Mozambique

From a coral- and beach-belted Indian Ocean coastline to wildlife-rich bush, Mozambique is simultaneously one of Africa’s great adventure destinations and among its most culturally engrossing corners. Though its modern history has included much struggle and strife, with poverty remaining a widespread issue, the country is moving toward a brighter and more prosperous future—and tourists are increasingly reveling in its enigmatic atmosphere.

For anyone who likes to mix their idyllic tropical seashores with spectacular food and multilayered history, Mozambique’s 1,200-mile-long coast will delight. The colonial architecture and Islamic garb on display in Pemba or on the Island of Mozambique echo the long-ago Arab trade networks that circuited these waters and the centuries of Portuguese influence, direct and otherwise. Settlements here showcase the richly complex, seafood-heavy cuisine of the Swahili Coast, and serve as convenient jumping-off points for diving and snorkeling in the stunning nearshore depths of the Indian Ocean.

Mozambique’s civil war took a toll on its interior savanna parks, which once ranked among southern Africa’s finest. Though conservation initiatives have begun to restore these important nature reserves. Plans are underway to link several of Mozambique’s parks—Limpopo, Banhine, and Zinave—with Kruger National Park in South Africa and Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe to form a Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, which may help link populations of striking megafauna such as black rhinos, Cape buffalo, bush elephant, giraffe, and cheetahs. An ambitious restoration effort, meanwhile, is taking place at Gorongosa National Park, once considered one of the most biologically and ecologically diverse parks on the continent.

Mozambique is still in the process of recovery, still defining just what sort of modern-day, multicultural country it wants to be. Witness that flowering of national identity firsthand while exploring a truly exquisite suite of ecological landscapes.