An Eden on the coast of southern Mozambique
languished the fifteenth century , when the brave expeditionaries who accompanied the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama they shouted celebrating having managed to subdue the brave seas that they guarded the Cape of Good Hope. Before them spread the turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean and the pristine shores of East Africa. They had managed to open a new route to the East Indies.
Exploring the southern coast of present-day Mozambique, the Portuguese captain wrote a letter to his king, Manuel I, referring to that area as 'A terra da boa gente'. And it is that the inhabitants who populated the Inhambane Lands, current southern province of Mozambique , continue to be, today, among the most welcoming in the South Africa.
Bazaruto Island
Perhaps that good spirit has been transmitted to him by Mother Nature, who in the face of extensive Inhambane coastline gave life to one of her most beautiful creations: the Bazaruto archipelago.
VILANKULO, A FRIENDLY AND CALM PORT
The Bazaruto archipelago is made up of five islands , of which four are of a certain size: Bazaruto, Benguerra, Magaruque and Santa Carolina. All of them -along with the waters that surround them- are encompassed in the Bazaruto National Park, proclaimed as such in 1971 , when the country was still under Portuguese rule.
The main island of Bazaruto can be reached from Vilankulo, a small town that still has the soul of a fishing village. after the long civil war that devastated Mozambique between 1977 and 1992 , Vilankulo gradually regained his normal pulse and timidly began to develop a tourist industry based on its beaches and the Bazaruto archipelago.
However, the people who live in Vilankulo continue to do their peaceful and simple life.
The men get up at dawn to prepare their fishing tackle and go out in search of support for their families , whereas, when the ocean waters recede at low tide, exposing the vast stretches of wet sand , women they carry their babies on their backs and comb the ground looking for shellfish and other fruits of the seabed.
In Bazaruto you live from the delicacies of the sea
In the village market, made up of ramshackle wooden posts and palm leaf , fabrics, food, medicines of all kinds and many trinkets are sold, while the good of Litossa feeds whoever wants to sit down to the only table, made with reeds, that is in the market "restaurant" of her.
As for the menu, you choose between meat and fish -rice and salad are invariable- and who wants a cold drink she must ask the day before , to prepare the logistics.
HOISTING SAILS TO BAZARUTO
We can sail to the idyllic beaches of Bazaruto Island aboard a modern and powerful motorboat, but it will not have the magic of sail the waters of the Indian Ocean in an old dhow.
These boats, with a single mast and triangular sail , they have hardly undergone transformations since the seventh century, when the arabs they used them for spread their religion and domains by the peoples bathed by the Indian Ocean.
Vilankulo
Currently, the fishermen of Vilankulo, Bazaruto and Benguerra They continue to use them for fishing. Of course, always outside the waters protected by the figure of the National Park. And it is that under that beautiful mirror of different shades of blue Others reign.
THE WHALE SHARK: THE KING OF THE WATERS OF BAZARUTO
The whale shark (Rhincodon typus) He is the undisputed lord of the underwater world of Bazaruto.
The largest fish on the planet, which can reach up to 12 meters in length , has been sailing the planet's waters for more than 60 million years and that gives him the incontestable right to roam freely wherever he wants while feeds on plankton and small crustaceans that roam the coral meadows from Bazaruto.
The conspicuous fur on its back resembles a chessboard with a gray background and yellow or white lines, that glow when the kingfish approaches the surface and receives sunlight filtered through the water.
We will not need to dive with a cylinder to be able to swim with these magnificent animals, because usually rise near the surface when they are in the waters of the archipelago.
Infinite and deserted beaches
AN OCEAN FULL OF LIFE AND A FASCINATING SURFACE
However, it is not the whale shark the only fascinating creature that we will find under the waters of bazaruto . Next to him, in excellent points for diving and snorkeling -such as the Manta Ray Reef- , swim clown fish, manta rays, loggerhead and green turtles, barracuda, different reef sharks and even a creature fighting extinction, the dugong -or dugong-, the smallest current sirenian in the world, of which only a few remain 100 specimens in this part of Africa.
In total, they are more than 200 different species of fish and more than a hundred different kinds of coral in a protected area of 1,400 square kilometers . But life doesn't just glow low the waters of Bazaruto.
The backbone of Bazaruto Island, from 35 kilometers long , It's formed by golden dunes that reach the 100 meters high.
From the top of them, we see that to the east they extend infinite beaches, totally deserted , in which it seems that at any moment it will come out Robinson Crusoe wondering what we're doing on his island. To West, fresh water lagoons inhabited by crocodiles mix with bushes and green areas that are flown over by some 120 different bird species and where the few graze groups of sheep that the men of the island possess.
antelopes and 45 species of reptiles complete the fauna of an archipelago whose jewel is the Santa Carolina Island.
Whale shark
This island has, in its 3 kilometers long by means of width, three beautiful beaches with coral reefs in which it is worth dive for hours and forget about the outside world.
A SKY FULL OF STARS FOR AN UNFORGETTABLE NIGHT
Despite its spectacular beauty, the Bazaruto archipelago , since Mozambique is not on the list of the best-known tourist destinations on the planet, it receives very few foreign visitors a year.
Despite this, there is some hotels -especially on the island of Bazaruto- where you can spend the night. Nights when light pollution is almost non-existent and the vault of heaven is presented with a beauty overwhelming.
Thinking of an unforgettable romantic getaway, there are two places that never disappoint: Anantara Bazaruto Island Resort (in Bazaruto) and & Beyond (in Benwara). Both are odes to exotic luxury in the Indian Ocean.
Anantara Bazaruto Island Resort Restaurant
However, the vast majority of visitors only spend the day and must return to Vilankulo at sunset.
The sunset hangs over Bazaruto and the colorful canopies of the dhow they are silhouetted against a completely ablaze sky. The inhabitants of the archipelago return home, one more day, with their wicker baskets full of fish. in his eyes shines a light of happiness. Ebony gods of the earthly paradise are known.