Mama Paka: Zanzibar's cat cafe and kitten nursery

Karibuni Mama Paka!

We are home to Tanzania’s first ever dedicated intensive care kitten nursery. We care for neonatal and critical care kittens in our specialist nursery and in our foster programme. We specialise in kittens under 8 weeks of age. Since the nursery began in June 2021, we have helped over 750 cats and kittens who have required specialist care, support in their community colony, or through spay and neuter.

Our vision is not just for kittens. We want a Zanzibar where community cats can live their nine lives to the fullest in the community, free from disease, hunger and over-population and in harmony together with the communities who care for them.

To reach this, we are opening East Africa’s first ever cat café! The café will be a not-for-profit social enterprise, meaning every penny, cent and shilling will be used to fund our nursery and community cat programmes. Enjoy tea, coffee and home-baked treats in an environment built specially for Zanzibar’s beautiful street cats, and your money will help us to help more cats!

Critical care is expensive and kittens need specialist supplies. We need your help to save more kittens, and to help us build the cafe space that will enable us to save even more cats. Your amazing donations will support our exciting programmes and the cafe's Big Build!

Our Programmes

1. Critical Care Kitten Nursery

The café will help to provide funds for the kitten nursery and the foster programme that supports it, meaning we can save even more of Zanzibar’s kittens and adult cats who need specialist respite care, helping to reduce the burden on Paka Clinic and ZAASO.

2. Community Cat Management

We will support communities to expand the management of Zanzibar’s cat colonies, helping cats to live their best lives on the streets. We currently coordinate mass Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) campaigns and support cat caretakers to monitor the health of the cats they care for, providing them with the supplies they need. Through our campaigns we've sterilised more than 500 cats. We also plan to set up street shelters and a food bank.

3. Education and Awareness

The café will provide a safe space for children and communities to interact with cats and to learn about animal welfare. Found a kitten and don’t know what to do? We will provide resources on how to keep cats happy and healthy in their community colonies, and advice on when to intervene.

Follow us!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mamapakazanzibar

Facebook: facebook.com/mamapakazanzibar