Ibo Island, Mozambique
As the ship approached the coast of Africa this morning, we came up to a brisk south-east wind and cooler air. It is evident that the new season has started early this year: the warm wet northwest winds are ending are the south-east monsoon has begun. The fishermen will welcome this change: the first fishing dhows were heading out as we approached Ibo, the clean white lateen sails bright against a dark sea.
Once in our Zodiacs we had to zigzag into the estuary, round shallow sandbars until we could land on a clean sand beach. Excited children were on the beach already to welcome us ashore, and eager guides were happy to see the outside world coming to their lovely island, isolated for so many years.
We set off at once on different walks, one group of photographers, one group to concentrate on birds and natural history, the rest to explore the extraordinary old town. Ibo was the second most important base in the old days of Arab trade in Mozambique, wrested from the Sultans by the Portuguese in 1522. They traded in amber, jet, ivory, ambergris and turtle shell and latterly were a base for the lucrative slave trade. We saw the original Portuguese fort where the slaves were held and the town defended, which is undergoing renovation. We walked through the once-busy town, which has suffered much dilapidation since the Portuguese left in 1975, but there are signs everywhere of recovery and repair. We passed a school for carpenters, repainted administration buildings with new pantiles, a WWF office which is publicizing the huge new Quirimbas Archipelago National Park including reefs, humpback dolphins, turtle beaches and pristine mangrove forest.
After a stroll through the town, accompanied by excited children, we finished at the beautiful Ibo Lodge, the first new facility to welcome tourists back to this wonderful coastline. Here we enjoyed cool drinks, watched a local dance troupe, had a welcome swim and looked at a tamarind tree full of weaver bird nests.
We met the teachers who run the local Montessori school, teaching local orphans and young children new skills to build a new Mozambique. The country has suffered 30 years of civil war, floods and turmoil, but there is a great sense of hope and optimism that they at last may enjoy a new future. This young boy with his orphan goat is a local musician, but he has real dreams: he wants to learn English and become a doctor. This is the kind of energy and enthusiasm which will bring Mozambique into the 21st century, and it was a huge honour to be among the first new visitors to see history change for the better.
As the ship approached the coast of Africa this morning, we came up to a brisk south-east wind and cooler air. It is evident that the new season has started early this year: the warm wet northwest winds are ending are the south-east monsoon has begun. The fishermen will welcome this change: the first fishing dhows were heading out as we approached Ibo, the clean white lateen sails bright against a dark sea.
Once in our Zodiacs we had to zigzag into the estuary, round shallow sandbars until we could land on a clean sand beach. Excited children were on the beach already to welcome us ashore, and eager guides were happy to see the outside world coming to their lovely island, isolated for so many years.
We set off at once on different walks, one group of photographers, one group to concentrate on birds and natural history, the rest to explore the extraordinary old town. Ibo was the second most important base in the old days of Arab trade in Mozambique, wrested from the Sultans by the Portuguese in 1522. They traded in amber, jet, ivory, ambergris and turtle shell and latterly were a base for the lucrative slave trade. We saw the original Portuguese fort where the slaves were held and the town defended, which is undergoing renovation. We walked through the once-busy town, which has suffered much dilapidation since the Portuguese left in 1975, but there are signs everywhere of recovery and repair. We passed a school for carpenters, repainted administration buildings with new pantiles, a WWF office which is publicizing the huge new Quirimbas Archipelago National Park including reefs, humpback dolphins, turtle beaches and pristine mangrove forest.
After a stroll through the town, accompanied by excited children, we finished at the beautiful Ibo Lodge, the first new facility to welcome tourists back to this wonderful coastline. Here we enjoyed cool drinks, watched a local dance troupe, had a welcome swim and looked at a tamarind tree full of weaver bird nests.
We met the teachers who run the local Montessori school, teaching local orphans and young children new skills to build a new Mozambique. The country has suffered 30 years of civil war, floods and turmoil, but there is a great sense of hope and optimism that they at last may enjoy a new future. This young boy with his orphan goat is a local musician, but he has real dreams: he wants to learn English and become a doctor. This is the kind of energy and enthusiasm which will bring Mozambique into the 21st century, and it was a huge honour to be among the first new visitors to see history change for the better.
