The tide decides when anyone leaves

Off Vilankulo the channel empties twice a day and the dhows sit down on the sand until it fills, which sets the working day.

Enter the coast →

01
Bazaruto, and the last dugong
The archipelago holds the largest remaining dugong population in the western Indian Ocean, and the surveys that establish that are published.
02
Ilha de Moçambique, half stone and half reed
The old Portuguese capital is a World Heritage site that is two towns on one small island, built of different materials.
03
What a dhow actually is
A lateen rig on a shallow hull, built locally, and still the working boat of the coast rather than a tourist prop.

All 5 in this section →

A dhow moored in calm water at dusk, its yard raised and sail furled — The channel off VilankuloTwice a day the water goes out and the working fleet sits down on the sand until it comes back.Photo: Dhow in Mozambique · Wikimedia Commons

A tiled arched entrance in Maputo with steps climbing into an overgrown garden — MaputoFour centuries of imported building material, and twenty years of concrete that argues with it.Photo: Villa algarve in maputo 01 · Wikimedia Commons

Maputo argues with the light

Pancho Guedes built here for twenty years and the concrete still misbehaves — the Saipal bakery, the Smiling Lion.

Enter Maputo →

All 4 in this section →

Gorongosa publishes its numbers

The park's large mammals were almost entirely lost during the civil war and have been counted back over two decades, with the counts in the public record.

Enter the parks inland →

All 4 in this section →

Two rangers walking towards a large antelope herd on open ground at first light — Urema floodplainThe counts are published with their confidence intervals, which is the unusual part.

Seven placesMaputo sits at the southern end of the country; the Rovuma and the Tanzanian border are at the top of the frame.

The whole edge, south to north

Mozambique is mostly edge. The country runs down the Indian Ocean for some two and a half thousand kilometres, and almost everything on this site sits on that line or a short flight off it.