Why Come to Ibo?

One comes to Ibo to enjoy the island feeling, to be far removed from all normal luxuries (constant power, running water, shops that offer everything you can think off) and consumerism. If you want to be unavailable for a little while, then this is your place of choice. Cell phone reception is only possible on the beach, internet connection is almost non-existent.

 

People on Ibo live modest and simple lives. Many of its inhabitants have never been in Pemba, the nearest city, and can count their days on the mainland on one hand. Everybody knows everybody and they have a certain reserve for foreigners.

 

History: Walking through Ibo gives you the feeling of being placed in a time-warp. The ‘bairro cemento’ of Ibo is like a ghost town with coral stone houses, some recently renovated, others simply subsiding under the unrelenting sun and steady sea breeze… Most houses are still inhabited even if they are missing a few walls or roof tiles. The owners of the houses live as far as Goa, India, Portugal or closer by, Maputo or Pemba. Looking at the ruins it is easy to imagine how it must have once looked like, how well organised and developed it must have been at some stage and how nature is slowly reclaiming the land…

 

Traditional lifestyle: Ibo is a small island, with access dependant on the tides. The most used means of transport for the islanders is still the traditional dhow of all shapes and sizes with improvised or proper sails. A fair deal of fishermen also use the local dug-out canoes, called kaskinia, to peddle their way to the best fishing spots.

 

Most households keep a few goats, but these are mainly reserved for ceremonial purposes. The goats take in their own special place in family life and you’ll see them climbing on walls, looking for any sort of shrub to eat and then return home at night to sleep with their family.

 

Ibo has some 4000 inhabitants and is situated in the National Park of Quirimbas. The main activity of ibo’s inhabitants is subsistence fishing. Tourism is fairly new on the island, which means that you’ll regularly come across a child that sees a white person for the first time and runs off with big tears running down its cheeks shouting ‘Wazungu wazungu’ to the safety of his mom.

 

The island itself has a lot of fresh water supplies and is quite fertile but very few people cultivate the land as a hedonistic lifestyle prevails (we eat whatever we can pick from the tree, or whatever is in season e.g. bananas, mangoes, paw paw, coconut). In the Mashambas (vegetable gardens) you can find manioca, maize, peanuts, and spread all over the island like a weed you will find Ibo coffee, a very unique Arabica with a distinctive aroma.

 

Only in Africa: When you arrive by plane it is not uncommon that your pilot will fly over the airstrip once before he actually lands. This is only to chase away the cows, as the airstrip doubles as a grazing ground.

 Cinco Portas Pensão