I was lucky enough to visit Northern Mozambique in January for the third time in three years. This area is really beginning to open up to tourism and now is certainly the time to go, as it is a rapidly changing area, although luckily the building of hotels and lodges is being done in quite a controlled way. The Quirimbas have approximately 27 islands, of which 5 have accommodation on them. There is also one safari lodge in Northern Mozambique in the Niassa Reserve, called Lugenda Bush Camp, but this is only open from May to November, so I was unable to visit it.

The weather in January was boiling hot and sunny for the 10 days that I was there and I had two short rain showers. It was also incredibly windy but to be honest without the wind it would almost have been too hot. Interestingly though it did cool down once the sun had gone down in the evenings.

Quilalea
I returned to Quilalea Island for my third visit. Quilalea was one of the first islands to build a luxury lodge in the Quirimbas. It is owned by John and Marjolaine who live nearby in Pemba and visit the island on a regular basis. To get there it is a 15 minute helicopter ride from Pemba, which is a fantastic way to arrive as you are flown over turquiose waters studded with pristine islands with white sandy beaches, with local fishermen out in their dhows. The island has 9 villas. My favourite room is no 9 as it offers the most amount of privacy. The manager Ernst is from South Africa (Ex Aman Bhutan) and is young but charming, professional and friendly. Quilalea offers various activities including snorkelling, canoeing, fly fishing, dhow trips, deep sea fishing, island walks, historical tours to Ibo Island also has a new boat called Kiraku, which is a catamaran, which sleeps 2 comfortably or can be used for ½ day and day charters. For people wishing to sleep on it I would advise experienced sailors.
The dive centre is extremely well run with good equipment although sadly the visibility was poor on the dive that I went on due to the winds but I have had some great diving on previous visits.
Quilalea has its own time and is an hour ahead of the mainland

Medjumbe
To get to Medjumbe is a 40 minute flight from Pemba in the big plane (12 seater) or 45-60 minutes in a small plane.
There are 13 rooms, 1-8 on one side of the main area and 9-14 (there is no room 13) on the other side by the runway. The rooms are all exactly the same. The rooms are wooden with thatch roofs and are exactly the same as the rooms at Matemo apart from the fact that they will have plunge pools at Medjumbe. The rooms have air-con, fans tv's minibars, telephones, hairdryers, so more for guests who need all the mod cons.
The manager Tony who is a South African was very friendly.
Lindy is the dive instructor and is excellent. The dive school is a small shack, although the diving was superb with unbelievably beautiful coral. The food was more European with a wide choice, such as lasagnes, burgers, lobster, steak, piri piri chicken etc.

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