Dhow Safari in the Quirimbas

by Charline Van deth (Netherlands)

Making a local connection Mozambique

I always dreamed of staying on an uninhabited island, far from city strife. I imagined drinking coconut juice straight from the coconut and enjoying seafood on long stretches of white beaches surrounded by turquoise waters. I thought maybe it only happened in movies or Bacardi adverts until I went on a dhow safari in the Quirimbas Archipelago. Ibo Island Lodge is the operator of the dhow safari I’m on. It is 25 minutes from Pemba flying low over a mosaic of emerald waters, desert islands, mangrove forests and palm plantations. For the first two days of my tour, I stay in the lodge, cocooned in luxury. A highlight is a historical tour around the relatively tiny island from guide Harris Mupedzi. He seems to know everything from its history to its birdlife and vegetation: the green finches, and snowy egrets, red acacias, poinciana trees. We also visit the local curandeiro, witchdoctor, with his ribbons and clay pots. On the third day the big adventure starts: movie time for me on a dhow safari. Just after sunrise, with the call of the Muezzin still lingering in the air, the lodge guard drops me off at the port of Ibo. Although I don’t look like a movie star as I clamber into the 11-meter-long dhow with cameras dangling around my neck, I feel like one. With my fellow travelers and our personal guide Harris, waiter, cook, captain, and a first mate we set off loaded with camping gear. As soon as we are at sea our captain, Juma Chande, calls out and the sail unfurls from spindles of grass ties. When the sail billows, the outboard motor is cut and there we go: sailing on this amazing dhow surrounded by kingfisher blue. Jordan switches his Ibo T-shirt for a traditional capulana with colours that usually clash but somehow looks just right here. Harris is preparing some fishing lines so we can catch our own dinner but despite the help of an ice-cold Coca Cola, the myriad fish elude my particular hook. After some hours of sailing, sleeping and dozing on board, Mogundulu Island rises up on the horizon. A long white sandbank sticks out to sea and as we approach, the water turns a deeper turquoise. We are going to spend two nights here so we follow Harris over sand and bush to our camping place. Then we start exploring while unobtrusively the staff set up a complete camp. Our sleeping tents are shaded by a big Metonha tree and nearby there is another tent with a long dining table. After dinner we enjoy a great bottle of Stellenbosch and then another and then… I am lying back watching sparkles from the campfire rise up towards a canopy of stars. Very early next morning we paddle around the island in a kayak. I have just got the hang of it when we turn back for breakfast. I feel I have really earned the fresh fruit, coffee and bacon and eggs. The next round is back in the dhow to dive (flop) into the Indian Ocean for some snorkeling around a rocky coral reef. Back on the island I watch the sun set. And then it’s fresh lobster for dinner! It is so delicious that I find it hard not to eat it shell and all. I am so happy that I share my lobster thrill with the rest of the group only to find I’m so sunburned I also look like a lobster . This trip is dreamy, peaceful, relaxing, and quite unlike anything else. We stop and start, sail and moor, swim and explore and laze until our last stop which is like a film set. Hidden behind thousands of rustling palms, Ulumbwa is on the mainland. Harris tells me about flamingos, sandpipers and mangrove cuckoos. Later, we wander through the village pursued by friendly greetings in Kiwami and children screaming ‘Muzungu’ (foreigner) from far away while waving and smiling. I have studied my guide book so I shout back. Red as a lobster and full of lobster, I drink coconut juice straight from the coconut and feel ridiculously happy with everyone and everything in this idyllic hideaway.