PHOTO-A-DAY CHALLENGE
Palm Trees, Beaches and Lots of Marine Life - A Tropical Paradise on the Indian Ocean
Week 132 of the photographic documentary of my daily life
It’s our first week in Mozambique. The country I wanted to visit on my first trip to Africa over eight years ago. It took some time, but the wait was worth it. Experiencing this country as a backpacker wouldn’t have offered me as much as it did now with the independence of a vehicle.
While I certainly expected to see beaches, palm trees and marine life, I did not expect it to be so beautiful. And empty. We’ve traveled a lot in the low season, but this is a different level of having a place for yourself.
But let me take you through my week.
It was our first full day on the beach. After traveling for over a month across the African continent, we made it from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean. We left the cold sea behind and arrived at the tropical one on the other side.
I didn’t do much, or let’s say I did everything one would include in a beach day. I relaxed for hours in my hammock in the shade of a palm tree. I went swimming and splashing in the ocean. And I went for a wonderful, long walk along this tropical beach.
Talking about the beach. This beach is packed. Not with humans but with tiny little crabs. And as soon as the water retreats and low tide sets in, these creatures get active and dig up sand out of their tunnels.
Depending on how large they are, they need to dig bigger or smaller tunnels. And all the excess sand will get up onto the surface. Tiny balls of sand appear in various sizes. You won’t see the owners unless you stop and wait for the crabs to come out, as they disappear as soon as they feel the smallest vibration on the ground.
This campsite was one of the first ones with other campers. Until now, we mostly remained the only visitors at a campsite. But even with neighbors, the beach remained empty.
And it turned out to be a good thing as we got together with the Dutch couple and organized a snorkeling trip that got cheaper per person. Plus, we had other people to socialize with and exchange experiences with.
The boat ride took over an hour to get across to the island, which gave us lots of time to chat and get to know each other. Once we arrived on the island, David and I quickly jumped on land, put our fins and snorkel on and were in the water.
We didn’t expect much and were blown away by the marine life. Yes, we had been scuba diving before. Yes, we have been snorkeling a lot, especially in Thailand, but all the fish we saw here appeared to be seen through a magnifying glass. They were just so much bigger!
And I saw a starfish. So pretty.
The next day was another beach day. I pumped up my paddle board in the morning and went for a long trip up and down the coastline. The sea was rather flat, and once I got behind the beach break, I could relax on my board.
The rest of the day I spent again between my hammock and the ocean. What else should you do while in paradise?
As Mozambique has a whole coastline packed with tropical beaches, we decided to keep moving and travel further South. Plus, we wanted to go diving and there was no option for scuba trips from Inhassoro where our last campsite was at.
Traveling through Southern Africa for over a month now, we haven't bought fruits or vegetables in a supermarket since we left the desert in Namibia. We buy whatever they sell on the side of the road.
The advantage of doing this is that all the fruits or veggies are in season, fresh, and certainly cheaper. You don’t always get everything, as it depends on where you are, but we make food according to what we find along the way.
There was a stretch driving through Mozambique, where they didn't sell anything but pineapples. They must have had large pineapple farms or these fruits were something everyone could grow in the backyard.
So, yes. That is where we bought pineapples for as little as 7 cents. The bigger ones were 25 or 30 cents. And so sweet.
We also crossed some villages where they mostly sold pineapples. It was like the pineapple mekka of Mozambique. They were transporting pineapples on their bicycles. Probably coming from the farms. Stalls were loaded with pineapples. Women were carrying buckets full of pineapples on their heads, trying to sell them to you.
Luckily, we do love pineapples.
Our next camp wasn't as nice as the previous one and not directly on the beach, but sometimes you have to make a comprise. Staying in town to be able to go scuba diving brought us here.
And who wouldn't enjoy staying next to such a gigantic Baobab tree?
Today, we went to the diving school, which was just 100 meters from the camp and did our refresher course as we hadn’t been underwater since 2019. It was very informative even though some things did come back to us very quickly.
The next day was the exciting one.
We first got on a small rubber boat that took us for 45 minutes across the waves of the Indian Ocean. Certainly a bumpy ride but a fun one. We just sat on the edge of the boat having our feet underneath some straps tied to the floor of the boat. It worked. Nobody fell off.
Then we stopped on a white sandy beach to get our wetsuits on and get the briefing for our first dive. We were nine divers and two dive masters who split the group in two.
Another 15 minutes out on the boat through what they called the "washing machine" brought us to the famous 2-mile-reef in the Bazaruto Archipelago. The sea was more than rough and our skipper was navigating like a champion through this blue mess.
Once we got to the site everything happened quickly. Within minutes I was in and then under the water. I didn’t take any pictures underwater as breathing alone is enough of a challenge for me but I’ll share the pictures David took in a separate article.
We went in total on two dives and stopped on Bazaruto island in between. We saw a turtle, sting rays and many other marine life underwater. Just before heading back to the mainland, two dolphins came to say hi.
What a finish of a great adventure!
As they didn't have any other dives planned in the next few days (another problem in low season), we packed up again and headed to another place further south that didn't offer any scuba but instead more palm trees, a beautiful beach and solitude.
Morungulo is the name of the place and it's a huge lodge and probably has about 50 campsites of which only a handful are beachfront. Well, we were the only visitors and had the problem of deciding which one to take. I know, our kind of luxuries.
See below. Beachfront, palm trees and a perfect location to set up my hammock.
That evening a huge storm blew over us but as tropical storms do, they move over you before you realize you got wet. And then the stars came out. I could see the milky way from the beach but was too slow in getting my night photography settings right as new clouds moved in before I got the shot.
However, still pretty, isn't it?
And in case you want to know where in world we are right now, open up the map, find Africa and then go all they way down until you find Mozambique on the East coast. See our route below.
This has been my week in photographs. 7 days. 7 photographs. Anyone can join. Once. Or weekly. It doesn’t matter. We welcome everyone! Dennett started this photography challenge in 2020 and many have participated ever since.
Erika / Eileen / K. Barrett / Juan / David / Mia / Susan / LensAfield / Kim / Barbara / Diana / Barb / Sandra / Shruthi / Ellie / Pene / Olive / Gustavo / Jane / Penny / Jillian / Shell / Ivy / Lisa / Lynne
And these are the previous weekly photo essays:
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