Azura Benguerra Island

Azura Benguerra is where we take you after the bush, when you want salt water and sand under your feet. It has 14 villas on Benguerra Island in the Bazaruto Archipelago, looking across shallow water that changes colour through the day.

The flight in is part of it. Your Pilatus PC-12 flies east from MalaMala to Vilanculos, where you clear into Mozambique, and a helicopter carries you out over the archipelago. The colours of the shallows from the air are reason enough for the flight.

The reason we chose Benguerra is the dugong. These waters hold one of the last viable populations in East Africa. Your guide takes the boat out over the seagrass beds and cuts the engine, and you slip in and float face down. If you are lucky a long grey shape moves out of the blue, grazing along the bottom, comes up once to breathe and drifts on.

Between July and September humpback whales pass close enough to watch from the beach. The rest of the time is snorkelling, diving and the villa.

Ask for a beach villa. Benguerra suits couples and small groups who want a few slow days between safari and the next stop, and anyone who swims well and likes being in the water.

After four nights an Embraer Phenom 300 flies you north from Vilanculos to Zanzibar.

No other featured property is close by. On The Indian Ocean Arc, Benguerra sits between MalaMala Main Camp and &Beyond Mnemba Island.

Good to know

• The Mozambique coast is a malaria area. Speak to your doctor before you travel.
• Humpback whales pass from July to September.
• Pack soft bags for the helicopter.

Country: Mozambique