Slowly, along the more than 1,500-mile-long coast, a smattering of smaller boutique hotels have started to pop up, fuelling a tourism boom that last year added more than £165 million to the government’s coffers. Travel connections are better, both internally and from the UK. With new Safari Air Africa flights leaving three times a week from Beira to Gorongosa, and twice-weekly flights from Beira to Vilanculos, bush and beach destinations can be accessed by air – music to the ears of those who have experienced the country’s potholed roads. And with Ethiopian Airlines’s flights to Beira five times a week, it’s possible to leave London at 9pm and be on a beach by sunset the next day, -jet -lag-free, sipping a piña colada made with fresh coconut.
Pool area at SussurroEnrico Costantini
Unlike in Mauritius or the Maldives, where buildings can exude a bland internationalism, in Mozambique there’s a sense of style rooted in local culture – whether that’s in simple, inexpensive ecolodges such as Kumba, whitewashed resorts such as White Pearl, or community-based hotels such as Sussurro. At the latter, a hotspot for European couples, the craft-loving owners, Adam Humphreys and Sarah Birkett, have added a dreamy two-bedroom family beach suite with romantic thatched roofs, candlelit outdoor baths and handcrafted pool loungers.
Azura Marlin Beach’s cocktail loungeMelanie Van Zyl
There are also signs of tourist life on the Bazaruto Archipelago. In July, just up the beach from the polished but windswept spa lodge Kisawa Sanctuary on Benguerra Island, the rebuilt Marlin Lodge re-opened as Azura Marlin Beach. Although its white clapperboard walls, looking out over a beach more than half a mile long, seem inspired by the Bahamas, the interiors of its 10 beachside villas feel unmistakably Mozambiquan, with reed matting and lots of local basketry – a craft speciality of the country’s coastal communities. A short boat ride away, Azura Peri Peri Beach Club – serving up platters of just-caught, fire-cooked prawns and calamari with 2M beer, lime cocktails and cool local music – has infused the island with a new vibrancy. The message is clear: Mozambique is back, with a positive and future-facing vibe.
