Barra Dica Resort

Pointing back towards the landmass of southern Mozambique, the Barra peninsula is a magnet for aquatic adventurers of all varieties. Surfing and kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding and jetskiing are all on the menu, along with boat hire and charters. If you want to go under the water, there are a number of popular dives to depths between 10 and 35 metres, while guided expeditions to reefs with tempting names like Chamber of Secrets, Sherwood Forest and Giant’s Castle take underwater adventurers to swim among the seahorses, dolphins, frogfish and whale sharks who make their home along this part of coast. For some larks on dry land, talk to the site team about quad bikes and the trail through the coconut plantations. Alternatively, make the half-hour trip into ancient Inhambane, a laidback city of tree-lined avenues and old colonial buildings, where you can mooch around the museum, the old mosque and the market in a few hours, then sail a dhow across the bay to Maxixe. If that’s given you a taste for more maritime meanderings, take boat trips (traditional dhow or modern and motorised) to Pansy island and Ilha dos Porcos, visiting small fishing communities and diving the reefs, or to the Linga Linga peninsula, looking out for dugong and whales.