The Great Whale Migration – new platform to track the humpbacks
Every year humpback whales migrate thousands of kilometres up the South and East African coast to breed and give birth in the warmer waters of Northern Mozambique. At around 8,000km its the longest mammal migration on earth. Now a group of marine scientists, tourism operators, conservationists, local communities and government agencies is collaborating to develop […]
Sharing – this thoughtful blog from a recent volunteer Jennifer Jones
Musings on the Purpose of Travel, and Inspiration from Ilha Blue A long-time lover of travel, I’ve lately been feeling that it’s time to define the relationship. It’s time to have the tough conversation about what it all means—if anything. Perhaps I’m not the only one who has suffered this crisis of conscious while traveling. […]
Whale Migration Route. New information platform to be established
Every year Humpback Whales migrate thousands of kilometers up the East African coast to breed and give birth in the warmer waters of Northern Mozambique. And now a group of marine scientists, tourism operators, conservationists, local communities and government agencies is collaborating to develop an online platform to chart their progress and share the news […]
Posto de Turismo. Ilha De Mozambique gets a stylish tourism information office
On the 28th of March to mark the 200th year of the City, Ilha de Mozambique opened its new and very stylish tourism information office. The new office, or Posto de Turismo, is in the Girassol Building, one of the islands most recognizable landmarks . To mark this auspicious event there were speeches from the numerous dignitaries, several […]
Life savers
Life savers Bringing in the flags after the Christmas and New Year festivities. For the last 3 years Ilha Blue have put out more than 300m of lines, floats and marker buoys to create a safe place for bathers at Kharamu Beach, close to the Forteleza de Sâo Sebastiâo at the Northern point of the island. […]
Transforming local lives
Transforming local lives The Ilha Blue business initiative has as its core purpose ‘ to transform local lives through employment, training and increased access to opportunities. Aims that can only be achieved through a long-term commitment and by challenging those entrenched practices that deny local people a fair go and lead to exploitation. In six […]
Whale watch update
The humpback whales are well and truly here, more whales than last year if that’s possible, and all of the famous humpback acrobatics are on display pretty much all of the time: breeching, lunging, fluke and fin slapping of the surface and ‘tail-up’ displays. We’ve already seen a few calves with their mothers, one pair […]
The Travelhadores
The ‘Travelhadores’ – the Northern Mozambique Tourism Workers Exchange has commenced. The concept of the Travelhadores (a play on the Portuguese term for workers trabalhadores) is to give tourism workers in the north of Mozambique the opportunity to experience other tourism operations, to share ideas and best practices and to experience tourism. Seven of us […]
How we won “…People & Culture” African Responsible Tourism Award 2017
How we won. At the World Travel Market in Cape Town (WTM 2017) Ilha Blue received GOLD in the African Responsible Tourism Awards in the category Best for Engaging People and Culture. This category “seeks to shine a light on the best examples of tourism experiences which involve and celebrate local people, traditions and ways of life”. […]
Winners in the African Responsible Tourism Awards? We find out tomorrow 20 April
When the judges first asked us about our biggest achievement in engaging people and culture through tourism we pointed to our success in disrupting Ilha’s unfair tourism practices that were making it very difficult for local people to get jobs. At that time in 2011, tourism was controlled by a handful of outsiders who […]
ARTA awards – We’ve been longlisted!
ARTA awards – We’ve been longlisted! African Responsible Tourism Awards – Ilha Blue Island Safaris, Nominee for Best for Engaging People and Culture (https://bettertourismafrica.org) We’re very proud to stand alongside an inspiring group of responsible tourism businesses. The competition is tough and so it should be. There are no shortcuts to becoming a responsible tourism […]
Ilha Bars
Ilha Bars There is no shortage of places to have a drink on Ilha, every restaurant and café serves alcohol and there are ‘Discos’ for those who want to drink and dance till dawn, but recently a number of dedicated bars have sprung up, small places that quietly tick along, each with their own kooky character […]
Team building – Matanuska Mozambique
It was a great pleasure to have the senior management team from Matanuska Mozambique (Banana Farm) with us again on Ilha de Mozambique for their second, weekend-long session of team building. At Ilha Blue we have designed a program that maximises interaction with the natural assets of the island and its nearby surrounds. The program […]
Humpback whales are STILL here!
Humpback whales have arrived in big numbers this season. Mothers and calves are leaping about all over the place. Ilha Blue is the only operator doing whale-watching trips and we are going out 4 or 5 times a week. We go by Swahili sailing dhow so as not disturb the whales as mothers teach young […]
New Shopfront for Ilha Blue
We have moved into a fantastic new shop space; much bigger, more spacious and with the most amazing tiled floor! We are located in the heart of Stonetown at ‘Orera Orera’ (In Makhuwa this means: beautiful, lovely, good). We are sharing the space with Katiza’s very popular hairdressing salon and also Orera Orera capulana fashions. […]
A temporary setback on the journey to 100% local ownership
Our aim to transition Ilha Blue to local ownership suffered a disappointing set back last week. There are a number of things we need to sort out before we can do this transition. One is getting a long lease on business premises that are suitable for all our operations needs for at least the next […]
Celebrations, Awards and Parties
At Ilha Blue we have started the season off in fine style, winning another Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence award (that makes three years in a row!). And on the same day it was announced that Ilha Blue has been nominated for the 2016 World Responsible Tourism awards. We’re honoured and thrilled to be side […]
Le Jardin de la mémoire sur l’île de Mozambique.
In the french magazine Bat’carré / Voyage & culture Océan Indien Le Jardin de la mémoire sur l’île de Mozambique L’île de Mozambique Située au nord du Mozambique, à plus de 2 000 kms de Maputo – la capitale – et à trois kilomètres de la côte africaine et du pays makwa, l’île de […]
Strong winds and high tides predicted for the next few days
The flooding that took place early in April could well be repeated this weekend. On the 7th and 8th of May tides will be at a high 4.4m with 28 knot southerly (Kusi) winds forecast. On Ilha De Mozambique the April flooding damaged a number of homes in the lower parts of Macuti Town and some people […]
Exciting changes in 2016
Transition to local ownership Ilha Blue has established a sustainable tourism business on Ilha De Mozambique. What is remarkable about this (and the thing we are most proud of) is that the tours are run entirely by local young adults with little or no previous professional tourism experience. Set against the recent history of colonial […]
MSC Sinfonia March visit
March 22nd is the date set for this season’s final visit by the MSC cruise ship Sinfonia. Preparations are already underway to make this visit the best one yet. Ilha Blue are the official activities organisers and each trip gives us the opportunity to fine tune the tours to best suit are mostly South African cruise […]
Tradition can help with the great leap forward.
February 29th is the beginning of the 2016 Leap Year. Every four years we add a day to our calendars to bring them into sync with the earth’s revolution around the sun—because it’s easier to change our human systems than to change the laws of nature. To celebrate the Leap Year, people all over the world […]
MSC Sinfonia cruise ship – responsible tourism and getting the balance right
Well would you believe it, Ilha Blue are now doing Cruise Ships. I say it that way because we promote ourselves as responsible tour operators delivering small group tours and intimate experiences, and yet here we are dealing with the masses. We had our first cruise ship here at the end of last year […]
Welcoming Passengers on the Cruise ship Sinfonia
When MSC’s cruise ship the Sinfonia docks at Ilha De Mozambique on Christmas Day, Ilha Blue will be there to lay out a fantastic range of shore excursions. We are suspending our usual program and instead collaborating with local operators to offer a wide range of activities especially suited to the ship’s South African and other […]
Return to Cobras
In July, August and September this year we took a break from doing our Ilha Das Cobras overnight camping tours and focused more attention on our popular whale watching activities instead. Partly this is because we have limited resources and don’t want to stretch ourselves too thin, but there’s another, more pressing reason. When […]
Handing down the bicycles
Ilha Blue are upgrading to all Pashley bikes. On our trip to Malawi to get them from BeeBikes we were able to do a good deed with one of our old Heros. Recently we received an email from friend and tour guide Robert Korea. Robert lives in a village close to the start of Mount […]
Our responsible tourism committment
In 2015 Ilha Blue will continue with our commitment to responsible tourism and that includes a promise to only employ people from Ilha de Mozambique. This keeps the money in the local economy so its good for the island, and it’s good for Islanders because it gives them a chance to build their skills and […]
So many changes on Ilha
If you haven’t been to Ilha for a few years you will notice plenty of changes. To begin with its now possible to loop the entire island on paved road. The Contra Costa, the Middle Road and a whole lot of cross streets have been paved making it easier to walk, ride or drive to where […]
Edna sails like a dream
Together we’ve done the final touches to the edna and now she sails like a dream. Its taken two months longer than expected, probably cost close to double what I thought I would spend but it’s been a brilliant experience and I’m sure its all going to be worth it in the long run. The boat will change […]
Yippee! whales whales whales
Humpback whales have arrived in big numbers. Mothers and calves are leaping about all over the place. Ilha Blue is the only operator doing whale-watching trips and we are going out 2 or 3 times a week. We go by Arabic sailing dhow so as not disturb the whales as mothers teach young ones to […]
Volunteering with Ilha Blue
Ilha Blue are responsible tour operators based in Mozambique. We’d like to invite talented individuals to come to Mozambique and work with local people involved (or wanting to become involved) in tourism. Our aim is to increase local participation in tourism and to improve the benefits that people enjoy from their involvement. As well as […]
More about the boat
Well its been a big learning curve for me, not so much the practicalities of transforming a motorised boat into a sail boat although that’s complicated enough, more the politics and intrigue of it all. First off, the wood I paid for wasn’t all good and wasn’t even all there. The wood for the long […]
The shirt off his back
When Auiba realised he’d forgotten the coconuts for his famous ‘arroz de coco’ he knew there was only one thing to do. Not wanting to disappoint his hungry travellers he trekked into a nearby village and traded the shirt off his back for a couple of coconuts. Now thats dedication.
Top five – Ilha’s got it covered
When a poll by Sunshine.co.uk asked UK adults ‘What factors did you take into account when booking your last holiday destination?’ the top five priorities were revealed to be: good weather, nightlife, culture/history, lovely beaches and good daytime activities. Ilha de Mozambique has stunning lagoons and beaches just a short sail by dhow from the bustling World […]
New boat
Now here’s a good story. A few weeks ago we came to agreement with a couple of Swedes and owners of Villa Sands – Anders and Thomas, to take over the operation of their boat, the Edna. It’s something we’ve been talking about for ages so we were all smiles when we finally shook hands and […]
We got an award!
Certificate of Excellence “TripAdvisor is delighted to award Ilha Blue – Day Tours with a 2014 Certificate of Excellence. This prestigious award recognises businesses that consistently earn top ratings from TripAdvisor travellers.” This award acknowledges the many great reviews we’ve had from travellers and the fact that every single one of them has had an excellent time with Ilha […]
The best job in the world
In 2014 Ilha Blue will focus more on the marine environment and we would like a volunteer to help us to improve our marine tourism program. The waters around Ilha De Moçambique team with life, but like other parts of the Indian Ocean overfishing and other human activities are impacting in a detrimental […]
Engaging Ilha’s youth with Tourism Training
Ilha Blue have initiated a new free training program that is open to all but with a focus on youth. Last week 25 young men and women came to an evening introductory session to learn about the courses being offered. The evening was designed to be interactive and everybody had fun learning about tourism and the opportunities that it […]
Mozambique Island Film Festival
“When Mozambique launched its ambitious state-financed film institute in the 1970s, the Cine Teatro Nina on Mozambique Island was a thriving venue for cinema. More than 30 years later, the projectors have been replaced by the smell of hooks and bait and the old cinema has been turned into a warehouse for drying fish.” http://www.theafricareport.com/Music-Film/cinema-mozambiques-film-revival.html […]
“Ztoziva” Women’s Day Fiesta weekend
Every April 7th Mozambicans celebrate Women’s Day. This year the long weekend was topped off on Ilha De Mozambique with a spectacular Ztoziva food festival that attracted more people to the island than ever before. The traditional and contemporary food, craft and prize stalls did a fantastic trade and everyone loved the frenetic dancing by […]
More holiday time and better, cheaper flights to Northern Mozambique?
Nacala International Airport in Mozambique is expected to start operating in August of this year. This is great news as it should lead to more flight options and hopefully cheaper travel for visitors and residents alike According to Club of Mozambique the work will be finished by the end of the first quarter of 2015. […]
Ztoziva. Feira gastronomica
5th of April is the date of Ilha de Mozambique’s next Ztoziva food fair. This event just gets bigger and better every time. Once again its to be held in the Corredor with food stalls filling the street and arches, music, lights and spontaneous dancing.
Problems caused by flooding
Rain and flooding. Some river levels going up and others on the way down. Torrential rains hit parts of northern and central Mozambique over the past week, according to the country´s relief agency, the National Disasters Management Institute (INGC). Last Thursday storms struck Memba district, on the coast of the northern province of Nampula. 94 homes […]
Peaceful elections
Elections in Gurue have been re-held without major incident, another sign that things are returning to normal around the country. MDM won which should strengthen their position as the new opposition. Heavy rains are swelling rivers but there are no signs of road closures just yet. The Lower Zambezi, Limpopo and the Pungue Rivers are […]
Popular travel routes
Disappointing news that the Ilala Ferry in Malawi has stopped operating its weekly service out of Monkey Bay. The operators say the service on southern section of the lake isn’t used enough so they have axed it. Combined with the slow train between Quamba and Nampula this was one of the last great romantic journeys […]
Fresh fish and weekly news
Over the next few weeks I’m going to begin posting news and information for travellers to Mozambique. Most travellers know about the ongoing unrest in the centre of the country and are wondering how this might effect their plans and if its still safe to travel here so I’ll look into that first. While many […]
