Chicuanga

Praia de Chizavane, on Mozambique's east coast some 250km north of Maputo, is where Chicuanga Resort sits among coastal dunes and a string of inland lakes. The combination gives the resort two shorelines to work with, sea on one side and freshwater on the other, and the twenty-six villas are laid out to make use of both. Some have a walkway straight to the beach; most come with a splash pool on the deck. Rooms sleep from six to sixteen, mixing private en-suite bedrooms with semi-private lofts, and each villa has its own kitchen, lounge and outdoor braai area. Boats and jet skis launch from a registered site nearby, monitored and fitted with a station for cleaning the day's catch. Fishing and boat licences are sold at reception. Snorkelling, spear fishing and off-shore angling are all done from the same stretch of sand, and birdwatchers work the dune scrub and lake margins behind it. Whales pass offshore in winter. Water comes from two boreholes on site, and a shop sells groceries, ice, charcoal and fishing gear for anyone who runs short. It is a self-catering resort, not a hotel with turndown service, and guests are expected to provision accordingly. The nearest town, Xai-Xai, is under an hour away by road.