Three Days in a Mozambican Paradise

2Summers | 14 October 2016
beaches tourism mozambique luxury travel vilanculos

Yes, I’m a travel blogger, and yes, I travel a lot for work. Yes, I often field sarcastic Facebook comments like, “Wow, what a rough life you have!” or, “I wish could quit my REAL job and become a blogger like you.” I usually resent these comments. Travel blogging is harder than it looks and most of my travel is far from glamorous.

My most recent trip to Mozambican paradise, however, was an exception. This trip was every bit as glamorous as it looked and you should resent me for it.

Looking down on Vilanculos
Looking down on the town of Vilanculos, Mozambique, during my helicopter ride to Benguerra Island.

We flew from Johannesburg to Vilanculos with Airlink, as part of a campaign to promote Airlink’s flights around Southern Africa. (Incidentally, the flight from Joburg to Vilanculos is ridiculously short – like an hour and 15 minutes. That’s about the same amount of time it takes to fly from Joburg to Durban.) Once in Vilanculos, we took a 10-minute helicopter ride to Benguerra Island, the second-largest island in the Bazaruto Archipelago.

Benguerra Island from the helicopter
A birds-eye view of Benguerra Island at low tide.

The helicopter dropped my colleague Frances and I off at Benguerra Island’s Azura Retreat. Azura is literally paradise.

Villa at Azura Retreat
My villa at Azura.
Azura Retreat bedroom
The bedroom.
View of Azura villa from the beach
This photo gives you an idea of the villa’s proximity to the beach. I watched every sunset from that thatch-roofed lounger.
Birds in plunge pool at Azura Retreat
I’ve heard legends about luxurious resort rooms with individual plunge pools, but this was my first time actually experiencing one. The pool was awesome – I loved relaxing in it. But most of all, I loved watching the birds in the plunge pool. Here are two weaver birds having fun.
benguerra-island-weaver
I took dozens of pictures of the birds in the pool. It was hard to choose.
Dhow on Benguerra Island
A traditional dhow that took us on a sunset cruise our first evening.

Azura has only 20 villas, each of which is assigned a dedicated “host”. Our host was Paulino, who served all our meals and drinks and catered to every need during our stay.

Paulino
Paulino shows us the lunch menu on our first day.

The food at Azura was sensational. We ate local fish for every meal and there wasn’t a single buffet. (I hate buffets.) One night we even had local soft-shell crab for dinner. Soft-shell crab is one of my favorite dishes in the world – it’s a specialty in my home town of Baltimore – and this is the first time I’ve seen it on a menu anywhere outside the United States. Unfortunately I don’t have a photo of the Azura soft-shell crab, as we were eating that meal on the beach in the dark. I assure you though, it was paradise in my mouth.

Azura also serves delicious cocktails.

benguerra-sunset-toast
One evening I fell asleep on the thatched lounger. I woke up at sunset to find this margarita next to me. (Paulino delivered it without waking me up.) I toasted with the sun.

One day we took Azura’s “island-hop” tour, visiting nearby Bararuto Island and snorkelling on the pristine coral reef nearby.

Heather on Bazaruto Island
Me on Bazaruto Island. (Photo: Frances Steyn)
Bazaruto sand dunes
Climbing Bazaruto’s immense sand dunes with guide Sujado (left) and honeymooners Lily and Mike (right).
Pansy shell on Bazaruto beach
A pansy shell, aka sand dollar, found on the beach. These shells all have the same design, created by nature.

I don’t have an underwater camera so I couldn’t take photos while snorkelling. But the coral reef was spectacular and we saw so many beautiful things. I particularly liked the giant blue starfish.

Our last full day we took a tour of Benguerra island, which is 55 square kilometers and has a population of about 1800 people. It was nice to see the interior of the island, which feels far removed from the fancy resort. We visited with a small flock of flamingos, and went to the beautiful deserted beach on the Indian Ocean side of the island. We also visited the local school, which was celebrating the official opening of two new classrooms with support from Azura.

Flamingos and heron on Benguerra
Up close with the flamingos and another water bird (an egret, I think).
Benguerra Primary School
The new school building on Benguerra, which was holding an official opening ceremony while we were there.

When we got back to Azura, I was lucky to meet the chief of Benguerra Island, Aaron João Zivane. He had also been to the opening of the primary school and was dressed in his full chief regalia.

Benguerra Chief Aaron
This chief is too cool.

And then, of course, there were the sunsets.

Sunset and water on Benguerra
Sunsets never get old in paradise. There are so many different ways to photograph them.
Sunset and boats on Benguerra
My favorite Benguerra sunset shot.

Thanks for taking me to paradise, Airlink. You’ve made all my readers hate me but it was worth it.

This post was sponsored by Airlink and Azura Retreats. Opinions expressed are mine.