Mustique : Book now with SJ Villas
Mozambique
Seldom can the old travel cliché ‘hidden gem’ be more truthfully applied.
With one of the longest coastlines on the continent and near-endless stretches of silky white sand, Mozambique is fast becoming the hottest beach destination in Africa.
In the south, the five small islands of the Bazaruto archipelago are perhaps the most beautiful in the entire Indian Ocean. All of them, apart from Santa Carolina, were once part of a sandy peninsula connected to the mainland, and the ecology of the islands is as diverse as it is pristine.
Marine national park status has helped save the archipelago from mass tourism and has gone a long way to protect the varied marine life that swims in the turquoise waters that wash over the islands’ reefs.
No surprise then that Bazaruto offers some of the best diving and snorkelling to be found in east Africa.
Benguerra Island, where our featured villa is located, is the second largest of the group, its landscape dominated by a ridge of shifting sand dunes that form a fragile barrier against the pounding Indian Ocean. One side of the dunes offers views out to sea, the other faces inland towards the island’s green interior, where villages are scattered among wild orange and cashew nut trees.
The best time to go is in July, when the weather is warm and dry. Avoid the rainy season between November and March.
