By Roxanne Reid
Combine coastal Africa and a Mediterranean mindset and you have laid-back Pemba in the northern Cabo Delgado province of Mozambique. Just a short skip across the sea to the Quirimbas Archipelago you’ll find a tropical island paradise at Medjumbe. These are the contrasts of northern Mozambique – and each has its own appeal.
Combine coastal Africa and a Mediterranean mindset and you have laid-back Pemba in the northern Cabo Delgado province of Mozambique. Just a short skip across the sea to the Quirimbas Archipelago you’ll find a tropical island paradise at Medjumbe. These are the contrasts of northern Mozambique – and each has its own appeal.
Some 2 400km north of Mozambique’s capital Maputo, Pemba was probably a fairly sleepy place until offshore natural gas was discovered in the Rovuma basin in 2012.
Now Pemba hums with new business, and new buildings and infrastructure are being developed. The AVANI Pemba Beach Hotel & Spa does a thriving trade with business people (some companies have permanent apartments there) but it’s still a great place for tourists, with four swimming pools, great food, and diving or snorkelling at coral reefs close to shore, as well as other water sports.
Now Pemba hums with new business, and new buildings and infrastructure are being developed. The AVANI Pemba Beach Hotel & Spa does a thriving trade with business people (some companies have permanent apartments there) but it’s still a great place for tourists, with four swimming pools, great food, and diving or snorkelling at coral reefs close to shore, as well as other water sports.
The exotic AVANI Pemba Beach Hotel & Spa from the infinity pool
The hotel is 'protected' by this cannon at the entrance
The bustling market sells everything from food and kitchen appliances to clothes and hair products
Pemba makes a great kick-off point for a few days on the islands of the Quirimbas Archipelago too. I took a 30-minute flight to Anantara Medjumbe Island Resort & Spa, which was everything that a tropical island paradise should be – white beach, turquoise sea, good food, many water sports and most of all, an overpowering desire never to leave.
Each cabana at Medjumbe has its own salt-water spa pool on the deck 
Medjumbe's main building houses a restaurant, bar and loft lounge-cum-library
Decor is eclectic, some elements hinting at the Arabic influences on Mozambique
Best of all, Pemba is just three hours away from Johannesburg on an Airlink flight (daily except Tuesdays and Sundays). I hadn't flown Airlink in ages, and was impressed that lunch was a treat of chicken pancakes, fresh-flavoured couscous salad and cheese cake. None of the gunk so many airlines present as food.
Anantara Medjumbe Island's cabanas are right on the beach
Pemba offers a host of water sports, inluding scuba diving to see the coral reefs
If the photos in this post whet your appetite, you can read more about my northern Mozambique trip in the article I wrote for Getaway magazine.
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Copyright © Roxanne Reid - No words or photographs on this site may be used without permission from roxannereid.co.za
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