MALINDI MARINE NATIONAL PARK & RESERVE

The Coral Garden

From swimming with zebrafish to windsurfing, this beautiful slice of Kenya’s Indian Ocean coastline provides the perfect getaway. The park is endowed with magnificent resources such as fringing reefs, coral gardens in the lagoons, sea grass beds, mangroves, mudflats, marine mammals, turtles, and various species of shorebirds. Visitors can also enjoy glass-bottom boat rides, snorkeling, camping, and beach walks in this veritable paradise. Marine life includes; humpback dolphins, sea turtles, and shore birds. Among these bird species found in this marine park include; reef fish, sweetlips, surgeon fish, butterfly fish, damsels, and parrotfish. Invertebrates include; sponges, marine worms, and crustaceans – crabs, lobsters, crayfish, and shrimps. Local fishermen benefit from Artisanal fishing for their livelihoods.

Other natural and historical attractions around are the mangrove forest and the Vasco da Gama pillar. The Malindi nightlife is also a great puller of adventurers to the Coastal town.

On the leeward side of the north reef which has a low coral cover, large schools of Barracuda and the occasional reef shark are a common encounter as well as large Rays that feed on the bottom. Whether snorkeling or scuba diving, you are sure to marvel at the underwater beauty and may just bump into other regular visitors who include sea turtles feeding on the thalassic beds and dolphins feeding on shimmering schools of sardines.