Mozambique

Mozambique is where we take you to the water after the bush. The Bazaruto Archipelago lies off the coast near Vilanculos, a chain of islands set in shallows that change colour by the hour, and its seagrass beds hold one of the last viable dugong populations in East Africa. Snorkelling over the seagrass while a dugong grazes along the bottom is something very few people anywhere get to see.

We use one island and one lodge. Azura Benguerra Island has beach villas looking across the shallow water, with private boats and guides for the snorkelling and diving. Between July and September humpback whales pass close enough to the island to watch from the beach. The rest of the time is yours: the beach, the water, a boat when you want one.

Mozambique fits between the bush and the Indian Ocean on our Indian Ocean Arc. After four nights at MalaMala in the Sabi Sand, your Pilatus PC-12 flies east to Vilanculos, where you clear into Mozambique. A helicopter then carries you over the archipelago to Benguerra, and the colours of the shallows from the air are reason enough for the flight. When you leave, an Embraer Phenom 300 flies you north from Vilanculos to Zanzibar for the last chapter at Mnemba.

We plan this journey for June to October, which brings the humpbacks into the window from July.