Tofo Beach
From World travel guide
Tofo Beach is in Inhambane Province, Mozambique. It has been described as "the next Goa", and while this may be pushing it a bit, Tofo has definitely become a traveller's mecca on the Eastern coast of Africa. The reasons are not hard to discern: beautiful stretches of beach, a friendly laid-back vibe, a small but pumping nightlife, great diving and snorkelling and a few good restaurants too.
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Get in
By car, follow the paved road from Inhambane through some 30km of pretty scenery to get to Tofo Beach.
Get around
Most of the places described here are within walking distance of each other....
See
Do
- Visit Dino's Bar, the beach party spot par excellence, a roofed-off open-air bar midway between Fatima's Nest and Bamboozi Backpackers.
- Go diving with Diversity Scuba. Tofo and surrounds have some of the best reef diving around. Don't miss Manta Reef, a manta cleaning station where the critters really throng (requires deep diving qualification, which can be acquired through Diversity Scuba).
Also dived with Tofo scuba, very professional outfit with the best boats and equipment in Tofo, seems like Diversity scuba has droped a bit in their standards. Tofo scuba is based at Casa Barry Lodge in the bay and next to the launching site. contact them at www.tofoscuba.com
Buy
Eat
- The Restaurante Ferroviara offers a fairly good range of seafood dishes.
- Casa Barry has an in-house restaurant with a great wooden terrace overlooking the sea. Service is abominable, but the food when it arrives is good.
- If you have a car, there is an excellent restaurant about halfway back up the road from Tofo to Inhambane (standing off by itself on the left-hand side of the road).
Drink
Sleep
- Fatima's Nest. The inimitable Fatima, building upon the success of Fatima's Place in Maputo, has opened a backpackers' in Tofo. There are bungalows, permanent tents, and a campsite. Disappointingly, Fatima's expansionary initiative has led to a loss of that personal touch, and there is somewhat of an attitude of: pack them in now, worry about facilities later. In early 2004, showers were a cold trickle (when water was available), and plumbing and electricity were a little erratic. However, Fatima's definitely won the prize for party spot number two (after Dino's Bar), with the staff often laying on local music, dance and even beach theatre, and the bar pumping well into the night on many an occasion. Fatima's is also conveniently located between Dino's Bar) and the market area.
- Bamboozi Backpackers is a quieter spot further up the beach with better food, run by South Africans.
- Casa Barry
Stay safe
Tofo is a paradisiacal locale, but the recent influx of tourists has brought problems that the local police are ill-equipped to deal with. Bag-nabbing is rife, so be sure that there is always someone to watch over your valuables on the beach. The beach walk between Fatima's, Dino's and Bamboozi is entirely unlit, and women should not walk it alone or in the company of strangers. To improve security, the police have been given permission to patrol Fatima's Nest, but this does imply that it is rather a bad idea to smoke it up anywhere on the premises.
Get out
Why would you want to leave?
External links
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