Malindi Reef Fish School
Dive site
North of Watamu, the Malindi Marine National Park protects a long shallow reef system where fish biomass is visibly higher than on unprotected reefs. The signature experience is the fish school: enormous aggregations of bluestripe snapper, big-eye trevally, and black-and-white snapper that rotate in tight cylinders above the reef at 8 to 18 m, so dense that mid-water visibility drops in every direction. Reef fish density here rivals sites in the Maldives or Mabul, in a park that sees a fraction of the visitors. Napoleon wrasse patrol the reef edge and large stingrays rest on the sand below the schools. A genuine secret of the East African coast.
Conditions
Depth
6 to 22 m
Open water and up
Current
Can be moderate
Can pick up on the edge
Visibility
6 to 12 m
Clearest in the calm season
Water
23 to 30°C
5mm wetsuit
Month by month
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water (°C) | 27 | 27 | 28 | 27 | 26 | 24 | 23 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 |
| Vis (m) | 15 | 15 | 12 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 15 | 15 |
| Current | Gentle | Gentle | Gentle | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Gentle | Gentle | Gentle | Gentle | Gentle |
Your chances of seeing each animal
Bluestripe snapper
Photo: Ian Shaw · © all rights reserved
Sometimes
About 1 in 3 dives
Bigeye trevally
Photo: Mark Rosenstein · CC BY-NC
Sometimes
About 1 in 3 dives
Napoleon wrasse
Photo: David Roche · CC BY-NC
Sometimes
About 1 in 3 dives
Blue-spotted ribbontail ray
Photo: Luis P. B. · CC BY-NC
Sometimes
About 1 in 3 dives
Field journal
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