Diving

When you think of African wildlife, the savannah or jungle with its stunning megafauna usually springs to mind… but Africa is also home to many amazing marine creatures and some of the best diving sites in the world.

Except for the world-famous Red Sea dive sites in Egypt, Africa offers divers relatively unexplored waters. With 30,500 km of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, as well as the Red Sea and Mediterranean, there are plenty of diving opportunities to explore. Most of the diving highlights are located on the south and east coast of Africa – from the cold waters and kelp forests around Cape Town, to the shark-infested deep blue of KwaZulu Natal, to the reef-infested tropical coast of East Africa and the crystal-clear coral gardens of the Indian Ocean Island nations such as Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion, and the Seychelles. The African coast offers divers numerous opportunities to dive underwater and observe the diverse life under water. If you want to visit Africa to see more than just safari animals, here are some of the best dive sites to explore. Africa is truly a diver’s paradise!

Djibouti is not very known as a tourist destination or a diving destination. However, because Djibouti is located on the Horn of Africa and the narrow opening between the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean where the currents can become more pronounced, it is a fantastic place to dive with an abundance of marine life, whale sharks, shipwrecks and pristine coral reefs as these currents are the highways that the larger marine animals travel on such as sharks, dolphins, manta rays and of course whale sharks. Some of the dive sites are only suitable for experienced divers, yet many are suitable for open water divers as well. You will find dive sites that are both reef dives, drifts, wrecks, caves and more. There is an abundance of coral and reef fish, but the superstars of the area are the pelagic fish.

Kenya has several marine parks, including Diani-Chale, Kisite-Mpunguti, Kiunga, Malindi, Mombasa and Watamu. Diving highlights include the deep wall at Nyuli, where two currents meet. The canyon in Watamu Marine Park also has steep walls. Galu Reef is good for macro divers, with ornate ghost pipefish, seahorses, frogfish, and leaf scorpionfish. A good reef for seeing large pelagic fish is Kinondo Reef, which also has huge schools of smaller fish. For wreck diving, check out the Dania Wreck. Watamu Marine Reserve is an important area for green turtles – they are particularly common at Turtle Reef. Whale sharks visit from November to January. Leopard and whitetip reef sharks, as well as large manta rays, can be found at Kisite. You will also find dolphins here and may even see humpback whales in November or December.

When it comes to offshore diving, the Indian Ocean islands are hard to beat. Madagascar boasts the third largest coral reef system in the world. The reef stretches for 300 km along the southwest coast of the island and is home to around 6,000 marine species. Madagascar’s underwater world has a high degree of endemism – meaning it is found nowhere else in the world. Hotspots for diving in Madagascar include the exclusive resort island of Nosy Be on the northwest coast of the island. Here you will find beautifully preserved reefs that are visited between October and December by the mighty whale shark and the graceful manta ray, two of the marine world’s most sought-after animals. There are also stunning reefs (and excellent whale watching opportunities) near the east coast island of Île Sainte-Marie.

Clear, calm, warm and tideless waters with a rich fish population (around 1,000 species) and fascinating rock formations make Malawi an excellent place for diving. Lake Malawi is considered one of the best freshwater diving areas in the world and one of the cheapest places to learn to dive. Visibility can be up to 30m at the best times of the year (August to December). Diving is available at the Mumbo and Domwe island camps and at Blue Zebra on the Marelli Islands. There is also a long-established diving school in Nkhata Bay and one on Likoma Island. Lake Malawi is teeming with tropical fish – hundreds of species found nowhere else in the world call it home. The magnificent scenery of the Malawi Trench is also reflected in the waters of the lake, creating a stunning seascape with dramatic rock formations, caves, and cliffs. These features make the lake one of the best freshwater diving sites in the world.

Located about 2,000 km east of the African mainland, Mauritius is the main island of the archipelago of the Republic of Mauritius. Here, divers can expect clear water, abundant corals, and a colourful underwater world, as well as an amazing variety of different diving conditions. On the inside of the barrier reef, which almost completely surrounds the island, shallow lagoon dive sites offer the perfect conditions for beginner divers. On the other side of the reef, experienced divers will find an exciting underwater landscape with steep walls, caves, and grottos. The Coin de Mire and the Flat Islands on the north coast are particularly famous for their steep walls, which attract large schools of pelagic fish and sharks. On the west coast, dive sites such as Cathedral and Boulders are known for their photogenic topography. Mauritius also has more than 20 wrecks to explore.

From the South African border to the archipelagos of the far north, Mozambique is the unsung hero of African diving. In the south, Ponta do Ouro is famous for its friendly bottlenose dolphins and the hot new Pinnacles dive site (arguably the best place in Africa to swim with bull sharks). Further north, the dive sites of laid-back Tofo Beach boast fascinating topography and healthy coral cover. Tofo is one of the few places where whale sharks and manta rays can be seen all year round, although peak season for these species is October to March. The idyllic Bazaruto Archipelago is a protected area and one of the best destinations in Africa to see the endangered dugong. In the far north, the exclusive resorts of the Quirimbas Archipelago offer unrivalled wall diving and an abundance of macro wildlife.

Reunion Island is a special island, exciting both on land and underwater. Here the diver will find beautiful cliffs, coral barriers, passes with strong currents, wrecks full of history, but also incredible underwater architecture. In addition to the underwater landscape, diving in Reunion also allows you to observe a rich and diverse fauna. The magnificent dive site “Great Falling of the Possesion” is a huge V-shaped rocky island. To the east, the magnificent drop off consists of two shallows and then drops quickly to a depth of almost 60 meters. There are also many bumps and small crevices on this slope. On the west side, on the other hand, the plateaus are less clear, but the abyss is just as dizzying. The dive site offers a wide variety of animals and is particularly known for its large pelagic fish such as wahoo, tuna, schools of jacks and banana tuna, and you may even be able to dive with sailfish and swordfish, which is particularly impressive. A superb wreck in Reunion Island is the Sea Venture, which lies at a depth of 49 metres and is completely upside down. The two huge propellers, on which toadfish hide, are still very well preserved and particularly impressive. The hull of the ship is riddled with holes and there are beautiful lobsters. To explore the wreck, it is advisable to bring a diving torch. If you turn around, you may be lucky enough to spot magnificent pelagics such as bream, tuna and even sharks. The best dive site in Reunion Island is undoubtedly the exceptional “tombant de la pointe au sel”, a legendary place that has a great secret to reveal. Advanced open water divers can enjoy the school, while level 3 divers with a good dive computer can descend to 60 metres. Surrounded by fusiliers and bannerfish, you will descend into the blue to experience an exceptional drop-off. Javan moray eels and harlequin gaters can be found in the faults of the descent. When the current is strong, you can dive with whale sharks, manta rays, dolphins, tuna, and marlin. Between October and November, you may even be lucky enough to dive with hammerhead sharks.

The Seychelles, an Indian Ocean nation of 115 individual islands, is a paradise destination synonymous with white sand and swaying palm trees. Although some divers are put off by the effects of widespread coral bleaching in the late 1990s and early 2000s, most of the Seychelles’ dive sites have largely recovered. With only a handful of 5-star dive resorts on the main islands of Mahé, Praslin and La Digue, dive sites are usually uncrowded. Most are concentrated on nearshore granite rocks, which make for easy, relaxed conditions. The exceptions to this rule are Brissare Rock (on the north coast of Mahé) and South Marianne (off the island of Praslin), where strong currents mean good pelagic activity in the form of numerous Napoleon wrasse, schools of wild fish, eagle rays and reef sharks. Between July and October, the Seychelles is also a great place to see migrating whale sharks and manta rays.

South Africa is unofficially known as the shark diving capital of the world, specialising in high-adrenaline dive sites. Aliwal Shoal in KwaZulu-Natal is one of the few places in the world where divers can encounter tiger sharks, bull sharks and oceanic blacktips without the protection of a cage, while the shoal’s reefs are a breeding ground for sand tiger sharks in winter. Further south, the Protea Banks offer strong currents and swirling schools of hammerhead sharks in summer, while Gansbaai, Simonstown and Mossel Bay all offer cage dives with great white sharks. Wreck and technical divers will find plenty of sunken ships to explore off Durban, while those looking for something a little more laid-back will find what they are looking for in the sleepy dive town of Sodwana Bay. Sitting on the border with Mozambique, Sodwana is known for its colourful reefs, abundance of tropical fish and relatively easy diving conditions. Every year between May and July, huge schools of sardines move up the coast of South Africa towards Mozambique. There are millions of them, so strong and fast that they look like an underwater version of a stampeding herd of buffalo. Head to the town of Umkomaas, gear up and set off to watch the spectacle from there. Not only will you see the sardines making their way to Mozambique, but you will also see the hungry sharks, wild fish and dolphins hoping to catch them. It is a real feeding frenzy and a magnificent natural spectacle.