Travel reviews by Ms P & family from Belgium

"We had a great start of our holiday during our 3 nights stay at Ibo Island Lodge ! The island is a must see on a trip to northern Mozambique. The mix of Arab, Portuguese and Indian influences gives the place a unique atmosphere. It's quiet and peaceful, the local people are very welcoming, and there are hardly any other tourists around. The lodge has been restored to its former glory with much dedication, love and patience. The rooms are beautifully appointed with colonial (lots of Indian) style furniture, colourful fabrics, and the whole place just breathes history, as does the whole island ! Very beautiful gardens too, with lots of colourful birds.

The managers Dee and her husband (I'm sorry, I can't remember his name... too much holidaying I'm afraid...) , and the staff are genuinely friendly, and went out of their way to make our stay an unforgettable one, and they definitely succeeded ! We very much loved the private historical and cultural tour of the Island, as it gave us a chance to interact with the local people, which we found unique, compared to other places we've been to in Africa. The sandbank excursion was also memorable, even though there was a lot of wind that day (which resulted in a VERY bumpy motorboat trip to the sandbank !...;-). The colours of the sea come in every shade of blue, turquoise there, and the beach is, well, obviously, very white !

The food is also good: fresh, creative and prepared with much love. The crab curry was an absolute winner ! Just a minor remark: we would have liked the sauces served with the fish dishes a little less sugary, but I guess that's a cultural thing. House wines very nice too. And we very much appreciated the romantic candle light private dinner by the pool on our last evening, with a birthday cake specially made for Pascale's birthday !

To sum it up: we had a wonderful stay at Ibo Island Lodge, and we would very much like to visit this place again one day. In fact, we would have liked to stay one more night, to do the mangrove kayaking for which we sadly didn't have time."

"Waw, what an amazing place! If you're looking for the ultimate 'lost island' beach holiday with white sand, blue (every shade of...) sea, baobab trees, romantic villa with private pool and all the amenities "needed" (the Nespresso machine was an unexpected bonus!), genuinely friendly and very personal service from each and every one of the staff ; marvellous, fresh and creative cuisine, great wines and cocktails (I could go on like this for a while ...), search no more: Azura at Quilalea has it all !

From the moment we stepped out of the helicopter, we felt like we had arrived in paradise. The island is just a perfect place to unwind, digitally detox, and enjoy ! Claudia and Leon, the managers, run this place with so much dedication and attention to detail, and are so genuinely friendly, that you feel at home at once ! The same goes for assistant managers Yvette & Freddy, and for activities manager Predicanta. We are enternally grateful to her for her kindness, endless patience and enthusiasm in introducing us to the world of scuba diving. We couldn't have wished for a better place in the world to start this new adventure ! Which brings me to the underwater world of Quilalea: marvellous house reef, right at your doorstep. We were blown away by what we saw: great variety of fish, unspoilt corals, nudibranchs, and of course, the turtles ! Quilalea is one of their most important nesting places, and ome of the quests were lucky to see turtles hatching. Unfortunately, we didn't, so that is certainly a reason to come back ! ;-)

Special thanks also to your host, Farai, who miraculously seemed to know where we were whenever we needed him ! ;-) He is a very friendly, attentive and helpful person, and we loved being hosted by him !

Finally, we very much enjoyed the private (very tasteful ! ) picnic at turtle beach and the Dow sunset cruise, the romantic walks on the beautiful island, and not to forget, the romantic bubble bath that came as a birthday gift for Pascale !

A big thank you to everyone at Quilalea for making us feel like royalty for 7 days. This is probably the best place we have ever stayed at, and we hope to be back !"