Pemba Island

Pemba is Zanzibar's quieter sister island, lying 50 kilometres north of Unguja across the deep Pemba Channel. At 988 square kilometres it is the smaller of the two main Zanzibari islands but the more dramatic geographically, with steep emerald hills, deeply cut bays, and dense clove plantations that give it the historic nickname 'the green island'. Pemba supplies a large share of the world's cloves and the trade still shapes daily life ashore. Where Unguja draws beach holidaymakers in large numbers, Pemba attracts a smaller and more diving-focused crowd. The Pemba Channel is famed for steep coral walls, big-fish encounters, and some of the clearest diving water in East Africa. Onshore, visitors find Misali Island Marine Reserve, the Ngezi Forest Reserve, the ruins of Pujini and Ras Mkumbuu, and a network of small luxury eco-lodges. Direct domestic flights link Pemba to Zanzibar, Dar es Salaam, and Arusha.