10 of the best reasons to visit Mozambique 

Mozambique has become one of the gems in Africa’s crown. Besides being a relatively short drive away from SA, here are some of the reasons you should plan to visit soon

1. GORONGOSA NATIONAL PARK

Before the civil war came, Gorongosa was one of Africa’s fabled game parks, full of elephants buffaloes, lions – the park’s emblem – and majestic sable antelope. The game was devastated by the fighting but since the philanthropic Carr Foundation arrived and began rebuilding the park, animal numbers have recovered rapidly and the reserve is on track once more to becoming one of earth’s great wildlife experiences. See http://www.gorongosa.org.

2. DIP YOUR TOES IN LAGO NIASSA

Malawians call it Lake Malawi, Mozambicans call it Lago Niassa. Some say the Mozambican shore is nicer, quieter and more rugged. To see it at its best, head for Nkwichi Lodge, a beautiful low-impact lodge in the Manda Wilderness area in Northern Mozambique. Nkwichi is built into the rocks and around the trees of one of the lake’s most remote bays. You can get there by charter flight (expensive) or by the lake ferry MV Ilala from Monkey in Malawi to Likoma Island where the lodge will fetch you. Swim, eat, lie in the sun, paddle a canoe, drink a cold beer, eat lunch, have an afternoon doze, repeat. Visit www.mandawilderness.org.

mini_story_image_hleft1

3. HORSING AROUND ON BAZARUTO

It’s an odd sensation to be riding a pony with an Afrikaans name while a guide speaks to you in Portuguese as the horses trudge up the side of a steep island sand dune – pointing out where crocodiles lurk in the shallows of a cobalt-blue lake – but then Mozambique always has surprises up its sleeve. Indigo Bay Island Resort on Bazaruto has boerperd horses which love to climb the dunes and go for a quick gallop on the long, golden beach on the east side of the island. See www.indigobayresort.com.

4. SNORKELLING OFF PARADISE

Mozambique has some of the best diving and snorkelling in Africa. There are plenty of famous sites but the setting of Paradise Island – a brief boat ride from Indigo Bay (see above) in the Bazaruto Archipelago – is hard to beat. The water around Paradise Island – or Santa Carolina as it is officially known – are shallow, warm and sheltered, and visibility is usually excellent. It’s not a big reef but it is busy with a healthy population of reef fish, rays, eels and the occasional blacktip reef shark. The ruined hotel on the island itself is a fascinating, if melancholic, diversion.

story_article_right1

 5. LIVE FIVE CENTURIES OF HISTORY ON ILHA

Ilha de Moçambique is a crumbling colonial masterpiece where once ornate villas shelter under the walls of the huge fort which dominates the island. Ilha has seen successive waves of Arab and Chinese traders – guides will tell you Chinese pottery lies out in the bay – but it was Portugal’s explorers who built the first church in the southern hemisphere. The little Chapel de Nossa Senhora de Baluarte survives today, as do the original cisterns from which the island still gets its fresh water. Now it’s a Unesco World Heritage site and the government has taken steps to restore some of Ilha’s dignity. A good place to stay is the atmospheric O Escondidinho on Avenida dos Heróis (see www.oescondidinho.net or e-mail ilhatur@teledata.mz.)

6. RAILS ACROSS THE NORTH

There are just a handful of passenger trains in Mozambique but one of them – the daily run between Nampula and Cuamba in the country’s far north – ranks as one of the great, hardcore railway journeys of the world. This is hot, crowded travel and don’t bother trying to get on if you don’t have a ticket – buy that the day before at the ticket offices in Cuamba or Nampula, and make sure you get one of the few second-class tickets. The best place to watch the passing show as the train rushes through the lush greenery and picks its way among the magnificent granite outcrops is from the privately-operated dining car which serves basic diet of hot chicken and cold beer. (Find out which other train journeys are worth putting on your bucket list.)

full_story_image_hleft2

7. SEAFOOD OF THE GODS

Costa do Sol, the art deco restaurant and hotel at the end of the beachfront road out of Maputo, is an institution. On weekends, people make the trek from all over the city to eat fresh seafood on the terrace and watch the palms sway in the breeze. If you’re feeling a little more flush and want to get a taste of how the other one percent lives, head to the Polana Hotel (Avenida Jullius Nyerere, www.serenahotels.com) and have Africa’s most awesome coffee milkshake while you chill on a lounger by the pool.

story_article_right2

8. SAILING ON THE BAY OF DHOWS

Inhambane is the prettiest and probably most relaxed town in all Mozambique, helped enormously by the huge fleet of sailing dhows that ply its bay. The dhows are the centre of Inhambane’s life — they are ferries and fishing boats and long-distance cargo haulers. One of this country’s great experiences is to head down to the beach, find a good boat and make a deal with the skipper. Take a day. Or a week, if your budget allows. Just get on the water under an old sail and drift around the bay, racing other dhows, chasing dolphins and drinking coconut juice out of the shell. Rates will vary depending on your bargaining skills but reckon on about US$100 for a long and unforgettable day on the water.

mini_story_image_hleft3

9. EAT A PRAWN CURRY AT PIRI PIRI

This stalwart restaurant café at the east end of Avenida 24 de Julho in Maputo was tone of the first places to welcome visitors when the war ended and it’s still going strong, propelled by its reputation for simple and excellent food. The grilled chicken, doused in the world’s best peri-peri sauce, is unfailingly excellent, as is the prawn curry whose fame has echoed around the world. It’s an excellent place to sit at a pavement table and watch people go by. And after all these years, it’s still cheap.

10. AND, OF COURSE, FOR THE BEER

At the end of the war, the best beer in town was called Impala. It came in big, brown bottles often lined with mud and sometimes twigs which luckily did nothing to hamper the sweet and yeasty taste. Impala has gone now and everybody drinks 2M or Laurentina, and it must be said there are few things in this world more satisfying than a cold, dark Laurentina Preto on a hot day while you wait for your grilled chicken and chips, staring at the sea and knowing that, yes, you are in Mozambique. Just like the Bob Dylan song promised. (Check out our 5 golden rules for South African beer drinkers.)