Where Fanjove is
Fanjove is a small coral island in the Songo Songo archipelago, off Tanzania’s southern coast, administratively part of the Songo Songo ward in Kilwa District, Lindi Region. The archipelago is made up of twenty-two reefs and four islands: Songo Songo itself, Nyuni, Okuza and Fanjove.
It sits in the stretch of ocean between Mafia to the north and Kilwa on the mainland to the south — a part of the Tanzanian coast that sees almost no visitors at all. The island was originally uninhabited and has been leased by the government to a single hotel operation, so it carries one small lodge and nothing else.
One note on where it is filed, because sources differ. Kilwa District Council places the district squarely in Lindi Region, bordering Rufiji in Pwani Region to the north, and records a district of 13,347.50 square kilometres of which 1,221.52 are ocean. The Lighthouse Directory, meanwhile, describes Fanjove as lying “at the southern end of the Mafia group”. The administrative answer is Lindi; the looser description reflects the fact that this scatter of islands sits between the two and belongs visually to neither.
The Kilwa district economy runs on cashew nuts, sesame and coconuts, with fishing and — increasingly, as the market grows — seaweed farming. Its council’s own assessment of its tourism is unusually candid: the attractions have been there for many years but the infrastructure to reach them has not been developed. That is the context Fanjove sits in.
This page is short because the island is small and genuinely little-documented, and padding it would misrepresent what is there.
The lighthouse
Fanjove’s most substantial structure is its lighthouse, and it has a longer record than the island’s obscurity suggests. The station was established in 1894 and the present tower dates from 1924: a seventeen-metre square tower with lantern and gallery, rising from the centre of a single-storey keeper’s house, painted white. An earlier lighthouse on the site was a round, tapered tower.
It went dark at some point after 1987 and the abandoned building deteriorated badly — photographs from 2015 show it in poor condition. It was subsequently restored and reactivated, apparently at some point between 2015 and 2018, and now shows a white flash every ten seconds from a focal plane of about thirteen metres. The site is open; the tower is not.
A second, later light on the island — a ten-metre round barbell-shaped tower in black and white bands — appears in a 2015 photograph and had gone by 2021.
Turtles
Green turtles nest on Fanjove. The Tanzanian marine conservation organisation Sea Sense visited the island in 2010 after learning that several nests had been laid there, the nests having been reported by the security guards then on the island while it was being developed.
A number of the 2010 nests failed because of tidal flooding. Sea Sense subsequently ran hands-on training on the island in nest identification, relocation of nests at risk, post-hatching excavation and codes of conduct for hatching, supported by theoretical instruction in turtle biology and life history, with the aim of improving survival rates for future nests.
Green turtle nesting on this coast peaks around April to June, with hatchlings emerging roughly two months later. Nesting beaches are not signposted attractions anywhere in Tanzania and access, where it exists, runs through monitoring programmes rather than as a scheduled activity — covered in the sea turtle watching guide.
Eleven Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins stranded alive on Fanjove in January 2000 and were reported refloated and released, which is the one other recorded wildlife event of note here.
The water
The reefs around the Songo Songo archipelago are almost undived. That is the honest description and also the appeal: this is a part of the Tanzanian coast with reef and almost no boats on it, which the diving guide discusses in the context of the wider southern coast. Snorkelling, fishing and sailing all happen here in the sense that the water supports them, not in the sense that there is an industry running them.
Because the island carries one operation and no independent infrastructure, everything on and around Fanjove runs through that operation. There is no walking off the property to find an alternative, no village, and no boats other than the ones that brought you.
Getting here, and the seasons
Fanjove is reached only by boat, from the mainland coast in the Kilwa area. There is an airstrip on Songo Songo, the archipelago’s main island, which is a gas-extraction island rather than a tourist one. How this coast connects to the rest of the country by road and light aircraft is covered in the guide to reaching Tanzania’s southern coast.
The rainfall calendar matters here and is a genuine trap. The far southern coast, Lindi and Mtwara, is not on the bimodal pattern that governs Zanzibar, Pemba and Mafia. It has a single rainy season instead, running from around November through to April or May, with the second half of it the wetter. A trip to this part of the coast planned off a Zanzibar rainfall pattern will be planned against the wrong year. The guide to Tanzania’s two rainfall regimes sets out which coasts run on which, and why the difference matters this far south.
Common questions about Fanjove Island
Where exactly is Fanjove?
In the Songo Songo archipelago off Tanzania’s southern coast, in the Songo Songo ward of Kilwa District, Lindi Region — between Mafia to the north and Kilwa on the mainland to the south. The archipelago comprises twenty-two reefs and four islands.
Is the lighthouse working?
Yes. The station dates from 1894 and the present seventeen-metre tower from 1924. It was inactive from some point after 1987, deteriorated badly, and was restored and reactivated at some point between 2015 and 2018. It now shows a white flash every ten seconds. The site is open; the tower is closed.
How do I get to Fanjove?
By boat, from the mainland coast in the Kilwa area. There is no scheduled public access; the island carries one operation and everything runs through it.
When is the rainy season here?
Unlike Zanzibar and Mafia, the far southern coast has one rainy season rather than two, running from around November through to April or May, with the second half the wetter. Planning this coast off a Zanzibar rainfall pattern is a common and expensive mistake.
Are there turtles on Fanjove?
Green turtles nest there; Sea Sense recorded nests in 2010 and ran nest-protection training on the island afterwards. Some of those nests failed to tidal flooding. Nesting peaks around April to June with hatchlings emerging roughly two months later, and access to nesting beaches anywhere in Tanzania runs through monitoring programmes rather than as an attraction.