Bazaruto Archipelago:
This is one of Mozambique's most famous national parks and tourist facilities on the islands are geared towards luxury tourism. There are four main islands - Bazaruto, Benguerra, Magaruque and Santa Carolina.
The largest island in the group is Bazaruto Island, filled with fresh water lakes inhabited by crocodiles, exotic butterflies and many species of birds. The island itself is home to some 125 different species of birds. Benguerra, south of Bazaruto, is smaller but with similar geography and wildlife.
The islands are covered by large sand dunes and freshwater lakes, which are nesting grounds for black-winged Flamingos. They are also home to small herds of red Duiker antelope as well as freshwater Crocodiles and samango Monkeys. The closest island to Vilanculos is Magaruque and is small enough to make a day trip worthwhile as you can walk around the island in a couple of hours. Santa Carolina is the smallest island and is surrounded by the deepest waters of the islands making it ideal for game fishing.
For wildlife lovers one of the chief attractions must be the prospect of seeing dugong, now threatened with extinction in many other parts of the world.
These mammals are seen regularly in the waters around the islands, as are Dolphins, Turtles and humpback Whales. For those with an interest in the history of the islands, there are the ruins of a 19th century fort on Magaruque and a lighthouse on Bazaruto, which is just over one hundred years old. With the exception of Santa Carolina, all the islands have accommodation. One option is to cruise the islands on a traditional dhow, the Funazi. The trip takes five days, visits four islands and includes all park fees, meals, drinks and accommodation. Alternatively you can arrange a boat trip to the smaller islands from the lodges of Bazaruto and Benguerra Islands.
The Bazaruto Archipelago certainly is Mozambique's playground. It's also the country's most important national park and has been welcoming tourists for decades - even during the civil war, thanks to direct flights from South Africa and game fishermen who wouldn't be put off.
Nowadays, an ever-increasing host of lodges and small hotels jostles for position at Vilanculos, the mainland hopping-off point for the islands. Bazaruto and Benguerra, the two largest (large being relative: Bazaruto is 35x7km), host a handful of upmarket properties, including Indigo Bay, a small luxurious hotel with open-air bars and lounges, air-conditioned bungalows and tranquillising views of dune and sea. Although Bazaruto is just 600km up Mozambique's 2500km coast, it represents an invisible north-south divide, as far as tourism goes.
Above the Bazaruto barrier lies a largely undeveloped Swahili-flavoured shore, serviced by a sparse infrastructure and studded with historical treasures from Portugal's colonial days. The region is a palimpsest of African origin, with Arabic, imperial Portuguese and outlines of modern western script layered upon one another. One curio seller I haggle with pulls out his mobile phone. In common, north and south share a sensuous laid-back ambience born of Africa having met the Mediterranean. At Costa do Sol, a shore-side Maputo institution that has been serving spicy piri-piri prawns to the city's well-heeled since 1938, the flavours of garlic and Portuguese wine mingle with the sounds of African hip-hop from the car stereos of boys selling drinks by the beach.
Beach:
In the far south are endless dune-backed sands at Ponta do Ouro and Ponta
Malongane, beloved by South African fishermen and divers. Outstanding palm-fringed beaches occur throughout Inhambane Province, especially within 30km of Inhambane town.
To the north are Tofo and Barra beaches; to the secluded south, Jangamo and Paindane Beaches and Coconut Bay. Consisting of sand dunes, the Bazaruto Islands are all fringed by kilometres of unbroken, untouched beach. Wimbe, outside Pemba, is a long strip of white sand with bars and a dive centre. The Quirimbas, 27 offshore islands of fossil coral rock in the far north, harbour innumerable intimate castaway beaches.
Wildlife:
Mozambique's best-known national park has no safari game: Bazaruto NP is a marine reserve, home to the endangered dugong and many coral and fish species. Humpback whales visit between September and November, heading north with newborn calves, and can also be seen in Pemba Bay in July-August. Sadly, many of Mozambique's other NPs don't have much game either.
Protected land forms 11% of the country, but war and poaching have taken a tragic toll on erstwhile rich wildlife populations, and park infrastructure remains sparse. Gorongosa NP, a large area of brachystegia woodland above the Beira Corridor, was once Mozambique's flagship, with 12,000 annual visitors and more game than Kruger, but few animals survived the war.
