The New Manta Underwater Room Launches on Pemba Island
A rare overnight reef experience, created as a Coral Reef Safari investment and operated by Manta Pemba Island, now welcomes guests in one of East Africa’s most important marine settings.
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Coral Reef Safari is pleased to announce the launch of the new Manta Underwater Room on Pemba Island, Tanzania.
Set offshore from Manta Pemba Island, within a natural depression in the fringing reef, the Underwater Room invites guests to spend a night surrounded by the ocean, above, at, and below the waterline.
Shaped by privacy, open sea views, and a close connection to the coral reef, it offers a distinctive way to encounter the marine environment while supporting its long-term protection.
A night within the reef
The Manta Underwater Room is arranged across three levels, with the experience changing gradually throughout the stay.
At the upper level, an open-air viewing deck and star bed create space for time above the water, with uninterrupted views across the Indian Ocean. At the waterline, a relaxed living space sits just above the surface, connected to the movement, light, and sound of the sea.
From there, a staircase leads below the waterline to the underwater room itself. Large windows frame the surrounding coral reef, allowing guests to watch marine life move through the water from the quiet of the bedroom.
During the day, the room is filled with filtered natural light. As evening settles, the reef is softly illuminated, revealing a nocturnal rhythm that is rarely seen so closely.
The room is composed and understated — a large bed, clean lines, and natural materials — with everything arranged around the view. The setting creates space to pause and recharge, with time shaped by the reef, the ocean, and the quiet of being offshore.
Opportunities for self-guided exploration are also built into the experience, supported by thoughtfully provided materials that allow guests to engage with the setting more personally and at their own pace.
Reef Positive Travel
brings together Coral Reef Safari’s conservation-linked tourism model with Manta’s established hospitality expertise on Pemba.
For travellers, the Underwater Room offers a rare overnight experience in direct relationship with a living coral reef. For the travel industry, it is a distinctive product with a clear conservation purpose behind it.
The reef is not a backdrop to the stay. It is the reason the room exists, and the focus of the model that supports it.
Simply by staying in the Underwater Room, guests contribute directly to marine conservation. Once the costs of operating, maintaining, and sustaining the room are covered, 100% of the remaining proceeds are channelled to the management of North PECCA through Blue Alliance Marine Protected Areas Zanzibar.
What the room helps protect
The reefs of Kenya and Tanzania, particularly around the Zanzibar Archipelago, form part of a vital marine system that supports biodiversity, coastal protection, and local livelihoods.
Within this seascape, the Pemba Channel Conservation Area — known as PECCA — is recognised for its high biodiversity and has been identified by scientists as a coral climate refuge. North PECCA supports extensive coral habitats, key migratory routes, and a wide range of marine species.
Its long-term resilience depends on sustained protection, careful management, and lasting local support. In this context, the Underwater Room links a rare guest experience to the wider work of protecting coral reef ecosystems, coastal communities, and the local economies connected to them.
Stay in the room
The new Manta Underwater Room is now live at Manta Pemba Island. For guests seeking ocean immersion, privacy, and a more purposeful way to travel, it offers a stay that is quietly extraordinary — and entirely connected to the reef around it.