam Marine Ro-Ro ferries, Dar es Salaam, Unguja and Tanga to Mkoaniboat

    Dar es Salaam and Stone Town (Unguja) to Mkoani, and Tanga on the mainland to Mkoani

    Where
    Buy at Azam's own office or kiosk in Dar es Salaam, Stone Town or Pemba, or the approved agents the company names on its site; the operator itself warns against buying from anyone else. Passport and Zanzibar arrival/departure cards are needed even travelling within Tanzania, because Zanzibar runs its own immigration. In Mkoani the terminal is the small port building on the jetty; there is no separate ticket hall like Stone Town's
    When
    Only a few times a week on the Pemba legs, and departures often run late; there is no daily fixed schedule the way the Dar–Unguja run has
    Fare (2026)
    Azam's site quotes one flat 2026 tariff for its network (economy TSh 40,000/US$35 non-resident, business TSh 50,000/US$40, VIP TSh 80,000/US$60, royal TSh 120,000/US$100) without breaking fares out by route; Wikivoyage separately gives Pemba-specific figures of US$75 Dar–Mkoani, US$35 Stone Town–Mkoani and US$35 Tanga–Mkoani, undated beyond a 2019 page edit. Treat the Wikivoyage numbers as the older reference point and confirm the Pemba-route price before travelling
    Takes
    About 5 hours Stone Town to Mkoani, about 7 hours Dar es Salaam to Mkoani, about 2 hours Tanga to Mkoani
    Season
    No source found naming a seasonal Pemba closure; the wider Wikivoyage Pemba page says only that sailings run a few times a week and are often late, not that a monsoon shuts them
    Booking
    Separate resident and non-resident online portals linked from azammarine.com, plus walk-up at the offices above. 25 kg baggage allowance; cancellations must be notified at least 2 hours ahead and there is no refund for a missed sailing

    Sources: azammarine.com (2026-09) · azammarine.com (2026-09) · en.wikivoyage.org (2026-09) · confidence medium

  2. 02
    Coastal Aviation to Karume Airport (Chake Chake)scheduled flight

    Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar (Unguja), Tanga and Arusha to Pemba, and back

    Where
    Book through Coastal's own reservations desk; the airstrip served is Pemba's Karume airport near Chake Chake
    When
    Daily; the operator's own timetable lists two Dar–Pemba departures (07:30 and 14:00), one from Zanzibar (08:00) and one from Arusha (12:45), with return legs to Dar, Tanga and Zanzibar around 08:45
    Fare
    No fare table found on the operator's site; contact reservations for current pricing
    Takes
    About 1h05m Dar es Salaam to Pemba by the published timetable; roughly 30 minutes Zanzibar to Pemba by Wikivoyage's estimate
    Season
    Year-round; the operator's own page names June to October as the best (driest) months to visit rather than a closure
    Booking
    Through reservations@coastal.co.tz or the airline's booking site

    Sources: coastal.co.tz (2026-09) · en.wikivoyage.org (2026-09) · confidence high

  3. 03
    ZanAir to Pembascheduled flight

    Unguja (Zanzibar) and other ZanAir points to Pemba

    Where
    ZanAir lists Pemba among its scheduled destinations from Unguja; book through the operator
    When
    Not published on the operator's destination page; scheduled flights exist but timetable and days are not stated there
    Fare
    No fare found; ask the operator
    Takes
    Not published on the source checked
    Season
    No seasonal restriction stated
    Booking
    Through zanair.com booking system or agent

    Sources: zanair.com (2026-09) · confidence low

  4. 04
    Dala-dala along the Wete – Chake Chake – Mkoani spine roadminibus

    The single main road running the length of Pemba, linking Wete in the north, Chake Chake in the middle and Mkoani in the south, with branches to Konde and the beach lodges

    Where
    Flag one down anywhere along the spine road, or pick one up at the stand in whichever town you start from; Wikivoyage describes them as ubiquitous on the main roads
    When
    Frequent by day; no source found giving a last-departure time, but rural Tanzanian dala-dalas generally thin out well before dark and this file cannot confirm an exact stop time – ask locally
    Fare (2019)
    "rarely cost more than a few thousand shillings", undated
    Takes
    Varies by leg; not given by the source
    Season
    Year-round
    Booking
    None, pay the conductor on board

    Sources: en.wikivoyage.org (2026-09) · confidence medium

  5. 05
    Taxis between Pemba's townsshare taxi

    Chake Chake, Wete, Mkoani and the airport, and out to the north-end lodges

    Where
    Best arranged through your accommodation, per Wikivoyage; there is no meter and no posted tariff
    When
    On demand
    Fare
    About ten times the dala-dala fare for a comparable trip, undated, no absolute figure given
    Takes
    Not given
    Season
    Year-round
    Booking
    Arrange through a hotel or lodge, or flag one in town

    Sources: en.wikivoyage.org (2026-09) · confidence medium

  6. 06
    Bicycle hire around Pemba's townsbicycle hire

    Short trips around Chake Chake, Wete and the small towns

    Where
    Wikivoyage lists renting a bicycle as possible and a way to see the smaller towns; no named shop or rate is given
    When
    On demand
    Fare
    Not found
    Takes
    Not applicable
    Season
    Year-round
    Booking
    None stated

    Sources: en.wikivoyage.org (2026-09) · confidence low

  7. 07
    Resident/non-resident fare tier on Azam Marinepermit

    Applies to every Azam Marine sailing that touches Pemba, the same as on the Unguja crossings

    Where
    Azam's own site states that a non-citizen holding Tanzanian residence documents can be charged the citizen (shilling) fare rather than the dollar fare; carry proof of residence or citizenship if you qualify, since the two tiers are roughly double one another
    When
    Applies at every booking
    Fare (2026)
    Citizen/resident fares are quoted in TSh, non-resident fares in USD, at roughly double for the same class – see the ferry option above
    Takes
    Not applicable
    Season
    Year-round
    Booking
    Declare residency status when buying the ticket

    Sources: azammarine.com (2026-09) · confidence medium

Not yet confirmed: No timetable found for the Wete–Chake Chake–Mkoani dala-dalas, and specifically no source states when the last one of the day runs; the brief's claim that they 'stop early' could not be confirmed or dated, so it is not stated as fact above – ask at the Chake Chake or Wete stand.; No boat operator, price or schedule found for trips to Misali Island; the dive shops most likely to run them (Swahili Divers, Manta Reef) returned dead or unrelated pages when fetched directly, so this option was dropped rather than guessed.; No source found for piki-piki (motorbike taxi) hire specifically on Pemba, despite it being common on Unguja; not included as an option because nothing confirmed it exists here as a formal hire service.; No source found describing a monsoon-driven cancellation pattern specific to Pemba's ferries, despite the brief expecting one; Wikivoyage's Pemba page only says sailings are infrequent and often late, without naming a season as the cause. Do not take the Unguja file's monsoon language as evidence for Pemba.; Azam Marine's own rates page (azammarine.com/rates) publishes one flat fare table for its whole network and does not break out a separate Pemba fare; the Pemba-specific figures used above come from Wikivoyage's older text (last edited 2019) and are marked accordingly. Confirm before travelling.; No fare or timetable found for ZanAir's Pemba route beyond its listing as a destination; ask the operator directly.; The resident/non-resident two-tier fare mentioned in the brief is confirmed for Azam's general network tariff but the source found does not break it out by the Pemba route specifically.; No source found for vehicle-hire (car or 4x4) rates on Pemba, despite this being a plausible option for a place this size; not included rather than invented.; The brief expected Zanzibar's separate immigration formalities (arrival/departure cards, passport on a domestic sailing) to apply at Mkoani and Karume airport the same way they do at Stone Town; no source specific to Pemba's own ports was found to confirm this, so it is left out rather than assumed from the Unguja crossing..

The field note on Pemba Island reads this entry in full, one option at a time, with every source beside it.

Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons (see Commons), Wikimedia Commons.