Mozambique Travel Guide: Where to Go, Eat, Stay

Few locations depart me as gobsmacked as Mozambique—and that’s in all probability for the reason that I went in with no anticipations apart from the typical “good foodstuff, warm hospitality, and crystal blue waters” anticipations. Admittedly, Mozambique was an increase-on for our recent safari travels. We were presently heading to Kruger Nationwide Park in South Africa, and provided that there was dreary November weather conditions back again dwelling, we wanted to pair the bucket-listing safari expertise with some waterfront leisure close by.

After an immersive, honeymoon-caliber week on the country’s shoreline, I can now validate that you should have superior expectations for Mozambique. This is no increase-on. Mozambique is the vacation spot, on par with that when-in-a-lifetime safari we took the week following. As it turns out, we could’ve also safaried correct in Mozambique.

For quite a few vacationers, Mozambique may perhaps have under no circumstances registered as a probable vacation spot, primarily simply because of the length you will need to protect just to get there. But this is specifically why Mozambique holidays come to feel additional gained than a excursion to, say, the Bahamas, Cabo, or even European beach locations. Finest of all, a go to to Mozambique promises to immerse you in nearby culture, much of it aligned to the sea by itself. Even if you want a tranquil island getaway, you’ll get to fulfill the residents, check out land and sea with regional guides, and sense like honored friends in their planet. Furthermore, if you’re like us, and you’re currently heading to Cape Town or Kruger Countrywide Park, you are a stone’s toss from arguably the best shorelines and aquatic recreation in the whole continent.

Planning a Trip to Mozambique

Viewing Mozambique requires a little bit additional planning than other destinations. For 1, Us citizens and several others require to secure a visa. It is simply carried out with evidence of entry/exit flights, hotel reservations, and letters from your accommodations confirming the stay. Coordinate this through your nearest embassy or consulate. It can take 10 business enterprise times to approve, but do it at the very least six weeks in advance of your trip to be certain. As this kind of, you have got to have individuals flights and hotels booked very well in advance. On the well being front, include a malaria prescription from your health practitioner to take everyday whilst there, and the week prior. The risk is very low, but current.

Mozambique’s much more minimal tourism infrastructure when compared to other holiday vacation places signifies that this is not a “show up and wing it” type of desired destination. For occasion, you simply cannot just rent any vehicle and travel to the finest seashores. If you insist on forging your very own way, you are going to need to lease a 4×4 (don’t forget to travel on the still left side of the road) and possibility encountering a cop or two ready and ready with some obscure, bribe-able cause to pull you in excess of. Never let any of this prevent you from coming. There is framework for tourists like us. You just need to have a sound itinerary up front, and permit the specialists do the driving, talking, coordinating for smoother sailing.

Most core locations inside of the place are a small flight away—all connecting by money metropolis Maputo. Criminal offense over-all in Mozambique is really minimal in the places you’re probably to visit—which will veer towards the southern fifty percent of the nation as the northern 3rd is presently underneath an “increased caution” advisory from the Division of Point out thanks to ISIS existence in the Cabo Delgado Province. Whilst this warning does quarantine some of the country’s famous shorelines and islands, the southern locations are correctly protected and inviting to check out.

Tour Operators in and All-around Mozambique

Quite a few of the ideal immersive experiences you’re very likely to have in Mozambique go by Dana Tours, based out of the money, Maputo. The business, which operates nationwide, will put out any and all fires in advance of they begin with their fleet of motorists, guides, and tour organizers who’ll handle all the logistics and make certain a anxiety-absolutely free encounter. Dana Tours is basically at the helm of Mozambique’s full tourism infrastructure ideal now, and most of the pursuits beneath can be booked through them—from diving and sailing to food tours and birding.

For a substantial-close solution, people can also organize bundle itineraries with Black Tomato, which presents luxurious “bespoke” tours in countries all around the planet, such as Mozambique. Be it a honeymoon, bucket-list vacation, or relatives endeavor, you can hop above from a luxury safari with Black Tomato, which offers Mozambique itineraries that can be paired with destinations across South Africa, Botswana, and Victoria Falls in Zambia.

We arranged our luxury safari leg with Royal Malewane in Better Kruger, South Africa. From there, we flew an hour east into Vilanculos on the Indian Ocean coastline, followed by a limited helicopter hop to Benguerra Island for a honeymoon-caliber remain with Azura Benguerra. As for Azura, feel stunning villas with non-public plunge swimming pools on the beach, secluded passionate meals on the sprawling sands, spa treatment plans and massages, island hopping and dhow sailboat cruising with area authorities as your guides.

Here you can take in freshly caught seafood, go on island drives in 4x4s, and take pleasure in a bucket list-worthy menu of leisure options—from scuba diving to snorkeling, fishing to recognizing whales or dugongs (endangered sea cows). Black Tomato managed all of our logistics up front—and we constructed our each day itinerary with Azura onsite.

What to Do in Mozambique

For your check out to Mozambique, build an itinerary from the pursuing routines:

Aquatic Recreation: Mozambique is a huge attract for a amazingly broad collection of h2o actions: Surfing, free of charge diving, scuba diving, snorkeling, fishing (which includes blue marlin and big black marlin), dhow boat sailing, ocean safaris, whale viewing, dugong recognizing, kitesurfing, windsurfing, kayaking and canoeing are all on the exotic aquatic menu in this article.

Seaside and Island Hopping: Mozambique’s ideal strips of sand involve Ponta do Ouro at the southern border with South Africa—where you may place turtles hatching and whales migrating. Ponta Mamoli, just north in the Maputo Activity Reserve, is a further most loved beach front. The sprawling Tofo Beach in the vicinity of Inhambane is specially well known with surfers, as well as Vilanculos and its encompassing islands and archipelagos. Benguerra Island is a preferred for resorts, though the sandstrip Bazaruto is each individual beachy screensaver arrive to lifetime. All those final two are easy to fly to from Maputo or Johannesburg while the first two are finest accessed by 4x4s from Maputo.

Maputo Foodstuff and Historical past: Due to the fact Maputo is possible your port of entry and exit in Mozambique, give your self a comprehensive day or two to experience it with Dana Excursions. We took Dana’s food items + historical past tour as a result of city, which showcased every little thing from the spicy piri-piri hen on the metropolis seaside to sauce-soaked splendor in Parque dos Continuadores, the place community artisans market their merchandise. It stops by the city’s charming railway station (tapped by Time as just one of the most wonderful in the earth) and rolls by way of the bustling central sector. Our favored staples—piri piri aside—included badjia bean dumplings, green matapa stew poured above coconut rice, and exact-working day-caught seafood.

We also booked a going for walks tour of Mafalala—a community housing 25,000 residents in just a single square kilometer—which has manufactured two presidents given that Mozambique’s 1975 independence, as very well as several notable poets, writers, and artists. Mafalala is famously the place Portuguese colonialists forced Black citizens to go in 1977, allowing for only tin-sided properties with out proper foundations or plumbing. The neighborhood stands to this working day, and excursions led by the new Museu Mafalala offer a local’s make a difference-of-truth viewpoint on matters.

Off the assurance of our tour planner, this tour felt a great deal significantly less “outsider wanting in” than I had concerned it may. Somewhat, it appeared emblematic of the Mozambican natives’ press by write-up-colonialism—and a lesson in living background. Permit a donation to the museum be your imprint.

In Maputo, make Southern Sun Maputo your homestead. The 5-star beachfront hotel has an intercontinental pulse, but a correct Maputan aesthetic with its mosaic flooring and vaulted ceilings. Apart from the palm-tree lined pool and Mozambican hospitality, we slept like infants with the audio of the ocean lulling us to bed and steadily waking us up. Catching a spectacular dawn from the balcony here is well worth increasing early for.

Wildlife Reserves and Gorongosa Countrywide Park: After a 25-yr civil war from 1977-1992 took a substantial toll on its organic habitats, Mozambique is steadily repopulating its wildlife. Each and every year, record figures of animals are documented across Gorongosa Countrywide Park’s 12,000 sq. kilometers. The park is on observe to turn out to be a main safari desired destination for Africa, which means you will not necessarily have to hop into neighboring South Africa, Zimbabwe, or Zambia to round out your bucket list recreation park encounters. You can already strategy a safari as a result of Gorongosa with a reservation, and prepare to see lions, elephants, hyenas and every little thing in in between.

You can also choose a drive via any of the country’s conservation reserves, which include just about 13 per cent of Mozambican land (including Gorongosa). The most commonly accessible may possibly be Maputo Specific Reserve, situated to the south of the city and extending in direction of the southern border with South Africa. You can camp or locate a hotel in the reserve. Even though passing by means of, keep an eye out for elephants, crocodiles, nyala, kudu, monkeys, and extra.

Birding: I was surprised to have satisfied a fifty percent dozen “birders” all through our stay in Mozambique, who selected the region as a prime vacation spot for logging strange avian sightings. Look at out Mozambican birding guides if this satisfies your fancy—or if you want an introduction to the probable sightings in any region you are going to take a look at.

For access to exceptional equipment video clips, superstar interviews, and additional, subscribe on YouTube!