Maziwe Island is located in the Indian Ocean at a distance of about 15 nautical miles east of Pangani town. It extends from 380 00’ to 390 10’E and 150 00 to 60 00’S.

It was declared as Marine Reserves in 1975 and it is currently managed collaboratively with Pangani District Council and Resident community

The Reserve is also part of the Fisheries Management Plan agreement with communities implemented under the Tanga Coastal Conservation and Management Programme.

It is a submerged island that at one time had forest cover extending for about 10km. The main island species found by then were huge trees like Casuarina cunninghamiana (Mivinje Bahari) Breonadia salicina (Mgwina), Cocos nucifera (coconut plantations) fruit trees and other shrubs including tall trees. It serves as a fishing camping to a number of fishermen from different areas as far as Mtwara, Mafia and Kilwa while others came from Zanzibar and Mombasa in Kenya on fishing activities.

The island was used by Pangani district residents as a place for ritual performance and that was the reason why livestock like goats and chicken used to be found in some parts of the island before it was submerged in 1978/79 to erosion resulted mainly from clearance of the island vegetation cover.

Maziwe remains an ideal place for swimming, snorkeling and diving as well as research expedition, sunbathing and watching dazzling tropical fish. There are wide ranges of marine species diversity within the Maziwe Island Marine Reserve.

Over 200 species of fish, 35 Genera of corals (soft and hard), number of seagrasses, many type of birds different algae and sponges are found in and around the Island Reserves.