Kisite-Mpunguti Marine National Park — Attraction in Kwale

Kisite Marine Park has some of the best snorkelling I've ever seen and probably the best in Kenya. I highly recommened going! The reef is very healthy and has large schools of fish. At some points on the reefs you are just surrounded by so many varieties and sizes, it's quite wonderful! The coral is also very beautiful and there's lots of different types to see. Some reviews mentioned rubbish/plastic but we didn't see any. As well is the snorkelling you are almost guaranteed to see dolphins (even in August which is low season for Dolphins). We saw quite a few and it was magical! We hired a private boat from a guy called Mohammed (+254 712 619 043) who we met around the museum area in Shimoni where many of the guides hang out. It cost us $70 (after some bargaining) for the day for my partner and I. The best thing about the private boat is you aren't rushing like they do on most tours with larger groups. You can spend longer snorkelling, bring your own food or request some for an extra cost. You can even stop at one of the islands (Mpunguti). We brought a picnic lunch and had the island to ourselves!

Most tours come from Diani where the money goes directly into the pockets of the tour companies and resorts so the local community in Shimoni/Wasini barely benefits at all. Therefore, if you want to contribute more to the local economy I suggest staying in Shimoni for a night or two and taking a private boat tour.

KWS needs to do more to protect this jewel in the sea as nobody checks if you wear sun screen or not ,and there didn't seem to be strong messages about avoiding to step on the coral. I do hope KWS and the local community do what they can to protect the marine park and the beautiful precious coral and fish!

Go see it before...

... Dhow Wow!!! ...

Our dhow is called MV Rafiki. The monsoon winds gather and puff us towards Kisite Mpunguti. We had started off from the Shimoni jetty. Captain Mohammed offers a "Bismillah" and a lovely smile before we embark.

The Kisite Marine Park was established to protect the scenic islands and special habitats of a wide range of endemic marine animals and breeding migratory birds. It lies in the coral gardens south of Wasini Island and encompasses three small coral rag forest islands, each with considerable areas of fringing reef. Kisite is one of the most rewarding snorkelling locations at the coast. Visitors can also enjoy bird watching, diving and of course, sunbathing.

At Kisite we pour ourselves off MV Rafiki into warm, clear, clean water. Some of us hangout at the sandbar right after spotting some dolphins while some snorkel onto the reef, where marine life - zebra fish, flecked lobster, speckled crabs, fish the colour of canaries and fish with plumped-up lips like the ladies at Shella - all busily ignore us.

Moha's boys back at Wasini island have cooked lunch on the beach. We voyage back to Shimoni the mainland after lunch at Wasini with Moha and his boys entertaining us with some...

We went on an organized tour and it is the basically the same tour all tourists to the marine park do. We arrived at the marine park office to start our tour. The park office is a little chaotic with tourist buses and tourists. The toilets here, while clean, were not functioning very well. With all the money they make from foreign tourists you would expect better toilets. Once we were on the boat our guide took us to see dolphins on our way to the marine park. It was cool to see the dolphins up close. The boat ride to the marine park is about an hour and half. The snorkelling at the marine park was the highlight of our tour, it was truly amazing. We saw so much marine life in the hour that we snorkelled. The only downside was our tour boat did not have fins. I noticed other tour boats gave their clients fins. Check with your tour operator when booking. To end the tour, lunch was provided at a local island restaurant. The food was satisfactory, not amazing, we were just happy to have a meal after snorkelling. I would highly recommend a visit to this marine park if you in...