Mozambique Anyone?

[chicago]

I'm looking at Mozambique as an alternative to Zanzibar since it's a much easier flight from Jo'burg.

Has anyone been?

ETA: I'm looking at Benguerra Island specifically.

[GilliC]

We drove from Jo'burg to Tofo to go diving and snorkeling with the whale sharks. (It's one of the best places to see them and one of a very few places that are home to them year round.)

We didn't go as far north as Benguerra and mostly just stayed at Tofo while we were there. It's a nice place, and the beach is huge and quiet. There's a very backpacker feel to the main area, and we stayed at a beach hut farther down.

The diving was fun, and we got to see some interesting things, but unfortunately we didn't have advanced certifications, so we couldn't dive the manta feeding station that everyone raved about. Snorkeling with the whale sharks was excellent, and we actually got to do it twice. We did a dedicated trip to look for them and got in a good swim that time, but we also spotted one en route to a dive site. They stopped the zodiac and everyone just grabbed their masks and snorkels and dove in.

My friends are also big surfing fans, so they rented boards one day, but the waves weren't all that great. They had fun, but it wasn't anything out of the ordinary.

Since the place we stayed ran on generators, the power shut off around 6pm, which meant there was some great stargazing on the beach. We'd read some advice that you shouldn't walk the beach after dark due to the security risks, but since our car was pretty much out of commission (I strongly recommend a 4WD if you're driving in the area), we didn't have much choice if we went into town to eat. We took a few extra precautions (flashlights, staying in a group, and I took the memory card out of my camera so I'd still have my photos if we got mugged) but we never had any problems.

This was actually my first trip where we needed anti-malarials, but thankfully I didn't have any negative reactions. We did take care to bring serious insect repellent, and XH and I brought all perfume-less shampoo and deodorant. There were definitely a lot of mosquitoes, and even with insect repellent, our friends still got a lot of bites. We had far fewer bites, so we were glad to have taken extra precautions. I don't know how big a factor the perfume-free toiletries were, but I would definitely suggest taking some high-end DEET-based repellent.

Definitely do not drive after night. This was a piece of advice that we sadly ignored (that and renting a 4WD). We had planned to be through Maputo and farther up the coast by nightfall, but due to unexpected delays at the border crossing, it was already evening by the time we reached Maputo. We had read that you shouldn't drive after dark, and sure enough, just outside of Maputo we got pulled over by some police who were either off duty or not really police. They flanked our car with AK-47s so we couldn't leave and demanded that we hand over all our documentation. We had been warned by South Africans that you should just show your license and papers through the window, because otherwise they'll extort money out of you by keeping them until you pay whatever "fine" they can come up with. When we didn't hand over the papers, they began threatening us, and we said that we would be happy to go to the police station and give them our papers there, but they refused and said that we had to give them the papers before we went to the police station. Clearly this was not on the up and up. The situation escalated, and it was pretty scary. They kept at it and were saying that we would go to jail and that we should call the embassy, because they weren't going to let us leave. They also broke out the racism card early, saying that we weren't handing over the documentation because he was black. This was darkly humorous considering that with 2 Americans and a Norwegian in the car, he was calling the Indian guy racist, but it's not really something you can argue against, since it's a totally baseless accusation to begin with. After about 20 or 30 minutes of this, we honestly would have paid them a hefty fine/bribe/facilitation fee/extortion payment just to be out of there, but there's no good way to bring up the, "How about we just pay you?" discussion. Thankfully they eventually gave up on us and flagged over another car instead, and we were free to go.

A few miles down the road we got pulled over by traffic police again, but this time it was legitimate. A well-lit area, the officers were wearing clearly-visible name tags, and there were no camo-clad AK-wielding flank guards. They just looked at the license, asked where we were going, and sent us on our way.

So anyway... Don't drive after dark!

[chicago]

Blessed, we're looking at some options for a trip next July.

Thanks, Gilli! We definitely won't be renting a car - there's really not much around Benguerra Island from what I can tell and the place we're looking at to stay, Benguerra Lodge, looks fairly isolated. My issue is that these places command pretty steep prices and from what I can tell, there's nothing particularly amazing about the beaches. Maybe I'm mistaken. Your experience sounds amazing and terrifying all at the same time! I think I probably would have peed in my pants had that happened to me!

I had really wanted to go to the Seychelles, but it seems like a huge hassle. I thought we'd save some money by going to Zanzibar but the flights are ridiculous (itineraries and super pricey) and now Mozambique is turning out to be easier to get to but equally expensive.

Part of me is thinking about ditching the beach portion of the trip and moving the safari portion to an non-malarial zone. We would like to start TTC either on or shortly after the trip and my doc recommends I wait two months after taking malarone, which puts our timing off. Not sure Mozambique is a must-do vs. a cool place since you're already there and it's nearby.

[GilliC]

OMG! If you can swing it, Seychelles is worth some hassle!!!! La Digue has hands-down the most gorgeous beaches I've ever been to anywhere in the world. The big granite boulders make the landscape more unique, and the reefs make the water calm and oh so warm. You can just sit in waist-deep water like it's a bath tub. And you can walk around parts of the island wading brought the shallows. I loved it! And the diving and snorkeling in the marine preserves is among the world's best!

It's not really a place if you want traditional drinks-on-the-beach commercial kind of trip (though there are one or two resorts on La Digue; more on the larger islands), but it is a fantastic place. There are larger beaches on Mahe nd Praslin, and they're also nice with a bit more infrastructure.

Overall, Seychelles had the best beaches of the places I've been in the Indian Ocean (though I haven't been to Maldives, so I'm only comparing to Tofo, Mozambique; Goa and Kovalam, India; Reunion Island; Mauritius; and Madagascar).

[Deleted]

We were just looking at Zanzibar, Madagascar, Reunion and a couple other places today for next year.