Manta – Pemba Island
Manta is far more than your typical tropical resort. Located on the remote northern tip of Pemba Island off the coast of mainland Tanzania, it offers a rare space to truly unwind and feel light again as you switch off from the outside world to enter a new one.  It isn’t about conventional five-star luxury. Instead, Manta offers absolute serenity, close encounters with pristine nature, a commitment to conservation that you can see and feel, and a team that warmly welcomes you and quickly feels like family. Most importantly, Manta operates with genuine care not only for its guests but also across the surrounding reef, land, and community.
What Makes Manta Unique?
- A Remote Island Sanctuary: Located on Pemba Island, Manta is a true escape from civilization. Far removed from the noise of the modern world, Manta offers a rare opportunity to reconnect with nature’s simplest pleasures—sunshine, fresh air, and pristine turquoise waters fringed by snow-white sand.
- The Underwater Room: Manta offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for guests to sleep four meters below the ocean surface, surrounded by the vibrant marine life of a protected coral reef, all while your stay directly contributes to marine conservation.
- All-Inclusive: Beyond all meals and beverages, guests receive a complimentary daily spa treatment, laundry, Wi-Fi, and activities such as guided snorkel trips, a sunset Ngalawa sail, and lighthouse walks to ensure a worry-free stay.Â
- The Manta Family: The team at Manta is a family, woven from daily presence, care for one another, and a shared belief that what is rare must endure. Every guest is assigned a personal service Fundi who acts as a dedicated guide and host for a place they love!
- Experiences at Your Own Pace: There is no rigid itinerary at Manta! Whether it’s world-class diving, exploring the Ngezi Rainforest, enjoying a beach picnic, or simply doing nothing at all, experiences unfold based on the guest’s own pace and preferences.
- The Kwanini Ethos: What makes Manta different is that they are consciously, continuously asking the question ‘why’ – Kwanini? The Kwanini Foundation is in the heart of everyone working at Manta as it’s mission is to empower the people of Pemba Island to build sustainable and resilient communities through education, healthcare, environmental conservation, and marine protection.
Accommodations
Manta has several accommodation options ranging from the remarkable Underwater Room to gorgeous Oceanview Villas perfect for families and friends. Spaces are designed to allow days to unfold slowly and nights to remain calm. You can feel an authentic sense of place as materials are local and full of texture, allowing light, air, and the view to lead rather than the room itself. Paths move through indigenous trees and down toward the beach, where the ocean is warm and the sand feels like powder beneath your feet!
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Underwater Room
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Oceanview VIlla
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Seafront Family Villa
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Seafront Villa
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- Underwater Room
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- Oceanview VIlla
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- Seafront Family Villa
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- Seafront Villa
The Underwater Room
Located approximately 250 meters off the shore of Pemba Island, the Underwater Room at The Manta Resort offers one of the most extraordinary accommodations in the world. Floating gently above a coral reef garden in the protected Pemba Channel, this three-level private suite provides a serene, secluded, and deeply immersive experience for those seeking reconnection — with nature, with wonder, and with themselves.
The Underwater Room is not just a place to sleep — it’s a portal into one of the planet’s richest marine environments. Anchored within a coral reef conservation area, every moment spent here brings guests into direct contact with ocean life.
Find more details and images here!
Oceanview Villa
Designed for comfort, privacy, and togetherness, the Oceanview Villas feature two spacious bedrooms — each with an ensuite bathroom, crafted with locally inspired design and natural materials. The bedrooms are separated by a beautifully styled indoor bar and dining area, ideal for shared meals, drinks, or quiet conversations. Large sliding doors open onto a sun-soaked wooden deck with a private plunge pool, offering plenty of space to relax, read, or enjoy the ocean breeze.
Every Oceanview Villa also includes a private beach path leading to a beach banda — a shaded lounge with an outdoor shower and mini bar fridge. It’s the perfect spot to unwind, enjoy a cocktail, or rinse off after snorkeling the nearby reef.
Find more details and images here!Â
Seafront Family Villa
A space to unwind and reconnect, the Seafront Family Villa features two generously sized, open-plan bedrooms, each with a king-sized bed, luxurious en-suite bathroom, and direct access to the outdoors. The rooms are connected by a large private deck where you’ll find your own plunge pool and panoramic views over the protected waters of the Pemba Channel. This thoughtful layout allows for both shared family time and quiet moments of rest — ideal for traveling with children or friends.
Find more details and images here!
Seafront Villa
Each of the Seafront Villas is carefully designed with space, privacy, and natural beauty in mind. The interiors are open and breezy, with a four-poster king bed, locally inspired furniture, and floor-to-ceiling wooden shutters that open out to the ocean. The natural ventilation, high thatched ceilings, and calming design allow you to settle into the rhythm of island life.
Step outside onto your spacious veranda, where loungers invite you to soak in the sun, read a book, or simply watch the ocean change with the tide. It’s a place to slow down and reconnect.
Find more details and images here!
Meet Matt and Manta Family
Matt Saus – Managing Director
Matt Saus is the Managing Director and co-owner of Manta and the Underwater Room. He is also the architect of the Kwanini concept. Born and raised in Zimbabwe, Matt grew up with a strong sense of entrepreneurship, a love for adventure and our wild world from the onset – and his passion for preserving our beautiful places has only intensified since.
In 2006, armed with a map and a driving desire to conserve our oceans, he found himself on a journey along the Indian Ocean coastline of Africa to locate an ideal spot for the world's second Underwater Room (the first being in a lake in Sweden and the brainchild of his business partner and designer). It was then that he discovered the Manta Resort (a run-down dive resort at the time) on one of the last islands in the Indian Ocean that's unexploited and "still real". With a gorgeous beach and active reef – it was perfect.
Community and Conservation
The Kwanini Foundation’s vision is to make a positive contribution to the future of Pemba Island by preserving the environment and the integrity of the Pemban people. Kwanini has become who Manta is and it is the key question they ask themselves. Why are we here? Why do we do the things we do? Why will it make a difference for the island and for future generations?
In 2007, a group of like-minded people at The Manta Resort came together to build a tourism project. In everyone coming together to build this long-term vision, we quickly realized that it wasn’t just about Manta – we were interested in Pemba and its’ future. When we started asking why we had come to Pemba, we realised that we’re here for certain reasons; it’s still a truly tropical island, it’s remote, the culture is intact, the environment is not past the tipping point, and there’s real hope, chance and opportunity to keep Pemba a genuinely natural place.Â
