CI
Email john v | 65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
an easy and rewarding trip to Maputo Special Reserve
The Maputo Special Reserve is an important link in the regional wildlife conservation efforts and great efforts have been made to re-establish wildlife, virtually extinct after the civil war, and infrastructure. The combination of the shore with beaches and the park with ist wildlife make it especially attractive. There are resorts and campsites and one finds many weekend/holiday visitors from SA with their boats and tents.
Our visit was a short one from Maputo in between work, on a Saturday. Arranged by the owner of our bed and breakfast with her own 4WD. Costs were US$ 200 for the two of us, including park entrance fee. Renting a vehicle or have a travel agency do the trip will be more expensive. A 4WD is needed, the area is mostly very sandy and a normal vehicle will get stuck in no time and isn't allowed in the park. The new Maputo-Katembe bridge (opened end of 2018) and the completely renewed road from Maputo south to Punta de Ouro and the SA border make that the trip from Maputo to the park entrance only takes just over an hour. We spent some two and a half hours in the park, mainly driving to the Lagoa Chinguto, the largest lake in the park. On this short trip, we saw elephants, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, hippo's, impala, southern reedbuck, natal duiker, greater kudu and crocodiles. Birds were abundant, especially waterfowl with both resident and migrant species: spoonbills, yellow-billed stork, egrets, herons, various terns and waders.
The park is espcially interesting for those with little time to spend but still want to see wildlife, and for those who have more time to spend and combine a beach-park-camping/lodging trip.
ES
Email Javier Ventosa (homolobis) | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
road to the Indian Ocean
MY trip to Mozambique is actually the end of a trip that started in Zambia and after crossing this country and Malawi, I reached the Mozambique border to cross the country from west to east until I reached the Indian Ocean. Mozambique is not a country that stands out for its wild fauna, greatly diminished by the effects of the civil war suffered by the country. The best parks are located in the state that border the borders of South Africa and Zimbabwe. But if it is endowed with a great scenic beauty, with extensive wooded plains on which protrude gigantic rock of rock, some of almost a thousand meters, that break the uniformity and give a magical aspect to the environment. The beaches of its coasts and islands are totally of very white sand and have nothing to envy to those that can be found in the Caribean or in the Pacific. The water of the ocean is of an intense and warm blue and it is easy to find whales jumping on them or approaching the boats, especially in the area of Ilha de Mozambique. Mangroves are also frequent, where the movements of the tide reveal an intricate labyrinth of channels on the sand, very rich in small marine fauna and birds, at low tide
People are generally friendly and curious about foreigners, and unlike in other African countries, there is an effort to recover part of the colonial splendor, of some settlements which are accompanied by restorations and the appearance of very well-kept hotel establishments. a high level of comfort and services that are promoting a tourism of greater adqusive power and very focused on relaxation or aquatic activities such as coral reef diving or navigation. It is possible that if the political stability of the country is maintained, Mozambique is called to be a country with a strong attraction for its possibilities. If we add to this its culinary culture, mixing the local with the Portuguese, the attractiveness of the country increases remarkably.
As security, it is not a troubled country in general and keeping with minimal care especially in the cities at nightfall as it happens in many Western cities, you should not have problems. Some guerrilla centers have appeared in the north near the border with Tanzania, linked to the appearance of oil in that area, but of little and infrequent activity
Epic adventures in Mozambique, Southern Africa's last frontier
The trip started in Cape Town, South Africa and goal was to reach Arusha, Tanzania. Natasha and I are well travelled and along with our trusty land cruiser, we thrive on adventure. We decided to take an alternative route north, hugging the coast of Mozambique and Tanzania en route to Arusha.
If you want the iconic never-ending golden beaches, warm waters and seclusion, then Southern Mozambique is for you. South of Inhassoro, the pace was slow. We don't travel more than 350km's a day, and we spent at least 3 nights at each spot. We camped mostly, but there's a multitude of lodges and hotels that cater for just about everyone. Mozambique still offers great value for money, and is probably on par with South Africa. We took every opportunity to go snorkelling, various island excursions and found the day trips along with some relaxing on the beach, the perfect pace for us.
North of Inhassoro is were you leave the typical Mozambique tourist trail and head inland. We visited Gorongosa National Park, a once iconic game reserve that is being rebuilt. Its been on our bucket list for a while and I think it will not be long until it reaches its former glory.
From Gorongosa headed along the ENI road to Isle de Mozambique, an island off the Mozambique coast. This was one of the highlights of the trip, it took three days to explore alley's and fort, it was like stepping back into a bygone era.
Ibo Island is another gem. We took a traditional dhow to the island and spent the next couple of days exploring the surrounding islands and eating amazing seafood.
From Ibo, we headed north, crossed over the Ravuma River into Tanzania.
Dive adventure in the Quirimbas archipelago
Our cruise in the Quirimbas archipelago was rather difficult : we were not welcomed. Most of the islands are private so we were not allowed to land. Even though we had a permit, sometimes we were not allowed to anchor.
We visited Ibo island : the village is out of time, a very pleasant and peaceful place where people are very quiet and the colors at the end of the afternoon on the old buildings were so beautiful. Some species of birds were standing in the mangrove but we didn't have enough time for bird watching.
The dive conditions were difficult : courant, poor visibility. But whatever we had good times and Neptune's arms dive site is amazing. Many schools of fish, lutjanus, caranx and also reef white sharks.
