Mozambique Photo Tour

This is as wild a place to see animals on safari as you’ll find in this part of the world,” says safari guide Pedro Fonseca, sweeping his arm across the savannah of Maputo Special Reserve. Burchell’s zebra and wildebeest thunder past, the earth trembling beneath their hooves. Fonseca breathes in slowly. “In five or 10 years, Maputo Special Reserve will be spoiled as a genuine safari experience. You’re privileged to enjoy it while it’s still raw.” — CHRISTOPHER P. BAKER

Imagine Zanzibar as it was four decades ago. That’s Ilha de Moçambique, with its cobbled lanes lined with 16^th-century Portuguese buildings and even more ancient Islamic edifices. The teal-blue Mozambique Channel—swirled with carnation-pink sandy shoals—is studded with islands haloed by jaw-droppingly beautiful beaches. In the Bazaruto Archipelago, we’ll explore ramshackle fishing hamlets connected by sandy tracks, and sail on traditional dhows (ancient holdovers from when this coast was a dominion of Arab traders), their pointy sails slicing the shallows like shark fins. And Mozambique culture is as colorful as Crayola! The woman adorned in bright kanga wraps and shawls…. Fishers mending their nets and caulking and adzing their dhows… Youngsters playing mancala in the sand. Then there’s the raw, unfiltered safari experience…

Despite being barely a 90-minute drive south from Maputo, Mozambique’s tranquil capital, the 1,040 sq km (400 sq mile) Maputo Special Reserve is about as off-the-map a destination as one could imagine. Recently devastated by a civil war that decimated its wildlife, Mozambique struggles to compete in the big-stakes safari game. Yet rewilding of animals is reaching critical mass. About 650 of Africa’s largest-tusked elephants tramp the ancient pathways of Maputo Special Reserve, rekindling old acquaintances as they roam through dense grass and coastal dune forest.

Although tranquil now for three decades, Mozambique is still off the radar of most North American travelers. Now is the time to visit!

ITINERARY

Day 1: Sunday, August 24
Participants arrive and settle into our hotel in Maputo. Meet with Christopher in the evening for orientation, plus a set-the-scene slide show, then a welcome dinner.
Overnight: Montebelo Girassol Maputo

Day 2: Monday, August 25
This morning we’ll take a locally guided tour of the Mafalala district, a economically challenged district that abounds with photographic opportunities. In the afternoon, we'll photograph the Tofu da Mafalala performers in traditional costume, then perhaps visit the teeming fish market and the waterfront wharves across Maputo Bay.
Overnight: Montebelo Girassol Maputo

Day 3: Tuesday, August 26
Fly to Nampulo and transfer to Ilha de Moçambique—a 3-hour drive through villages where villagers sell roasted peanuts and cashews, plus harvested sea salt, etc. We’ll stop as photo opportunities arise, including dramatic landscapes studded by immense granitic inselbergs. One of Eastern Africa’s most alluring destinations, Ilha de Moçambique resembles a lesser-known Zanzibar… part ghost town, part lively fishing community and a UNESCO World Heritage Site with cobbled streets lined by Portuguese and Arab buildings dating back to the 16^th century.
Overnight: Villa Sands

Day 4: Wednesday, August 27
Full day photographing on Ilha de Moçambique, with its mostly Muslim and super-friendly community. We’ll concentrate our time today in the old fortified colonial quarter of Stone Town, with its fading yet colorful and über-photogenic architecture. Highlights will include  women clad in gaily colored capulanas (shawls and wrap-around skirts) and with faces painted white with mussiro paste as a sunscreen.
Overnight: Villa Sands

Day 5: Thursday, August 28
This morning we’ll take a walking through Makuti Town, the humble quarter where the vast majority of the islanders live. Highlights will include fishers mending their dhows and nets; the old Mercado de Peixe fish market; bakers cooking bread in old stone ovens; and whatever else serendipity delivers. The afternoon is free for you to photograph Ilha de Moçambique at leisure.
Overnight: Villa Sands

Day 6: Friday, August 29
Return to Nampulo for our flight to Maputo for overnight.
Overnight: Montebelo Girassol Maputo

Day 7: Saturday, August 30
An early morning departure via the new Maputo-Ponta do Ouro highway to enter Maputo Special Reserve, where we negotiate the sand tracks in 4WDs. Created as Maputo Elephant Reserve in 1932, to protect southern Africa’s remaining coastal herd of elephants, Maputo Special Reserve combines grasslands, wetlands, swamp forests, mangroves and coastal lakes, and is considered as wild and untouristed a place to see animals on safari as you’ll find in this part of the world.  Tonight we’ll enjoy a night of luxury on the shores of the Indian Ocean at Anvil Bay.
Overnight: Anvil Bay, Maputo Special Reserve

Day 8: Sunday, August 31
This morning, enjoy an optional photographic excursion to local communities outside the reserve. Or spend the day relaxing beside the Indian Ocean at Anvil Bay. This evening we'll head to a nearby lake to photograph the hippos at sunset.
Overnight: Anvil Bay, Maputo Special Reserve

Day 9: Monday, September 01
Return to Maputo via the Maputo Special Reserve—a full day of wildlife photo ops. En-route, we’ll hope to see giraffe, antelope, kudu, hippos, and the park’s legendary big-tusk elephants.
Overnight: Montebelo Girassol Maputo

Day 10: Tuesday, September 02
This morning we’ll fly to Vilanculos and check in to our lovely beachfront hotel, with time to enjoy an optional spa treatment or partake of optional activities (extra charge) such as a thrilling helicopter ride over the Mozambique Channel for aerial photography. (June-September the warm waters of the Bazaruto Marine National Park fill with whale sharks and humpbacks plus Southern right whales for mating and calving.). The beach is usually abuzz with fishers, kids playing soccer, etc.--perfect for an evening photo walk.
Overnight: Vilanculos Beach Lodge, Vilanculos

Day 11: Wednesday, September 03
This morning we’ll thrill to a speedboat transfer to Bazaruto Island. We’ll enjoy a full day in the astonishingly beautiful Bazaruto Archipelago, including climbing the huge sand dunes for views over the turquoise shallows of Mozambique Channel swirled in shoals the color of Valspar Perfection. After lunch ashore, we’ll take a sunset dhow safari to return to Vilanculos.
Overnight: Vilanculos Beach Lodge, Vilanculos

Day 12: Thursday, September 04
This morning visit uber-photogenic Mukoke market and local fish market, with time to enjoy a special cultural show, before heading to the airport. We fly back to Maputo in early afternoon, then enjoy a a slideshow of everyone’s favorite images followed by our farewell dinner.
Overnight: Montebelo Girassol Maputo

Day 13: Friday, September 05
Depart for home