Day 221: Tofo to Barra

At 10:00 we left Turtle Cove and drove on some sandy tracks to check out Tofinho beach. We spotted some whales jumping out of the water showing their bellies and clapping their fins on the water. One came quite close to shore with their infant.

We then drove to the main Tofo beach past 100s of guesthouses.

We definitely don’t want to be anywhere close to Tofo in December, we can’t even begin to imagine the chaos. From there we drove to Barra.

The official road to the Faraway lodge requires some ‘dune’ driving. The campsite was turned into a temporary storage area for the rebuilding of all the houses that were destroyed in the tropical storm of earlier this year. The Afrikaans builder tried hard to get us to camp there, even claiming that it is the only campsite in all of Barra and Tofo.

After walking on the beach we drove to the opposite end of Barra to the White Sands lodge. The road is basically only accessible around low-tide. We drove all the way to the point passed some nice looking campsites. When Caro got out she could clearly hear a tyre deflating.

We thus turned around and drove to the campsites, but accidentally drove in at Areia Branca Lodge. The campsite was the most expensive one in Mozambique so far, but we got our own private bathroom and had a nice chat to the owners so we didn’t feel too bad about it. We also changed tyres and the owner helped us to put a plug in the hole the next morning.

After changing wheels we went swimming on the ocean side in a small lagoon thing where the water was calmer than in the rough ocean. We then walked to White Sands Lodge and ordered a pizza and Malva pudding. Both were delicious and affordable. White Sands also has cheaper camping and a nice infinity pool overlooking the estuary. Some reviewers complained about the dirty ablutions, but we didn’t see it so can’t comment on that.