Stranded on the Quirimbas Archipelago - Mozambique

Friday-Monday 17-20.05:

In the morning we arrived at the Indian Ocean. We jumped on a small local motor boat to Ibo Island. It is one of a dozen of islands of the Quirimbas Archipelago. Ibo Island has a long history as a Muslim trading post until in the 15 century the Portuguese arrived. Then it became a major slave trading port. It is a fascinating place with the old crumbling, moss covered buildings that are now home to the African community. Some of the old villas have been turned into small luxury hotels. We could not afford those and stayed at the only camp side (Karibuni).

At night we ate plenty of langoustes and fish in a small restaurant in the village. The local youth helped us to set up our sim cards.  One of them, a boy called Mando, declared himself to be our personal guide for our time on Ibo.

The next day we spent strolling through the ancient streets of Ibo town assimilating to the relaxed way of life of the friendly always smiling villagers. 

At night we entered the first world again to have a Caipirinha on the beautiful terrace of the lodge right next to our campground. We met Max from Munich there who was younger than us but apparently could afford the rooms (400 $ and up) there having worked for a London bank the last years. Together we went to the village disco where we had a few beers and even more interesting experiences. Of course we met our unofficial guide Mando there as well. After long negotiations between Ju, Mando and a local captain we decided to go to for the next day and night to Rolas Island (home of giant coconut crab)  via Matemo, another small island on the route .

The next morning we packed our stuff and had to walk 200 meters with our bags on our hats across the waist deep water to the dhow (small local sailing boat) that brought us Matemo Island. The boat was already filled with people and their belongings. After 2 hours of sailing and surfing through high waves we reached the Shore of Matemo Island. To our bad suprise the captain could not remember anything about the deal he had made with us the previous night to bring us to Rolas Island. We were basically stranded in paradise. Fortunately Dade the owner of a small campground on the southern tip of Matemo happened to be on the boat as well and offered us to help us out.

With him we walked across the whole tropical postcard island. There are no roads or cars on the island and the people still seemed to live happily in straw huts. Dade invited us to have lunch with his 4 wifes (he is a Muslim) and 9 children. We pitched our tent at the white sand beach under in the shade of the palm trees. Please contact him when you happen to come to this beautiful secret place (tel: 865382520). The next morning we got a ride back on a dhow to the mainland where our car was parked.

We continued driving south for 6 hours to reach Pemba the biggest town in northern Mozambique. They recently found a big oil and gas field offshore. We could already sense that this place will look a lot different in a few years. We stayed at the Pemba Magic Lodge were we spent the night talking to ao Costa Rican backpackers we had given a ride that day.