We flew on a small prop plane to the town of Vilankulo, the main gateway to the Bazaruto Archipelago. From the plane you could see dusty plots of land with little vegetation and small huts. The drive to our resort was along sandy roads requiring 4WD. The locals were much friendlier than in Maputo! We actually got smiles and waves…..
We stayed at the Archipelago Resort. It is their low season…so we got an ocean view casa that slept six for the price of one room! The place was beautiful…but very much like camping. The rafters were open…so we encountered mosquitoes and other critters. Made for some interesting nights….
The view from the pool/bar/restaurant….We had a similar view from our patio where we spent most of our time. A herd of stray dogs adopted us…so we had friends.
We took a walk on the beach and encountered this woman….shucking shellfish. Obviously this wasn't her first visit to the beach. The pile of shells was enormous.
We rode in the back of a pickup to get into “town” the next day. I felt like the mayor…everyone was waving and calling out to us. Kids gave chase! My only guess is that they don’t get a lot of tourists.
The main town wasn't much…but it did have a paved road! Our casa has a kitchen, so we decided to save money and do some cooking. The grocery store was small, but had a fair variety of supplies from South Africa….that should have been our first clue. The two bags of basic groceries cost around $100!
We took another beach walk while the tide was out. During the day the tide goes out so far that it results in HUGE sands bars. The contrast of turquoise water and white sand is stunning. The boat in the picture is called a dhow…the locals use them for fishing and transport. You can take a dhow “safari” to the archipelago…but under sail it can take two to six hours!
The next day we took a beach horseback ride. The horses were beautiful and very well trained. After talking with our guide, Kate, we discovered that her parents had rescued around 100 horses from Zimbabwe where they were from. The government took over the farms, and the farmers were only able to remove their “personal effects”. Horses were considered an item of the farm. Thanks to Kate’s parents, these horses are now happy and healthy and living in Mozambique!
We went diving with Nicole from Bazaruto Dive at our resort. The trip out to the Archipelago took 45 minutes…and on the way we saw Bottlenose dolphins! They played around the boat while we took pictures.
The Bazaruto….which is a national marine park. On our dives we saw a giant sting ray, 5 turtles, a moray eel, a huge grouper and got to listen to the whales sing!
After diving we had lunch on the Bazaruto…and hiked up a giant sand dune. It felt like being in the Sahara, with blowing sand as far as the eye could see. Now on to Tofo Beach…known for their manta rays and whale sharks.
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