Africa Scuba Diving
including Cape Verde Islands, Kenya, South Africa and Mozambique

An Undercurrent Insider Report on Africa Diving
The Consumer Newsletter for Serious Divers Since 1975

Overview of Africa

Any trip to Africa is best coupled with an inland safari. The diving off the coast of Kenya and Tanzania is hit-and-miss. Timing your trip so that it coincides with animal migrations as well as the best diving season is a complicated affair; check with a specialist.... Better diving is found around Pemba Island and off the coast of South Africa... Cage diving with great white sharks is the major attraction around Capetown, where water temperatures range from 46F in August to 68F from November through January. As you head up the Indian Ocean coast toward the equator, water temperatures and sea life become more tropical. The sardine run down the coast of Mozambique attracts hordes of predators, but is highly unpredictable. Most diving in this area involves launching inflatables ("rubber duckies" to the locals) from a beach through the surf.

Africa Seasonal Dive Planner

The right time for land packages with game viewing is a complicated affair; animal migrations are scheduled by rain, not calendars. The diving is simpler: September through March is when the winds should be favorable. Whale sharks often cruise the coast about February.

Africa Feature Articles and Reader Reports

Editor's Book Picks for Africa
including Cape Verde Islands, Kenya, South Africa and Mozambique

The books below are my favorites about diving in this part of the world All books are available at a significant discount from Amazon.com; just follow the links. -- BD

If you're headed south out of San Diego, Fishes of the Tropical Eastern Pacific by Gerald R. Allen, D. Ross Robertson, is the fish guide you need. With 324 photo-packed pages covering 680 species of sharks and sailfish, wrasses and razorfish, pipefish and pearlfish, this is the ultimate ID book for the Baja, Costa Rica, the Galapagos, and the Sea of Cortez. Sponsored by the Smithsonian Institute Drs. Gerald Allen and Ross Robertson took years to produce this definitive volume that describes and comments on the remarkable behavior of these critters. Hardbound, $85.

Coral Reef Animals of the Indo-Pacific
by Terrence M. Gosliner, David W. Behrens, Gary C. Williams.

At last -- a just-published, complete guide to help you identify the uncountable variety of weird critters you'll see on any Indo-Pacific dive, complete with full-color photo of 1,100 species. About Coral Reef Animals of the Indo-Pacific, Chris Newbert says, "This invaluable new book makes identification easy and enjoyable." There are scores of flatworms, nudibranchs galore, bumblebee shrimp, painted crayfish, pompom crabs, side-gilled sea slugs, and endless corals. Marine biologists Terry Gosliner, David Behrens, and Gary Williams cover the reefs from the Solomons to Sipadan, from the Maldives to Maui, from Palau to Papua New Guinea. They provide good notes to help you find and identify each critter. Indispensable for any Indo-Pacific trip. Paperback, 8x110, 314 pages, $45.00.

Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Field Guide by Gerald R. Allen, Roger Steene. I was trying to pack light for a change. Surely the Solomon Sea would have good identification books aboard. Not so; the only book on the boat belonged to a fellow passenger. It was one that I had not seen before, the Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Field Guide, by two of the best fish guys around, Gerry Allen and Roger Steene. The problem was this fellow passenger kept it in a plastic baggie most of the trip and I had to beg to see it. Great book, good traveling size, and it covers everything from fish, shells, marine plants, mammals, corals, and invertebrates to sea birds and more. Now I've got my own, and it won't do you any good to beg me to borrow it. This is one of two books that I will not travel to the Pacific without. Good for travel to the Red Sea, East Africa, Seychelles, Mauritius, Maldives, Andaman Sea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Australia, Micronesia, Polynesia, and Hawaii, it has 1,800 color illustrations in a 6x8 1/2 paperback format with 378 pages. $39.95.

Sea of Cortez Marine Animals by Daniell W. Gotshall, Daniel Gotshal. It's just the book you'll need to identify critters anywhere along Mexico's Pacific Coast, all the way to Panama. Any other ID book just doesn't cover the creatures here. Dan Gotshall, a marine biologist with 34 years research experience, has more the 250 photos of fish, corals, nudibranchs, lobsters, sea stars and other critters endemic to these waters. For each animal there are tips how to identify and where to spot it. Paper, 110 pages, $20.95

You might find some other books of interest in our Editor's Book Picks section.