Mozambique Island Escape: Bazaruto

January 8, 2015

Bazaruto Archipelago as seen from the air.

Our trip to Mozambique was not really a trip to explore Mozambique. Sounds strange, I know, but it's important to clarify that while most of our trips are about seeing and doing as much as we can to really get to know the people and the place we're visiting, this trip was entirely the opposite: it was about doing nothing. You'll notice from the date at the top of this post that we did this trip shortly after our Madagascar trip. In fact, we left four days after returning from Madagascar. Why? Well, early January is a very quiet time work-wise in South Africa, and before we left for Madagascar we were planning out our trips for the coming year and realized if we didn't do it now, we likely wouldn't be able to fit it in. Also, Canadians are required to obtain visas in advance in order to visit Mozambique, and you're required to already have your accommodations booked when you apply for the visa. So, it isn't really a place we could decide to go last minute.

The Bazaruto Archipelago consists of five islands, with most of the archipelago protected as the Bazaruto National Park. The islands are off the coast of the middle-southern part of mainland Mozambique, and are known for their turquoise waters, great snorkelling, and untouched beauty. We stayed at the Pestana Bazaruto Lodge on Bazaruto Island, as it looked to provide the main things we were looking for: an easy flight from Joburg (to the mainland city of Vilankulos) and a small resort with accommodations right on the beach.

As with most things, there were a few surprises. What we didn't realize at the time of booking was that the only way to get to the island is via private charter plane (yes, some research would have avoided this...hindsight is 20/20...). We looked into every possible way around this, but alas, there really were no other options. Turns out, Trip Advisor is peppered with comments about this for Pestana; they do not assist their guests in getting to the island, despite the fact that there is no other form of transport available (the other two resorts on the island provide transport options to their guests). Anyway, this isn't a review for the hotel per-se, but worth knowing if you ever find yourself considering a vaca off the coast of Mozambique in the stunning archipelago of Bazaruto.

This was one of those situations where I'm actually glad I didn't know about the transportation "challenges" before booking, as it likely would have dissuaded me from booking. This would have been a real shame, because in the end (despite having to close my eyes and hand over our credit card in order to get us there), it was a breathtaking island that I am so glad we were able to experience.

View of the sand bars in the archipelago from our flight to Bazaruto Island.

Stunning seas.

Island shores.

The tip of Bazaruto Island.

Dolphin Bay- a 20 minute walk up the beach from the resort.

January is considered to be the rainiest month in Mozambique, so we were a bit skeptical about the weather. On our first afternoon the sun was shining through a few moody clouds, so we beelined for Dolphin Bay to squeeze in some beach time just in case the rain decided to take over the remainder of our trip. In the end, we only had a few cloudy periods and one windy morning during our stay. We were very happy about this.

In front of our little A-frame hut, on the way to breakfast.

Our lil' hut.

View of our beach at low tide.

Pestana Bazaruto.

Being deserted on the beach- a 4x4 dropped us off at the northern part of the island and left us to explore the coral gardens in the ocean.

 classic beach shot. Had to.

Happy snorkeler in Mozambique.

Shallow warm waters.

It's hard to be original when you're a palm-tree-lined cove, but really, there is no need for originality when you're this gorgeous.

Dinner. A fisherman disembarked the dowh that was about to take us out for a sunset boat ride, armed with a fresh catch.  

 Sunset dowh cruise.

View of the resort and the local lighthouse from our evening boat ride.

Skipper.

Dowh.

Beach braai.

One of these things is not like the others...(for interest's sake, I'm told that the 2M was the winner of the Mozambican beers that M sampled).

While I generally prefer the ocean to a pool, this was a pretty hard pool to pass up. 

This was a pretty standard view for us over the course of our trip: M swimming, while I read my book. Happiness.

Madagascar: Deuxième Partie

December 24, 2014

Island life, Nosy Be.

Welcome to the second, and final, part of our trip to Madagascar. This one is no shorter than it's predecessor. Clearly I haven't learned how to be succinct.

This part of the trip started very early on the morning of Christmas eve; we made our way to the airport in Tana for our northern-bound flight to Diego Suarez. Funny anecdotal side story: we boarded our plane bound for Diego Suarez, and when the plane stopped we got off. We stood in the very crowded arrivals area waiting for our luggage, when a woman working for the airport came over to me and asked me where we were going. I didn't understand the question, as I knew we'd only find our driver once we exited the airport, but I said "Diego Suarez" anyway. Her eyes grew as wide as saucers, and she pointed to the plane that was still sitting on the runway. She grabbed me by the arm and led M and I back to the tarmac, where we were instructed to "run" for the plane and try to make it up the stairs before they closed the doors. What the heck just happened? Apparently the plane makes "stops"- like a bus or a taxi...and we were not at the final destination yet. Man oh man...thank goodness for that woman on Christmas eve, that's all I can say.

For the northern part of the trip we toured the inland areas on the tip of Madagascar, and then ferried over to Nosy Be, a tiny tropical island surrounded by other teeny tiny tropical islands. We finished up with a couple of days in the nation's capital before heading home in early January.

A few of our observations about northern Madagascar:

1. There were more tourists in the north than there were in the central and southern parts of the country. This could have been a product of the time of year we were there, but likely it's just that the north is a bit more accessible and/or more appealing to tourists. There are short flights from Tana, but there are also international flights that go straight to Diego Suarez and Nosy Be. Also, the beaches that Madagascar is known for are in the northern part of the country (on both the east and west coasts).

2. Sex tourism is alive and rampant in northern Madagascar. Immediately upon arriving in Diego Suarez we noted many instances of an elderly french man with a very young, beautiful and smartly dressed Malagasy girl. While I cannot claim to know the context of the relationship, it's impossible to turn a blind eye and pretend this is okay. Every restaurant, hotel and shop in northern Madagascar was plastered with signs to "say no to sex tourism".

3. In between the south and north parts of the trip we spent a night in the capital city of Tana, and we then returned to Tana again at the end of the trip. The capital city reminded us of a mix between the lush hills of Rwanda, the crazy amounts of people of India, and the island life of Mauritius. The traffic in Tana was horrendous and there didn't seem to be a very easy-to-follow grid in terms of the structure of the city.

4. Most restaurants served a small tray of salted peanuts (the kind with the red skins) while waiting for your food. I loved this. It made the wait for the food so much more enjoyable.

Inspired by something we did with Team Canada in Botswana, every evening M and I wrote down the "highs and lows" from the day. I have incorporated these where relevant into the narrative of the photos below. Enjoy the last segment of our time in Mada!

Arriving in Diego-Suarez.

Old lighthouse on the way to Sakalava Bay.

Baie de Sakalava- the first of three bays we visited on our first afternoon in the north.

Bay #2: Baie des Pigeons.

M went for a quick snorkel.

Heading on foot over the cliff to the third bay: Baie des Dunes. This was by far our favourite bay, and it turned out to be our favourite beach in Madagascar (big statement, I know!). 

Pano.

Is this place for real? Not a sole in sight...except us, that is.

I cannot get over this guy's pose- complete with his hand on his chin. 

Christmas at Le Jardin Exotique. I loved this little Charlie Brown tree. On Christmas eve we celebrated with dinner at Le Melville, and had a chance to google+ with my family back in Canada, with rum in hand while looking out over the bay. Merry Madagascar, indeed!

Christmas day hike in the Parc National Montagne d'Ambre.

Sanford's brown lemurs greeting us at the entrance to the park.

(Creepy) crawly creatures of the ambers...that tiny guy on the bottom left is a Brookesia chameleon- the world's smallest chameleon!

Note the stylish pants-in-socks I'm sporting- there were so many bugs. It was actually overwhelming. We were so hot, but it was so buggy. No amount or concoction of bug spray worked, and we were warned about leech-type things that attach to your ankles if they're not completely covered. Nasty. But hey, check out that gorgeous forest, right?

Waterfall in the rain. Apparently it rains in the Amber mountains nearly every single day.

Playing hide-and-seek. I wonder if they each knew the other was there?

Tsingy Rouges...nature's work of art.

This place was surreal; it looked like a painting with the vibrant colours and the harsh landscape.

Hiking to the "tsingy"- pinnacle-type formations along the canyon floor.

Strange beauty.

We had the place to ourselves for most of the time, but as luck would have it a solo traveller appeared just to time to take this shot for us. Thanks!

Crowned lemur showing off at the Parc National de l'Ankarana.

Hi.

Cute lil' northern sportive lemur.

As promised: fuchsia bugs. Flatid Leaf bugs, to be precise.

Suspending in the tsingy. We learned that the tsingy are an ancestral worshiping place for the local Antakarana tribe.

So.Many.Pinnacles.

Spiky limestone "tsingy" pinnacles as far as the eye can see.

Bat cave.

Looking out from the cave (note the stairs on the bottom right of the photo). Our guide told us that it is "fady" to wear a hat inside these caves, and your hat must be left at the entrance to the cave so others know you are in there and that you're not running away (because you'd obviously have to come back for your hat).

I loved how every single chameleon looked different...

...they all looked like they were uniquely hand-painted.

Seeing the Antakarana, the master zebu farmers of the area, on our way south to the coast.

This part of Madagascar was very fertile and able to grow many exotic fruits and spices. It was lush and green with plantations sprouting up everywhere.

Bathing waters.

As we prepared to leave the mainland behind and head for the island of Nosy Be, we had a "character building" experience in true good-natured-travel-fashion. Essentially, we thought the boat-transfer process was included in our tour, but our driver thought he was only to drop us in a town where some boats periodically depart for the island (Ankify) and the rest was up to us. Confusion ensued, but eventually we found ourselves being thrust into an already-full-to bursting speedboat bound for an island (which we hoped was "the" island, as in the one we were supposed to be staying at). Surrounded by our luggage and other passengers in the boat, and praying the impending storm would hold off until we reached the island's shores, we made the 30 minute crossing with our fingers crossed that things would go a bit smoother on the other side. This is the view from our hotel that welcomed us.

M was not deterred by the storm in the slightest- to the beach we go!

The sun was fighting through the storm clouds and illuminated this boat like a spotlight.

The sun eventually won and broke through the afternoon storm clouds.

M and I with Jane, setting sail for Réserve Naturelle Intégrale de Lokobe, an area of Nosy Be only accessible by boat. Jane, for interests sake, is from Australia, and is currently living in Zambia. She was on a short holiday break from Zam and decided to spend a week on Nosy Be. Turns out, after we arrived home from the trip we learned that Jane knows a colleague of ours in Zambia, who is on assignment from the UK. A small world indeed.

Paddling our way around the south-eastern coast of Nosy Be.

We walked through a small village on our way to the reserve and these lace table cloths, a very popular hand-made craft in Madagascar, were on the line airing in the mid-morning sun.

The highlight of the reserve: black lemurs. Oddly, the females are chestnut-coloured, however they are still considered "black lemurs". Go figure.

Eyeing his visitors.

Fuzzy lemur, fuzzy photo.

Teeny tiny midnight-blue frog.

Trekking.

So.Many.Mangoes.

Adorable sportive lemur.

BABY.

What do you see? Look closely. Still not sure? Hint: look for bulging eyes in the middle-lower half of the photo.

Boa constrictor in a tree.

Beached boats.

Mud flats at low tide.

Packing up for the day and heading back home.

Photo courtesy of Jane. Thanks, Jane!

Last look back at Ampasipohy before heading back to sea to work our way back up the coast. Given the current at the end of the day, we were towed back by a speedboat this time- no paddling for us!

Reaching Ambatozavavy in the late afternoon.

Snorkeling off the island of Nosy Komba.

Showing off.

Enjoying the crystal clear waters.

The shores of Nosy Tanikely.

Nosy Tanikely. I even went in the water here- it was so warm, and it was deep enough to swim properly without having to go out far. M enjoyed the snorkelling here, so he tells me.

 M's favourite moment of the entire trip: swimming with turtles. On our way to Nosy Sakatia, our boat driver took us impromptu turtle-spotting. I was on the boat spotting with the driver, and M would swim to where we saw a turtle. I did get in the water for a bit and was able to spot these gorgeous guys up close under the surface. So cool!

Grainy i-phone photo, yes, but I was so pumped to catch this guy coming up for air!

Local fisherman out for his morning catch of the coast of Nosy Sakatia.

 Off to the shores of Nosy Sakatia; a private island that only one hotel on Nosy Be has access to. For the rest of the afternoon we lounged on the beach, feasted on delicious lunch, and took several more dips in the water. We loved this place so much.

The life.

 New Year's provisions. We managed to find a dusty bottle of South African wine at a small road-side shop...major score!

The lush fields of inland Nosy Be.

 Final visit to the Capital of Tana; looking down the steps from our hotel in Tana to Ave de l'indépendance.

 The old train station in Tana. It is now used as a funky market space to showcase local wares (it poured rain while we were on our self-guided walking tour of the city...bit of a messy venture, but the rain helped to cool the temperatures and was a welcome refresher).

 The European-esk cobble-stone streets of central Tana.

 Last night in Mada- dinner at La Varangue. Cheers to one helluva trip exploring a truly magical, wild and crazy place!