Pemba Island

Pemba Island is the northern major island of the Zanzibar Archipelago, characterised by lush hills, dense forest pockets and fertile soils that support spice cultivation. The island has a quieter tourism profile than Unguja and is noted for productive offshore reefs and traditional agricultural villages.

Visitors to Pemba typically focus on diving, snorkeling and visiting rural spice farms; the island’s towns are smaller and less tourist-oriented than those on Unguja. Natural highlights include coastal mangroves, fringing coral reefs and interior forest reserves such as Ngezi.

Historically Pemba has been an important clove-producing area within the Indian Ocean spice trade, and agriculture remains an economic mainstay. The island sits north of Unguja and is part of Tanzania’s Pemba North and Pemba South administrative areas.

• Agriculture and landscape: Pemba is hillier and more vegetated than Unguja and has long been noted for spice cultivation, particularly cloves, which remain an important crop on the island.
• Diving and reefs: The island's offshore reefs are less developed for mass tourism and are prized by divers for cleaner, often less-crowded sites compared with Unguja.

What to See #

• Ngezi Forest Reserve: Ngezi Forest Reserve is a dense, moist forest on the northern end of the island that supports endemic plant species and forest birds.
• Chake-Chake town: Chake-Chake is one of the principal towns and transport hubs on the island, with ferry and road connections to other parts of Pemba.