Hi,
Can anyone tell me about Ponta do Ouro? I'm looking for good beach places in Mozambique, including good diving. Somewhere that isn't too overrun by tourists, banda style accommodation and somewhere we can get a decent beer each evening.
Alternatively thinking Tofo, so any thoughts on that would be appreciated.
Cheers
Dan
I went to Ponto do Ouro last year for a weekend when I was doing volunteer work at Tembe elephant reserve in SA.
It definitely has what you're after in terms of beaches and diving. However, it's a pig to get to unless you have your own 4X4 transport. It's very isolated and you need 4X4 for the roads in either direction- to Maputo is a long haul on sand roads and to the SA border is a short drive but also on sand roads. Coming from SA, if you have a non 4X4 you can leave your vehicle at the border and some accommodation will pick you up. From Maputo your only real option is to pay for a transfer with your accommodation- unless you are lucky enough to be able to hitch a lift.
There are quite a few South African tourists there, and because it's so isolated from the rest of Moz, in some ways it's a bit like an extension of South Africa. Most places accept Rand, and when I dived, they only did the briefing in English for my benefit- if I hadn't been there it would have been in Afrikaans.
Tofo would be logistically an easier option for sure although I've never been so I can't compare the beaches or diving.
Thanks very much. What time of the year were you there? We're travelling through the region at the moment and have the fear there will be a lot of rain when we get there in March.
I was at Tembe from mid Jan to mid March- my trip to Ponto D'Ouro was in February I think.
Tembe is only just over the border so the weather will be quite similar- in the period I was there, I didn't think it rained all that much, and what rain there was was in the form of short heavy showers/storms. It was very hot though.
Cool. We have friends coming out to meet us and I don't want to haul them over all the way from London if it's going to be raining.
Thanks again.
If you're looking for a good diving place, both are good but I prefer Tofo vs Ponta D'Ouro
If you want somewhere less overrun with tourists, Tofo is better.
If you want even less people and similar diving to Tofo how about Zavora?
(i've lived in Mozambique for coming up to 2 years, in Tofo for more than half of that)