Can You Swim With Dolphins In Zanzibar?
Are you hoping to swim with dolphins in Zanzibar?
Dolphins are magical creatures. We have been so fortunate to sail and paddleboard with them on numerous occasions and the buzz of seeing them in the wild never, ever fades.
Without question, whenever we spot them we will run to the bow of the boat, make whistling noises to try and attract them and it’s impossible to wipe the smiles off our faces.
It could be their playful nature, or the fact they seem to actually enjoy human interaction, or it could just be that they are hidden under the sea and just out of reach that makes them such popular creatures.
Whatever the reason, we’re not surprised you’re hoping to swim with dolphins on your trip to Zanzibar.
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Before we dive right in (get it!?) it’s important to look at the ethical standpoint of any animal tourism, including swimming with dolphins.
Living on the sea has made us particularly sensitive to issues surrounding the ocean and ocean life, and what’s the point of having a website if you can’t draw attention to the things you’re passionate about?
Not to worry, it isn’t all doom and gloom. Read on to find out more.
Table of Contents
- About the dolphins in Zanzibar
- Is swimming with wild dolphins ethical?
- How to swim with dolphins in Zanzibar
- Ethical dolphin tours in Zanzibar
- When is the best time to swim with dolphins in Zanzibar?
About The Dolphins In Zanzibar
Zanzibar is the perfect place to spot dolphins, as so many call this island their home.
There are two main species of dolphins around the island: Bottlenose dolphins and the Indo-Pacific humpback. You are most likely to spot bottlenose dolphins on a Zanzibar dolphin watching tour as they are most common and playful species.
Most dolphin watching tours in Zanzibar will head to Kizimkazi Bay, where the dolphins go every morning to feed.
While it’s exciting to know that a trip here (early in the morning, preferably before 8am) will almost certainly result in dolphin sightings, it’s also important to think about whether this is best for the dolphins. We have some tips on this below.
Is Swimming With Dolphins In Zanzibar Ethical?
There is a huge debate on whether swimming with dolphins in the wild is ethical. For obvious reasons, there are problems with dolphins in captivity, but we aren’t talking about swimming with dolphins in zoos, we’re talking about swimming with them in the wild.
But is that ethical?
We’re no experts on this (always do your own research – this is a great article by a marine biologist), but we have done a lot of reading on the subject. We spend our lives on the water and have frequent interactions with dolphins, so we want to be clued up.
What is certainly unethical is the tour boats that seek dolphins out and surround them, while tonnes of tourists jump in the water next to them without any briefing on how to swim with dolphins ethically.
Unfortunately, there are many of these kinds of tours in Zanzibar.
It is very hard to know what you’re signing up for, so if you feel at all unsure then we would recommend you give the dolphin tours here a miss. We do have a suggestion below if you’re keen to play by the rules.
How To Swim With Wild Dolphins In Zanzibar
✅ Book a private tour that gives you control over your experience
In our experience, the most ethically friendly way to swim with dolphins is to give them complete control. Dolphins are masters of their environment. There is absolutely no way they will allow you to swim with them if they don’t want to.
What they can’t compete with, though, is our high-speed boats. Jumping in next to a pod of dolphins and then following them in the boat when they swim away isn’t really fair. If they have come to feed and you are disturbing them and scaring them away, where will they find food?
There have also been studies showing that jumping and splashing in the water near some species of dolphin, or dolphins with calves, can be very distressing for them.
The last thing you want to do when you see these gorgeous creatures is upset them.
This is why the only ethical way to swim with dolphins is to head to a site where you know they frequently visit, but that’s away from other boats and tourists, get in calmly without splashing as this can distress them, and hope they want to swim over to join you.
Dolphins tend to be super curious, and might well come over for a little bit to check you out. If they don’t, then you know you did the right thing by leaving them be.
Ethical Dolphin Tours In Zanzibar
The trouble with any animal tour, even if it is ‘ethical’, is that the company feels pressure to give you the experience you have paid for.
We’ve had some excellent experiences with ethical tours, like whale watching in Mirissa, Sri Lanka, but we’ve also had some not so good experiences.
The only real way to make sure your experience is kind to the dolphins is to pay for a private tour and explain exactly what you want from your day.
You can communicate to the skipper that you have no interest in chasing dolphins or seeing them with other boats around. You can ask to be taken to an area that dolphins typically hang out in, and get in for a swim and see if they join you.
Or you can hope they will come and play in the bow waves of the boat and watch them in the super clear waters without interacting with them.
They often do this and it’s truly magical to see. We were blessed to see a huge pod that joined us for ages on both the way to the reef and the way back.
We would suggest you read up on how to interact (or not as the case may be!) with dolphins. Things like jumping into the water right next to them can be damaging, and this is an easy thing to avoid.
We have found a private trip with high ratings that includes a snorkeling experience at Mnemba Island. To make this dolphin spotting tour safe for the dolphins you can explain to the guide exactly what you want from your trip.
They have the local knowledge of where the dolphins hang out, and they also know the places the other tourist boats go and swamp them. Ask not to be involved in that, even at the cost of not seeing the dolphins.
If at any point the trip makes you feel uncomfortable then you can simply ask your skipper to turn around and leave the madness behind.
Perhaps you’ll get lucky and a pod will come to say hi, or perhaps you’ll just have the most awesome snorkeling experience instead, but either way, you will know you didn’t force the dolphins into any uncomfortable situations.
When Is The Best Time To Swim With Dolphins In Zanzibar?
You can swim with dolphins in Zanzibar year-round, but the best time is during dry season when the sea tends to be calmer and you will have better visibility and swimming conditions.
Dolphins are also more active during the early morning, so try to make sure your trip leaves super early and arrives at a swimming spot before 8 am. This will give you the best chance of seeing them, but we saw dolphins around mid-day and again in the late afternoon.
There is never a guarantee you’ll see them, as they are wild creatures and it’s impossible to predict what they’ll be doing from one day to the next, but these times will give you the best chance.
Conclusion: Swimming With Dolphins In Zanzibar
We strongly suggest you read up further on swimming with dolphins in Zanzibar to make sure you make an informed decision.
There are obviously so many different arguments for and against swimming with dolphins – it provides income for the local communities, it raises awareness, it sparks a passion for caring for our environment, but it can also fund bad practices and contribute to overall pollution.
Whether or not you choose to jump on a tour, we can highly recommend snorkelling here as the underwater life is insane and the water is so clear.
And who knows, maybe the dolphins will choose to join you while you snorkel as they have been known to do!
If you’re looking for more things to do in Zanzibar check out our 4 days in Zanzibar itinerary, or the best multi-day tours in Zanzibar if you want to take the stress out of planning.
