Nuarro - Getting Into The African Vibe!

Nuarro, an ‘Eco’ diving resort up the coast from Coral Lodge, was our next destination. 

We were dropped off by boat from Coral Lodge at Ilha de Mocambique, where we had our first African scam experience.  The photographer for our wedding was holding our photos hostage!  Supported by an old expat who had obviously smelled the opportunity for a scam and inserted himself into the situation; the photographer was now asking for significantly more than the $50 she had agreed to. We left her to haggle with one of the guys from the lodge and decided to walk around Ilia de Mocambique to soak up the atmosphere.

In the little time we had to visit the island, we were impressed by the contradiction between the historic importance of the city – clearly visible in the 17^th century architecture and buildings, and the current deterioration as the city falls from grace.  Despite numerous attempts to convert parts of the city into a tourist location, this small island, only 3km long and 200-500m wide, is home to some 18,000 locals, many of whom live in the ruins of the past.  The beaches around the island are covered with the effluence of this population and it is sad to see the meat of what was, at one time, one of the most important cities in east Africa erode away leaving only a skeleton of her past greatness.

 

After a brief walk, we returned to find that the price had grown to $400!  After a heated exchange we left without the photos!  

Needless to say, the 4 hour drive from Ilia de Mocambique to Nuarro did not start off with us in a good mood!

The drive took us from paved roads to the dirt tracks, which form much of northern Mozambique’s travel network.  We passed through villages clustered around the roadway, with our driver constantly honking to let villagers carrying their goods down the roads know we were coming – allowing them to dive into the bushes!

 

Upon arriving at Nuarro, the stress of our morning encounter was forgotten as we were greeted with more beautiful beach views and the prospect of some wonderful diving.

Joining us at Nuarro were Glynn, John and Nick – three gentlemen with years of travelling experience.  Another friend of theirs, Richard, was on his way – and together with these four we shared the Nuarro experience over the next week.

And what an experience it was – upon arrival we were informed that the normal manager was on holiday.  As was the normal dive master.  And the replacement manager had just come down with malaria.  So … the entire resort appeared to be in the hands of a pair of 20 year old South Africans.

While our first impression made us nervous, Aaron and Kerrie actually excelled at managing the lodge.  The second night we were at Nuarro, the power failed and, while we had intermittent light from a backup generator for the next few nights, it was insufficient to power the compressor.

Needless to say, a dive resort without diving begins to tire quickly.  We suggested to Aaron and Kerrie that they send the dive tanks to Nacala, a port town about two hours away, to be filled.  They jumped on the idea, only to find that once the tanks were taken away, they failed to come back for two days!

While we did do several dives, we also spent a lot of time walking the beach, reading (and making friends with a stray kitten that had been adopted by a charity worker living by the lodge), watching the fishermen prepare their nets and haul in their catches and seeing a number of dhows being constructed and repaired. We also took advantage of the lodge’s dhow and had two wonderful sunset cruises with our new friends!

  

We spent one morning going to the local weekend market.  Glynn borrowed one of the local’s motorbikes to go to the market – which Mike rode home (no brakes on sand roads was interesting!).  The market was a bustle of activity – Mike decided not to take photos of the kids to start, having learnt from past experience he would be swarmed if he did.  Kerrie, on the other hand, started snapping away from the moment we arrived and was soon followed by a pack of 20-30 kids for the entire morning!

We also took a morning to go to the local lighthouse, which provided stunning views of the sandbanks and village below.

The diving we were able to do was surprisingly good – the coral life was superb and there was wonderful visibility (15m+).  Kerrie and Aaron were wonderful hosts, and despite their young age we all agreed they had the makings of fantastic resort managers in their future.

After 7 restful days, we left Nuarro as we had arrived, with a long 4 hour drive to Nampula for our flight down the coast.  And also like our arrival, our departure was afflicted by the adventure of being in Africa.  Upon arriving at the airport, we learnt that the airline had cancelled our flight, so we ended up having a three day journey, staying in two of Mozambiques least attractive cities (Nampula and Beira) before finally getting to Vilankulos!

PS - the lodge ended up paying 1600% more than originally agreed to the photographer to get our wedding photos (some of which appeared in our wedding post), who then sent us a thank you email for being able to participate in our wonderful day.