Mnarani Marine Turtles Conservation Pond, Nungwi

This aquarium is doing a great job at rescuing turtles, help them heal and then release them back in the ocean. Also, on the tour inside they educate you a lot about the danger to the turtles in the wild and also to the ocean in general.

I understand both the 1 and 5 Star ratings. Its a tricky situation. On the one side it is a tourist attraction, may be the natural pool (its connected to the ocean, therefore low/high tide dependent) is too small, but I can't judge as I have no knowledge. On the other side, someone needs to understand the whole situation (I got told by a local person from Kendwa). Hunting turtels is prohibited. But because it is, local fishermen still try to go for it, because it is good money that is being paid on the black market. To avoid those turtels being killed, the government is paying a similar price to those fishermen to avoid the killing. As those turtels get injured during the hunt, they put those in this kind of place. And how do you fund this place? Exactly, by tourists. At the end its a rat race. Honestly, I dont know if I should like it or not.

Amazing experience, turtles have plenty of space. They have also the baby turtles. Highly recommend 🐢❤️

I've seen reviews saying turtles are being plucked out of the water for tourists, but while I was there it was not happening, and we got explicit instructions not to take any turtle out of the water or push them. We got there at low tide and it was just perfect. The pond they live in is a natural pond, it gets flooded at high tide so the water is not stale as others were saying. Is it merky? Yes. A bit. 30 turtles live there. All in all it was an interesting experience for someone that doesn't scuba and the chances of touching a turtle were minimal

We loved this aquarium! They do good conservation work plus it was such a fun experience swimming with and feeding the turtles! Recommend going in the morning, we were the only ones when we arrived! Not a crowded tourist spot 👍