Pomene to Tofo via Guinjata, November 2022

Back to Tofo! Driving south down through Maxixe you will see the city of Inhambane only a short distance away across the bay. Maxixe is where you go to for visa extensions, vehicle import extensions and most other official admin if needed. Hang a left further down and you’re almost at your getaway palmtree-lined paradise on the mighty Indian Ocean. Drive through Inhamabane and wave to Maxixe now on the other side of the bay. Navigate carefully the street stalls and school children at the bottleneck and then enjoy the beginning of a green land and palm trees.

Mind the culvert ramp a few kilometers after Inhambane! Someone put a hump in the road perfectly designed to launch any car going faster than 40km per hour flying through the air. The school children always turn the warning signs around also so it will come as a surprise. Damn kids. A giggle at the ramp that we almost forget again, and we approach Tofo with the sun setting and the palm trees silhouetted.

Tofo is far enough away from most places that you are nearly always arriving when the sun is setting. We pass Yum-Yum supermarket, the place with the cheese samoosas and custard pasteis de nata. The guys who sell fresh water, do laundry and have the best inland view in the area are next. Dhow’s and other fishing boats sail on the golden Inhambane Bay in the distance. Take a right for Tofo, left for Barra. Pass the guys with the freshly caught prawns and crayfish or stop and set yourself up for dinner. Just watch those measuring scales are zeroed and set to metric! Past the butcher with the biltong and the Spar with the chocolate slabs. Past the industrious car wash and the hopeful vehicle spare parts stall where we see our previously donated Toyota wheel hub still on display. Mind all the colourful, interesting and friendly pedestrians – the roads in Mozambique are pathways for far more than just cars! Down the deteriorating road over the wind blown sand and finally into the little beach town of Tofo! Still our favourite place in Mozambique.

Tofo is often used to describe a few locations in the area. Tofo is the main small fishing village which has grown over the past few decades accommodating sun seekers, surfers and divers. There are more than four dive centers to choose from in Tofo alone which makes it seem like a big place but you will laugh when you realise how small the whole village is. There are lots of dive operations because there is a large area available to go diving. In Tofo, we always use Tofo Scuba just because we always have. Tofo has a long white sand beach where some decent surfing for beginners is available when the winds, currents and tides are right. Surf Shack is right on the beach and offers decent rates for surfboard hire and surf lessons, and everyone there is friendly and laid back. Best restaurant in our opinion is Branko’s. It is a small stall restaurant with the best pizza in maybe the world, and ties with C-Mew for best calamari but Branko’s makes it in a thick-cut hot rock style. All served with cold Mozambiquan beer by friendly local people who staff the restaurant. A perfect place to sit and do some people watching.

A little south but on the rocks and cliffs is Tofinho. Tofinho is in effect a growing suburb of Tofo and has one of the best surf breaks in Mozambique. We normally go for a jog on the Tofinho cliffs and beaches to watch the whales and dolphins in the late afternoon. The best restaurant in Tofinho is C-Mew with tied-best calamari in the area and hands down best tuna sashimi. C-Mew has somehow combined tuna sashimi with a cerviche recipe and it is michelin star good. Their calamari is light crunch perfection. Pair that with spectacular views of the Indian ocean and the odd passing dolphin pod or humped back whale and, well, you can see why we like it here.

North of Tofo, back down the road, is Barra. Barra is a stretch of picturesque sand bar and dunes looking out on the ocean just before Inhambane Bay. Dive operations from Barra have good access to some of the more northerly dive sites like Office, Colloseum and Amazon. They also have easier access into the bay and mangroves for seahorse dives. We’ve had good experience with Aquaholics dive shop.

Well away from Tofo but easily reachable, with 4×4, is Guinjata. This is a proper little holidaying area which has probably gone through booms and busts since the beginning of time. Hidden in the dunes are resorts and eco-resorts with some decent snorkeling opportunities at Paindane Bay, but only with good advice from locals on tides and with decent swimming strength. Fins are a must as it can get quite current-y as we discovered one afternoon. It is more remote than Tofo and has a good beach feel with a large crescent shaped beach in the main area. Camping opportunities are a lot easier here than Tofo or Barra. We always use the Guinjata Dive Centre for our dives in this area because it saves the sea-sick Kirsty from utter despair on the way down to Manta Reef etc. We were very close to a massive humpbacked whale from the boat last time we dived with them. We also dove the ledendary Paindane Express. It is called ‘express’ for very good reason as the fastest drift dive we’ve ever done. You pop out 2-3km down the reef without even so much as a flick of your fin. The Safety Stop restaurant also has good prices and the best fish and chips in Mozambique which is saying a lot. If the tide is in, your toes might be in the waves whilst having your lunch.

There is a ton more to do in the area, including Tofo-Tofo weekly live music night, and we always end up staying a few weeks/months longer than intended in our happy little paradise.