Maputo: Cidade excepcional

Arrive and settle into your hotel, strategically chosen for its proximity to lots of points of interest. Then meet your Mozambican guide for a walking history of the city. Your guide, who will most likely become a friend, will introduce you to local amazing buildings (including the third most beautiful train station in the world), colorful roads, and a long history of this fascinating city with the influence of so many different cultures. Take in all the sights and sounds. Spend the late afternoon exploring on foot around your hotel and have a nice dinner on your own.

In the morning after a hearty breakfast, join your guide in front of the Natural History Museum and make sure to wear walking shoes. Your knowledgeable guide will lead you to the best of Maputo art and architecture – from Art Deco buildings to tile work, from Pancho Guedes to Malangatana. You will learn and see the genius of Mozambican creativity. You’ll also explore FEIMA, (Feira de Artesanato, Flores e Gastronomica), an art, flower and food fair. Here, you will learn to paint batiks and eventually take one home. FEIMA is also a great place to try amazing Mozambican dishes like Zambezian chicken or Matapa with prawns (Akisha’s fav dish of all times) and a 2M (Doish-em), the national beer. Your guide can teach you how to negotiate, so have some fun. You’re sure to find something you love.

Maputo National Park (formerly known as Maputo Special Reserve/Maputo Elephant Reserve) is a unique place with incredible environmental diversity and rich wildlife. The main attraction of the park is the elephants but you’ll also get to see zebras, giraffes, crocodiles, hippos, antelopes, and monkeys, among many others.

You’ll enjoy lunch here and a day full of game drives to search for African flora and fauna and a “private” beach inside the park. Enjoy all the stories that will be told as you drive and feel free to ask lots of questions.

Wake again to the tropical Moçambican air and meet your guide again at Independence Square, but this time you’re on a journey into the past and living history of the “capulana”, which is a very famous and popular piece of cloth, similar to a sarongs. Try some on, learn the history and maybe even grab one as a souvenir 

Before heading to the Fish Market, you can pass by one of the most famous informal local markets of the country, Xipamanine.

After a colorful experience, you’ll join your guide at the Maputo Fish Market for lunch, another experience  in itself where you can choose your meal straight out of the ocean and eat it right there on the beach. That is what I call fresh!

See if you can also have a taste of Matapa, Akisha’s all-time favorite Mozambican dish. Chill in the evening and make sure to pack up for an early morning tomorrow. 

The next two days is all about YOU!

Enjoy a breakfast before you ride the waves of the Indian Ocean and take a look back at the city in the morning light. Today you head to Inhaca Island to stay, but you’ll also explore the Portuguese Island and Santa Maria Beach. Your guide will pick you up and be with you for the 2-day excursion including all meals, non-alcoholic drinks, & snacks. We can create daily activities to your liking including cultural visits, snorkeling, paddle boarding, or hikes, but pure relaxation will be totally free.

Surely the sun and sand was good for your soul. Today you head back to Maputo city over the waves again and your 7 days in Mozambique will come to an end…unless you want to head further afield.