There’s nothing half-hearted
about the Quirimbas. This
scattering of islands along the
coast of far northern Mozambique encapsulates everything
you’ve ever dreamed of in a tropical paradise: smiling islanders, crisp
beaches, cerulean seas, extravagant
coral reefs, abundant marine and birdlife
and crumbling colonial towns. Keri Harvey
gave in to temptation and explored some

of them in a dhow.
TEXT & PHOTOGRAPHS BY KERI HARVEY
CRUISING THE
QUIRIMBAS
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THE QUIRIMBAS
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AFRICA GEOGRAPHIC
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aboard is quiet, hypnotised by the rhythmic slap of water on wood.
Captain Juma taps the side of the vessel
lightly, as if keeping time with the waves.
He flashes a wide smile and points to the
water. ‘Suki,’ he says, his eyes sparkling.
Escorting us through the ocean are a dozen
dolphins, diving and jumping alongside
the dhow. Suki and her family are old
friends of the captain, some of the many
he has come to know on his journeys.
T
he Quirimbas Archipelago is about as
far north as you can go along the
Mozambique coastline. There are
some 30 islands in all, of which 11 fall
within the 7 500-square-kilometre Quirimbas National Park. Established just a
decade ago, the park came into being after
the local people voiced their concern
about the dwindling fish stocks. Now the
sanctuary protects the feeding and nesting
sites of five species of marine turtle as well
as the breeding grounds of numerous reef
fishes. Rangers have been appointed to
patrol the marine sanctuaries and also to
safeguard the crops on land against invasion by elephants. Sustainable fishing and
OPPOSITE, ABOVE An icon of the waters off the east
coast of Africa, the dhow has changed little in style over
the centuries.
OPPOSITE, BELOW Captain Juma Chande.
LEFT A beauty queen and her granny. The girl’s face
mask, a blend of ground coral and plant sap, will help
protect her skin and keep it silky smooth.
BELOW A traditional home on Matemo Island.
PAGE 63 A sparkling sandbar stretches into the ocean
from Medjumbe Island, which is surrounded by a
shallow reef.
Vamizi
Island
Medjumbe
Island
Matemo
Island
Ibo Island
Quirimbas NP
Quilalea
Island
MOZAMBIQUE
C
aptain Juma Chande
tilts his head as if listening to silent music.
He’s captivated by
the stillness that surrounds him, the slow
whish-whish as the
wooden dhow cuts through the tepid turquoise water. Above, the white cotton sail
is billowing, filled with wind.
Wind is music to Captain Juma, as he
likes to be called. To him, it’s the melody
of life and the rhythm of the ocean. He
dances to its tune, plans his routes according to its direction. Will he be sailing
straight, skimming the surface at speed or
tacking laboriously to reach his destination? His life has been ruled by the whims
of the wind because he grew up selling
fish with his father up and down the
Quirimbas. Now in his forties, sailing is
not work for the captain, it’s life lived in
harmony with his environment.
Aboard a traditional East African dhow
is an authentic way to travel the coast of
Mozambique. There is no better way to do
it. We sail in silence, gazing at the idyllic,
almost surreal Quirimbas isles. Everyone
agricultural practices are taught, illegal
logging and poaching are checked and
community tourism initiatives and education for girls are strongly promoted. It’s
hard work keeping this slice of paradise
pristine.
There’s a sprinkling of uninhabited
islands in the park, some serving as
secluded, luxury escapes for tourists.
Others are home to traditional fishing
communities. One such islet is palmfringed Matemo, which accommodates
2 500 villagers, 10 500 palm trees and a
little shop selling batteries, soap and other
essentials. The men on the island are fishermen, the women catch octopuses and
the children harvest sea cucumbers. They
collect rainwater to drink, wash from the
briny well and plant papayas, bananas
and maize to supplement their diet. Life is
hard, but healthy and happy.
‘We’re all Muslims here,’ says local Anli
Estambuli, who grew up on Matemo and
now works at Matemo Island Lodge. ‘[We
changed our religion] to avoid becoming
slaves when the Arabs invaded. Now we
like being Muslims and there are six
mosques on the island. They are small
and simple, nothing fancy.’
Bicycles and the occasional vintage
motorbike ply the sand track that links
Matemo’s villages, where the houses show
a remarkable flair for innovation. First, a
lattice of thin wooden poles is erected and
the pockets formed between them are
filled with chunks of white coral. Then
the surface is plastered with a cement-like
substance made from ground coral. ‘The
buildings last for hundreds of years,’ says
Estambuli proudly. ‘Even Vasco da Gama
built like this.’ Concerns about the environmental sustainability of this practice
are addressed. The
coral is harvested
by hand in the traditional way, with
respect. People take
only what is needed
and, for now, Mozambique’s coralreef environment
is still pristine.
Coral is also used
as a beauty product. It’s ground to
a powder, mixed
with plant sap and
used by the islanders as a suncreen.
Another island
treasure are the coconut palms, which are
carefully tended and monitored. Every
part of the palm serves a purpose: the
fronds are used to create roofs for the
houses; the coconut water, flesh and milk
are for cooking and eating; the husk fibres
are woven into rope to anchor sails and
secure roofs in place; and the shells are
halved to make bowls or to carve into buttons, or even unique jewellery. Nothing
goes to waste.
As the sun dips, drenching the village
in soft light, children play football on a
sand pitch and chase each other in games
of hide-and-seek beneath the trees.
Nearby, small fish, split open to the sun,

dry on rickety wooden racks. Beside
INDIAN
OCEAN
Pemba
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THE QUIRIMBAS
QUIRIMBAS
NATIONAL PARK
Declared in 2002, the park extends
7 500 square kilometres along the coast
of northern Mozambique. Its varied habitat of coral reefs, seagrass beds, mangroves, miombo forest and 11 islands is
home to 2 000 elephants and 90 000
permanent human inhabitants.
The wild animals
In the terrestrial section of the park,
elephants, lions, leopards, buffaloes,
hippos, African wild dogs, zebras, kudus,
eland, sable, warthogs, bushpigs, monkeys, baboons and various small cats
can be found. In the marine area are
humpback, southern right and beaked
whales; five species of dolphin (including
spinner and humpbacks occasionally
seen off Ibo); five species of turtle (green,
hawksbill, olive ridley, leatherback and
loggerhead); and a huge variety of game
fish. Also there, though rarely seen, is a
variety of sharks, including Zambezi and
tiger sharks.
Birds
This is a good destination for birdlovers.
More than 350 species have been
recorded in the Quirimbas, with an additional 100 species possible as this is the
transitional zone between the southern
and East African ranges. It is also on
a major migratory route for palearctic
migrants. Intertidal mudflats around Ibo
and Matemo are important feeding areas
for waders. Look out for the threatened
southern banded snake-eagle, Dickinson’s
kestrel, crab plover (above, right), Böhm’s
spinetail, mangrove kingfisher, Mascarene
martin, brown-breasted barbet, Uluguru
violet-backed sunbird, northern wheatear,
collared palm-thrush and the Zanzibar
red bishop.
them lie an unusual diving mask and
snorkel, which closer inspection reveals to
be creations of inventive genius.
Before working at the lodge, Estambuli
was a fisherman, so he knows this equipment well. ‘With these tools,’ he says,
‘you can dive to 18 metres to set your
fishing nets.’ He explains that the goggles
and snorkel are made entirely by hand. A
piece of glass is scored and cracked in hot
sand, then rimmed with smelted aluminium and fitted with a face-piece crafted
from the inner tube of a tyre. To make the
snorkel, two tubes are warmed over the
fire, inserted carefully one into the other
and bent into a J. Their creator looks on,
smiling a gap-toothed grin and nodding
in agreement.
C
aptain Juma has a colourful lure on
a thick piece of gut bobbing out
the back of the boat, but today he’s
only catching floating
seaweed. Not the kingfish
or sailfish he’s hoping for
– and which the intrepid
locals land using hand
lines. ‘Yes, the fish fight
like crazy,’ says Juma
with raised eyebrows,
‘but when you eventually land them, one can
feed the whole village.’
He loops in his line
and gives orders for the
sail to be slackened.
‘Tonight we will sleep
here at Ulumbwa,’ he
says, pointing to an open
ma a ns bo o ys e n
patch of shore raised
high above the ocean. ‘We have permission from the local chief to camp near the
fishing village. You will like it very much.’
As we sail in to dock, I can’t imagine
that a hot shower will materialise from
the featureless piece of earth. I certainly
can’t envisage that master chef Hussein
Amade will create a seafood platter
unmatched in any restaurant, with fresh
bread – over the coals and from scratch.
Yet, with hardly a word spoken, the small
crew starts setting up our camp. Before

long, there’s an open-sided kitchen
OPPOSITE, ABOVE In tropical isolation, the idyllic
Quirimbas.
OPPOSITE, BELOW The Quirimbas’ fisherman’s essential
kit: a handmade snorkel and goggles.
ABOVE Crab plovers.
BELOW The Cowrie House on Ibo Island.
Culture
Ibo has been nominated as a UNESCO
World Heritage Site and its structures date
back to the early 1600s, making it one of
the oldest settlements in Mozambique.
Located on an old slave route, the island
has been inhabited by Arab, Dutch,
French, Malagasy and Portuguese settlers,
all of whom have left their influences.
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THE QUIRIMBAS
RIGHT A silversmith at Ibo island’s Fortaleza de São João
Baptista works with delicate precision,using techniques
that have been passed down the centuries.
PACK YOUR BAGS
getting there
Airlink has twice-weekly return flights
between Johannesburg and Pemba
(www.flyairlink.com). If using the Mozambican carrier LAM, bear in mind
that severe delays are commonplace.
CFA Air Charters fly from Pemba to
Medjumbe, Matemo and Ibo islands
(www.cfa.co.za).
accommodation
Matemo Island (above) offers barefoot
luxury for couples and families, and
Medjumbe is a romantic destination
for couples (www.raniresorts.com). Ibo
Island Lodge is for families or couples
and offers island-hopping, guided and
fully catered dhow safaris throughout the
Quirimbas all year (www.iboisland.com).
Africa Geographic/Quirimbas
Reader Special
We love these gorgeous islands so
much that our readers are given the
opportunity to visit them too. Take
advantage of a Beach Bliss five-night
break. Spend two nights on Ibo Island
and three nights on Medjumbe or
Matemo islands. Pay for yourself and
pay just 50 per cent for your partner at
Ibo Island Lodge and at either Matemo
Island or Medjumbe Private Island.
Contact [email protected]
Offer valid 10 January–31 March 2012.
Terms and conditions apply.
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AFRICA GEOGRAPHIC
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tent, another for dining –
complete with table and
chairs – a private sleeping
tent, a bathroom and a toilet tent, all of which translate into a very civilised
camping affair. Later that
evening, being waited on
like Karen Blixen by the
ever-obliging Nito Memade
is a little surreal and very
‘out of Africa’. While the
villagers next door dine on
green papaya, fresh fish
and coconut rice, I finger
through an ocean of firefried seafood.
When the sun goes down
on the islands, it’s also lights
out for the locals. So all is silent when the
moon rises and silhouettes the mangroves
against the night sky. Mozambique is a
soulful place, its stories are happy and sad
and colourful, the history is textured and
tumultuous, and the people are resilient
and content – always smiling, ever openhearted. It’s a place that’s difficult to box
and label, easier to feel through experience.
‘T
hose are crab plovers,’ Captain
Juma points out as the early morning sun rouses both birds and villagers from their beds. ‘People come from
all over the world to see them.’ Like the
herons, egrets and bee-eaters common on
Medjumbe Island, this is where you come
to see crab plovers. But throughout the
Quirimbas, the bird and marine life is
abundant. Green and leatherback turtles
lay their eggs on the beaches of Matemo,
Medjumbe and Vamizi islands. On the
mainland, locals still complain about the
elephants that eat their crops, so the area
has an alluring wildness about it.
The dhow edges out along a vast reach
of mangroves and draws alongside a local
boatman poling his surfboard-sized canoe
through the water. He attempts to race
with us, poling furiously. He manages to
keep up for a minute, then loses ground.
Captain Juma smiles but looks straight
ahead, tactically planning his approach to
Ibo Island. Manoeuvring the large dhow
like a bath toy, he is a master sailor, as
calm as the Indian Ocean is today.
Ibo is enigmatic, with a faded grandeur
and a checkered history of war and
peace. Most notably, the Portuguese left
their mark in the fortification on the
island. Variously occupied by pirates,
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slave traders and fortune hunters, Fortaleza de São João Baptista is now the creative epicentre of the island. It’s where
Ibo’s renowned silversmiths create lacy
jewellery that is in demand throughout
the world. The earlier jewellers crafted
items from old coins that had been melted down; their modern counterparts use
silver. But the creative process is exactly
the same, using files and lemon juice to
polish the pieces to a shine.
In its heyday Ibo was the place to be if
you wanted to get ahead in life, a thriving
mini metropolis with elaborate colonial
buildings and manor houses. There was
plenty going on. Now its sand streets are far
quieter and time has crumbled the majestic
buildings, creating an evocative beauty
that’s quite intoxicating.
Ibo grows its own coffee and even has
its own flower – the Ibo flower, a spiky
white lily. It also has its own patron saint
– São João – after whom most of the men
here, and indeed many of the main buildings, are named. The island has a unique
love story too, told in the Cowrie House.
It’s a tale of lost love and a grieving
widow who walked the beaches mourning
her husband, collecting shells in his
memory and slowly coating her house
with them. It’s still there to see.
Captain Juma was born on Ibo and has
lived there all his life. His father taught him
to respect the sea: not to try to tame it, but
to read its moods in order to live to sail
another day. The captain honours this
advice every time he boards his dhow to
criss-cross the Quirimbas on ocean journeys. If you ever meet him, you’ll see quite
clearly that the sea is in his soul. And his
soul lives in the Quirimbas.
AG