Manta Reef

Manta Reef is a deep reef about 15 to 20 kilometres south of Tofo in Mozambique, 25 to 40 minutes by boat. It is the fishiest, easiest and shallowest of Tofo's deep sites, at 19 to 26 metres, and an advanced dive. It is historically famous for its multiple cleaning stations and the mantas that queue up at them.

A flat reef plateau is bordered by walls of 5 to 10 metres to the north and south. The southern tip has a narrow canyon with cracks and crevices full of macro life. The northern tip has pinnacles rising from the seabed and a rock amphitheatre with a large overhang and swim-through. The cleaning stations sit on the top edge of the reef, so good buoyancy is needed to avoid damaging the reef or disturbing the animals being cleaned.

Large, motionless schools of bigeyes, snapper and goatfish gather on the north wall, and batfish and bigeye trevally are often overhead. Caves and pinnacles shelter potato groupers, loggerhead turtles and giant morays, and smaller reef fish, morays, groupers and nudibranchs live on the reef. The current can be strong.