Praia do Tofo

Mozambique has one of the longest coastlines in Africa and has some of the best beaches. Tofo is a quintessential lazy African seaside town with not much to do aside from chill by day and party by night. After a few days in my very rustic beachside bungalow and chilling out on the deck of the bar overlooking the Indian Ocean, I moved to another hostel further down the beach where Maria, a friend that I made in Namibia had just arrived.
We went on a dhow (traditional sail boat) trip into Inhambane Bay, stopping by Survivor Island where we visited a traditional village and ate a local lunch consisting of crab, scallops, fish, bean stew, and matapa - a Mozambican dish made from cassava leaves. After more sailing we went to Pansy Island which is more of a sand bank with loads of really cool "pansy shells" - shells with a pattern of a pansy flower on them, and then went snorkeling where we saw loads of really cool starfish.
Another day we went on a "sea safari", where you go out on a power dinghy boat and try and spot some large sea game like whale sharks or Manta Rays. The sea at Tofo beach is known as Whale Shark alley as they are often found there so we had high hopes of seeing one. After spending 2 hours of driving around at sea we hadn't seen anything - as is the case with wild animals, there are no guarantees. So just as we had put our life jackets back on for the bumpy ride back to shore the captain spotted a Whale Shark! So we all quickly took our jackets back off, got our flippers and masks/snorkels on and jumped in. Swimming with a Whale Shark was one of the most magical experiences of my life, they are huge but so gentle and graceful. If you don't know what one is give it a Google - unfortunately I don't have an underwater camera for pictures but they are very beautiful. And don't worry - they only eat plankton! There were also huge shoals of fish and small jellyfish the size of golf balls which were very cool to see/swim through.
The other great thing about Mozambique and Tofo in particular is the great food! There is great fresh seafood and being an ex-Portuguese colony there is also great chicken Peri Peri and chips! And of course plenty of very cheap local beer.Читать далее