World › Tanzania › Dar-Es-Salaam › Caves

Caves 54.0

#3697 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇹🇿 Tanzania · Dar-Es-Salaam · near Dar es Salaam

Very consistent, wind is the enemy here, no off season.

Works all yearWarm waterBeginner friendlyBeginner
Caves, Tanzania
Photo: Mangapwani · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Surf score54.0 /100
Surfable days88% of the year
Clean days1% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell1% period 11 s+
Typical size0.9 m 3.1 ft median
Water28°C boardshorts

Best time to surf Caves

The best time to surf Caves is March, July, December. It rarely works. In July the water sits around 26°C, so pack boardshorts, and the typical wave is 1.3 m. The nearest airport is DAR (39 km) and the nearest town is Dar es Salaam (37 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan92%0%0.9 m28°Cboardies
Feb77%0%0.7 m29°Cboardies
Mar46%1%0.6 m29°Cboardies
Apr79%0%0.8 m29°Cboardies
May100%1%1.1 m28°Cboardies
Jun100%0%1.2 m27°Cboardies
Jul100%5%1.3 m26°Cboardies
Aug100%0%1.1 m26°Cboardies
Sep100%0%1.1 m26°Cboardies
Oct99%0%0.9 m26°Cboardies
Nov87%0%0.7 m28°Cboardies
Dec79%3%0.7 m29°Cboardies

What is under Caves

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor drops to 70 m, shoaling steadily over the last kilometres.

Depth 8 km out70 m
Depth 4 km out23 m

Measured, not estimated: NOAA ETOPO 2022 global relief at 15 arc-seconds, about 460 m per cell, sampled along this spot’s own swell window. At that scale the survey sees passes and channels; it cannot see a reef ledge, so nothing here is said about how the wave breaks.

Why 54.0

Seven parts, each normalised 0 to 1 and multiplied by its weight; the sum is scaled so the best spot in the world scores 100. Wave quality and what the spot does on its best days carry more than half of it, which is what separates this from a ranking of where the water is warm.

Wave quality 34.7%
17.4
Best days 22.4%
5.6
Clean days 18.4%
0.0
Consistency 10.2%
10.2
Season spread 4.1%
3.7
Water comfort 6.1%
6.1
Access 4.1%
3.7

The detail

Faces 55° with 58% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 54% of days. Mean peak period 7.9 s. Days over 3 m: 0%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 1.3 m, with a peak period of 9 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 79%. Months that work: 11 of 12. Coordinates -6.986, 39.542 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€760/ month
typically €669 – €851
Rent, one bedroom€400
Groceries€160
Eating out€90
Getting around€55
Phone + internet€55
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€1,480/ month
typically €1,300 – €1,660
Somewhere to stay€870
Eating out€310
Car, transfers, fuel€200
Data + extras€95
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for Tanzania (2025, United States = 1.00) applied to a fixed surfer basket, then adjusted for how remote the spot is. Your own number moves with the season and how you live.

Our own project · Sumba, Indonesia
Own a cabin on a surf coast in Sumba

Sumba has eight spots in this ranking, the best of them inside the world top 50. A cabin is €11,500. The land it sits on is separate, from €6,500 (€9,950 oceanfront), on an 80-year lease that extends at the end. Water, septic and electricity are another €6,500, and furniture is on top, so a finished cabin lands around €28,000 plus the land, payable in instalments.

Eco Beach City is run by the same people as SurfRanking, so treat this as our own advert, not a recommendation. It is an off-plan property in Indonesia: take your own legal and financial advice before paying anything.

See the cabin

Spots nearby

Coolangatta🇦🇺 Australia · score 53.3Cuttagee🇦🇺 Australia · score 52.2Ibiraquera🇧🇷 Brazil · score 53.6Santinho🇧🇷 Brazil · score 52.6
Compare Caves with 5,700 other spots
Filters by month, level and water, map, side by side comparison and a trip planner.
Open the interactive profileMore spots good in July