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Mozambique February 2007

We celebrated our 10 year anniversary with a trip to Mozambique. We had heard good things about the diving in Tofo with very good chances of encounters with Manta Rays and Whalesharks.
We were not disappointed.
The diving are from Ribs that everyone helps to push into the water. Everybody in, and off you go through the surge. The reefs are within a distance of 5 to 45 minutes from the beach.
In general the reefs are not going up to the surface, so the dive starts with a negative entry in order to go down fast before an eventual current would sweep you past the reef.
The visibility when we were there ranged from 10 - 20 meters. There is a lot of plankton in the water, but that is also the reason why the big plankton feeders are there.
The biodiversity is really good with many different nudibranchs in the smaller scale up to the giant Whalesharks and Manta Rays.
We were there in the rainy season, but never had any rain.
We travelled with The Mozambique Experience. They were very good and used the divecenter called Tofo Scuba.
We especially liked Manta Reef. Of course the Manta's are the very highlight but also the other marinelife like spanish dancers (in daylight), frogfish, honeycomb moray's and much more is a delight.
On our first boattrip to Manta Reef we encountered our first Whalesharks. What a fantastic experience to glide into the water and have a snorkel with a 8 meter giant. Simply fantastic. We had encounters with Whalesharks on every trip to Manta Reef.
Tofo have a reputation for being for the more rough diver. I think that even a fairly inexperienced diver will have a good time there. You just need to be comfortable doing a negative entry. On a twotank dive to Manta Reef, some people tend to get seasick, since the surface interval is spent in the RIB. Sometimes it is a bit rocky. So you might consider seasick tablets. Take some that is ok for diving.
One recommendation. Take really good care regarding the sun. There is no shadow in the Ribs, so cover your skin.

We will certainly like to return to Tofo someday.

Tofo area
Tofo is a rather small quiet place. The beach is absolutely gorgeous. The local people were friendly and we didn't experience any problems at all. One has to get used to the sometimes very slowly service in the restaurants. Getting a Müesli with milk could take half an hour. Well we are on holiday, so maybe it is a good idea to get a bit downbeat.
A trip to Inhambane shouldn't be missed. You will see signs from the Portugese era and the market is quite interesting. On your way, you will pass a rat training centre. It sounds odd, but they do train rats to find landmines that are still a remain from the civilwar. We can pride ourselves a littlebit, since the project is supported by the EU.

Manta Ray and Whaleshark reseach
When we were there two very nice people Simon and Andrea were doing research on the Whalesharks and Manta Rays around Tofo. They gave weekly lectures on their subjects in Casa Barry. It was interesting to learn more about these friendly giants. Don't miss them if you are around.

Health
We took Malaria tablets (Malarone) and didn't get malaria and didn't have any sideeffects diving. In general we didn't have problems with mosquitoes.
We didn't suffer any stomach problems :-). So the hygene seems to be ok, but of course you never know. Well in Denmark you could have an up-set stomac after a visit to a restaurant.