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| Pool at Beach Village |
Chilling is about what summed up Vilanculos. This beautiful coastal area of Mozambique was so nice, we had real trouble leaving. Amazing beaches that stretch out to sea for a huge distance you feel you could walk all the way to the islands of Parque Nacional de Bazaruto. These beaches then disappear upon high tide, leaving just a skinny stretch of beach. Two very different landscapes from low to high tide.
We found a beautiful new backpacker place, right on the beach called Beach Village. It had great a-frame huts, a big dorm building, but most importantly, a pool and beach bar. We spent a lot of time within the friendly confines of Beach Village, and why not - look at the place!!! The staff were very friendly too.
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| Isla de Magaruque - our lagoon |
Our first day, we got right into things and took a dhow trip out to Magaruque Island. As it was low tide, we had to weave our way between the long sand bars just to make it out to the island. It was the scenic route, and we had close up views of the fishermen in their boats, and walking out in the shallow waters, trying for the day's catch. We arrived at the island, and pulled into a small lagoon, almost enclosed by the reef. It was beautiful, and we were the only boat there, so very peaceful. We were to swim across the lagoon, climb over the rocks and snorkel on the other side of the reef where the incoming tide would drift us down the reef. There were some very colourful fish, but the water was pretty cold. We snorkeled, then walked back up to have another go. After a couple of times, we wanted to warm up in the sunshine, then were served fabulous crabs and a calamari curry for lunch on the beach. Unfortunately, by now about 5 or 6 other boats had turned up to ruin our little paradise.
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| Three ladies on Vilanculos beach |
To get away from the small crowds, we walked to the East side of the island, looking out to the Indian Ocean. There were some nice dunes to climb up, but we had to bush-whack our way back across the island to get back in time to catch our dhow home. By now, the lagoon had disappeared at high tide, and the boat ride home was much more direct.
From this day on, we got stuck in the vortex of Beach Village - Vilanculos. Not much going on each day but a great place to be; a walk into town at times, picking up some groceries including super fresh bread at the bakery, then making a trip along the beach to meet all the people selling the fresh seafood off the boats on the beach. We came back with 4.5 kilograms of squid for about $17US, and 12 smallish to medium crabs for about $1.65US. The crabs were unbelievably cheap, and some good meat on
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| Martin with Squids for dinner |
them. Apparently, they are pretty abundant out there. For Canada Day, we brought the seafood home, and got the local chef to prepare and cook it for the 6 of us, and we gave him a tip for cooking it. The 6 were, Jennie and Sean (still with us after almost 2 weeks), and Jenny and Andy, who were a fun, boisterous English couple who we met on the bus ride to Vilanculos. Good laughs with dinner, and also at the beach bar later on. One of the nights, we made a trek into town to hit up the Afro Bar. Leaving at 2:30AM, we had a good night with the locals, and man, they can sure dance up a storm!! But the toilets were something to write home about!!
One night we were really treated by Terrick, the South African guy who owns/manages the resort. It was one of the guest's birthdays, so he had the chef make a cake. It was massive, about 5 inches tall and really BIG, and was supposed to say 'From Beach Village'. Terrick was surprised to see the cake come out with the lettering 'Jerk Baech Village'. It made for a good laugh, but definitely something lost in translation!!
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| Birthday Cake 'From Beach Village' |
Other than that, we really didn't fancy the town very much. Not a lot interesting, but a necessity for our daily life. We spent most of our time at the backpacker resort playing Carcassonne, and playing with Terrick's little puppy named Brutus!! Soooooo tough to leave! *Stub
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