Southern Mozambique - finishing in style!

---

Time was rapidly running out, so we made a beeline for Tofo in Mozambique, intending to have a couple of weeks diving and relaxing on the beach, to recover a tan which had slowly disappeared in the South African winter!

We arrived and pitched our tent in fatima´s nest, only to find a cloudy sky and news that all the Manta Rays and whale sharks (the 2 things Tofo diving is famous for!) have gone AWOL, not quite what we had in mind for our return to the "promised land" of Mozambique!

However... we met some really cool people and had a great time at a local Shabeen (local bar) knocking back, the surprisingly tasty "Tipo Tinto" rum and the not so tasty "paradise" gin! Dancing away to the African tunes and showing all the rhythm of a white english man!

After a couple of days the sun came out and from nowhere the Mantas reappeared, we had some excellent views of them at various cleaning stations, also saw some turtles and cool reef fish and tons of humpback whales and dolphins from the boat but still not the elusive Whale shark! We spent our afternoons relaxing on the beach and munching "Bunny chow" (curry served in a hollowed out loaf of bread... mmmmm!)





After a while we headed up to Vilanculos with our new Dutch friends, Erik + Nynke, who had been invited onto a 14m luxury catamaran by a retired shipbuilder, Fred. We managed to wangle an invite too and spent a fantastic 4 days cruising around the Bazaruto Archipelago, snorkelling, sunbathing on deck and exploring the islands, usually only accessible via the exclusive (and very expensive) lodge on the main island! The weather was perfect, blue skies and plenty of sun... not bad for the middle of winter! From the boat we could see dolphins, turtles and (we think) a couple of Dugongs...





After 4 days of Fred´s hospitality, we said our goodbyes and myself and Anna headed back down to Tofo for one more day of diving... 2 nice dives, more mantas, spanish dancers and other cool stuff and we had long since resigned ourselves, after so much false hope all around the world to never seeing a whaleshark... until on the way back from the very last dive, there he was in all his glory, we piled in and got to swim with it as it slowly cruised along almost close enough to touch...we left it late but finally after disappointment in Mexico, Honduras etc we got our whaleshark!




Mozambique is a fantastic place, especially for diving and one of the highlights of my whole trip... I hope it stays unspoilt but large stretches of land in Tofo are already sold off for development and oil exploration is happening in the North... you cant blame them for wanting to develop the tourist industry I just hope it is controlled...

Photos are uploaded at the following location:

---