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I and my wife had a really bad experience with this diving company when we were in Zanzibar. Firstly, we were duped by the person, Rose, who sat at East Africa Diving's counter in Royal Zanzibar.
We reached out to Rose on 13th July 2023 to book a snorkeling trip. To which she said there was no trip that day and there maybe a trip the other day. So she wrote down my phone number on a paper and she promised to reach out to me if there were any trips on the 14th if the weather was good. The weather on 14th was supposed to be bad, however the day turned around to be better so we reached out to her on 14th morning for a kayaking as well as snorkeling trip. We didn't do the kayaking trip because a Royal Zanzibar member said it may not be safe to kayak. So we asked Rose whether a snorkeling trip would be possible and whether it would be safe. To which she said said she could take me for a 1.30pm trip. After repeatedly asking Rose whether it was safe to do snorkeling, she booked us for a 1.30pm trip and directed us to a shop behind Royal Zanzibar where we paid using our credit card. And unfortunately given we didn't know any better we were not aware that she sent us to another company. From there we were driven to Muyuni beach where we were loaded into a small boat and sent off to Mnemba. However, the people never took us to Mnemba. They circled around for 1 hour in high waves and then anchored in the middle of the ocean way away from other snorkelers and we were asked to snorkel in waves of more than 4ft. The people who took us didn't have their own gear, didn't have proper training to help the guests, and didn't even know how to use the life jacket. I've also attached a photo of the life jacket we were provided for the trip. It was basically a rescue jacket that's not suitable for snorkeling. Additionally, we were approached by fisheries patrol, near Mnemba island, who asked us to pay $20 to snorkel. I've attached a photo of the patrol boat too. After this whole experience, we communicated with Delene from East Africa Diving over emails and she promised that she will refund us for the trip. It has been over 3 weeks since I provided her my bank details and I've followed up multiple times with her, but haven't heard back.
All in all we had no idea about who's who and where we were being taken. We trusted Royal Zanzibar to have done their due diligence in hiring staff that's supposed to help guests and not make money by putting them in danger. Also, we trusted the diving company to follow-up on their promise to right the wrong. However, for whatever reason they didn't follow-up on their promise either. I would recommend to be really careful when you book any trip through this company especially from Royal Zanzibar. - via 