Tofo, Pronounced Tofu

We heard from so many people in Villankulos that Tofo was an amazing place, with inexpensive diving and whale sharks. Even though we had to backtrack for a few hours, we were so glad that we went back South. We also found the perfect hitch to Tofu, Paulos, a nice attorney from Maputo, who was driving an air-conditioned SUV.

Tofo was everything Villankulos was—aqua water, beautiful beaches, great food, great weather—and more. We stayed at Fatimas, which is very hip and right on the beach. They have fantastic food and a great vibe too. I highly recommend the sweet potato curry.

For our first full day in Tofo, we did an ocean safari to see whale sharks. I had previously seen too many whale sharks to count in Mexico, but the price in Tofo was cheap and there was a chance we would see Mantas and whales too. Well, I was shocked when we not only saw whale sharks, but they did not move nearly as quickly as the ones in Mexico. We were able to swim right next to them for long periods of time. In Mexico, there were more than thirty sharks, but, at most, you would get to swim with one for a minute before it sped off or dove under. Here the sharks were fewer and farther between. We only saw about five and we really had to search for them, but once we found them, we could swim next to them for some time. One shark let us swim next to it for at least ten minutes. It would have let us keep swimming with it too, but the boat called us back in. It was like being part of the sharkès world, a really truly amazing experience. We also swam with Manta Rays and saw dolphins (from the surface).




After getting lunch, crab curry, at Fatimas, we headed back to the market to buy some cute bags, etc.

The next day was one of the best days I’ve ever had. I had initially planned on diving with Regina at Manta Reef, but Regina decided to take her Rescue Course instead. I still wanted to dive, but Manta Reef was too far away to take one person, so Peri Peri (an awesome dive shop) recommended that we go to Giant’s Castle instead. Due to that twist of fate, I was able to dive in what my divemaster called, Manta Ray Soup. We saw rays from the minute we started our dive until just before we started our ascent. We stopped at a cleaning station and there were rays circling directly above our heads, showing us their big white bellies. Although it was hard to look away from the rays, we also saw an eel and the extremely rare sea moths. Then, during our ascent, we could hear humpback whales singing. I had given up completely on seeing (or hearing) whales because it was the end of their season. I did not think that dive could get any better until we got back on the boat. Thirty seconds into our ride, a baby humpback started jumping out of the water less than 100 feet from our boat. It was breathtaking. Soon its mom joined it and we followed them until they dove down. I thought this was par for the course here, but after the dive, the divemaster said that it was the best dive that he had had all year and he told me I should not do any more dives here because it does not get better than that. It was the perfect way to spend my last full day in Mozambique.

(Note: All photos in this post were taken by Regina. She has a water camera, which was much more handy for taking photos in and around the sand and surf).

Mozambique: Land of A Thousand Palms

(Photo by Regina)

Mozambique was everything we had hoped for (and more). It better have been, though, given the ordeal it was to get there. Once our overnight bus arrived in Maputo, we discovered that the hotels were full and that the next bus out of there left a 4 a.m. It ended up working out really well, though. Maputo, despite being overbooked, felt abandoned. There were hardly any people on the street and most of the restaurants were closed. (We later found out that there had been riots and other civil unrest just days before we arrived . . . Oops.)Although it was the prettiest city we’ve seen on this trip because of the old buildings--almost none of the cities in Africa have any historic buildings. There are a couple of explanations for this: 1) many of the native Africans were nomadic by nature and did not build buildings that would withstand time, 2) the buildings that were built by the colonialist were either destroyed by the colonialists when they left or by those they left behind because they were a constant reminder of colonial rule--we were not sad to make our way quickly to the next stop. We paid The Base, a very cool backpacker place, to let us hang out there until we left for the bus at 4 a.m. By two the next day, we were in the beachside town of Villankulos.

The water in Villankulos is aqua and amazing. The food is delicious and inexpensive seafood. And the weather was perfect. We started at Zombie Cucumber, but quickly moved to Dolphin Dhow, which I highly recommend. It has just barely opened up its rooms and it provides accommodation deals for those doing day trips with them, which I also highly recommend. Zombie Cucumber does have great food, though. The owner/chef made us amazing banana muffins on our first night in Villankulos.

The next day, we went with Dolphin Dhow to the island of Margaruque, which is part of the Bhazaruto National Park. There we had the island mostly to ourselves. They made us a wonderful seafood lunch, and we snorkeled along the beautiful reef. The coral and fish were really beautiful. We saw several really long skinny fish with horn snouts (much bigger than trumpet fish) and many, many trigger fish, parrot fish, and a few porcupine fish, to name a few.


(Photo by Regina)


(Photo by Regina)
(Photo by Regina)

(Photo by Regina)

That night we stayed overnight on another island, Banque. We found out later that this is not technically legal. We had that island completely to ourselves. We sat around the fire watching the stars and drinking the local rum and Laurentina Preta. It was perfect! Then, right after we got into the tent, it started raining and blowing. The tent was not as waterproof as we had hoped. We got soaked. And the wind blew the whole night, pushing the edge of the tent right over our faces. We did not sleep much that night.





On the way back, the water that had been so calm and blue the day before was murky and rocky. It was still raining and pelting our faces. Luckily, it was pretty warm so no one got too cold. And, when it cleared up that afternoon, we were able to enjoy ourselves on the Villankulos coastline. We also hit up the ATM, which only work very occasionally, and got some more good seafood at Nah Sombra. It and Mama Tize’s are the best places to eat in town. I tried a local dish, Matuka, a peanut, curry-like dish.

The next day, we headed to Santa Carolina, aka Paradise Island, also with Dolphin Dhow. The island was pristine, and for most of the day, we were the only ones on it. The water was aqua and the whole island is surrounded by coral. We snorkeled for an hour. There were so many cool fish that I had never seen before, including a monster angel fish, a little fish that looked like a hummingbird, and some blue bottle-nosed fish. We also saw some of my favorite, porcupine fish.


(Photo by Regina)
(Photo by Regina)
(Photo by Regina)










(Regina with Jeff (our captain), Photo by Regina)

(Photo by Regina)

(Photo by Regina)
(Photo by Regina)

Later that night, back in Villankulos, we joined our captain, Jeff, his cousin, Alfredo, and our friend from Dolphin Dhow, Mike, at the local hotspot, Smugglers. Although there were a lot of people there, the music was horrid. Mike, who was beyond drunk, was our only entertainment. We went to another club, where the music was great, but we were essentially the only ones there. I danced all night anyway and made a few new friends, Vanessa and Slyvia.

(Haji, the son of the owner at Dolphin Dhow and our able guide).