Walks

 

Historical Walk: Discover fortress São João Baptista and its famous silversmiths. This five pointed star fortress with cannons protruding from the ramparts over the sea below, dates back from 1791. An old big spreading tree provides shade in the courtyard where the silversmiths perform their century old tradition.

 

The sliversmithing tradition that was handed down from generation on generation is still daily being performed on the island.

 

Tour down Rua da Republica. This street starts at the central place and runs parallel to the beach. The buildings once were old shops, trading houses and huge storage hangars with backyards that open onto the harbour for easy loading and offloading.

 

Running parallel is Rua Pia Maria. A quaint street with quaint Portuguese style cottages and shops.

 

Past the market you will find Fortim San Antonio, dating from 1818. Fortim São Jose dates back to 1849 and São João Church testifies to the once strong Catholic influence on the island. This building was completed in 1760.

 

Also of interest are the Church of St John the Baptist, the Hindu Crematorium, Memorial Praça dos Heroís da Independência, and various Portuguese style buildings. Explore the historical town at your own leisure or take a guided tour with Junior, an English and Portuguese speaking guide.

 

Duration: 3h - easy walk

 

Quirimbas Island: Start your walk 2 hours before low tide and walk across the mudflats through the mangroves to Quirimbas Island where the German Gestner family has been having a huge coconut plantation for 3 generations. Relax on the white sand palm fringed beaches and return by local fisher boat to Ibo.

 

Duration walk: 2h30 one way trough tidal flats - slippery and strenuous

 

Ibo Lighthouse: Walk to the end of the world… This low tide walk takes you past the fortress, along the tidal beach and coconut groves through the mangroves to an islet called Mujaca. There the Portuguese built a lighthouse to guide incoming ships into the channel leading to the Port of Ibo.  

 

Farol Mujaca is of the oldest lighthouses in Mozambique. Peculiar about this building is that it has a straight staircase leading to an observation point instead of a staircase running around a square or round building. The view and the savageness of the sea are stunning

 

Duration: 4h - easy walk with some more difficult bits.

 

Cemetery: Get in touch with Ibo’s past by wandering through the old cemetery and discovering ancient graves with Chinese, Arabic, Portuguese and French inscriptions.

 

Duration: 1h - easy walk

 

Beach

 

To be clear, Ibo does not have any palm fringed picture perfect beaches… Ibo is surrounded by extensive Mangal forests on the one side and a kilometre wide floodplain on the other side.. Both are interesting habitats for a wide variety of marine life and attracting lots of wading birds. However Ibo is quite a big island and there are some remote spots to relax in the sun without disturbance. So, indeed, there are sand beaches on Ibo but only at high tide and not in town…

 

Diving

 

Ibo boasts a couple of fantastic dive spots the best of which is at the Old lighthouse. This is where the coastal shelf drops off into the depths of the Indian Ocean. There is one dive operator on Ibo Island but please check with us if he is available if you want to dive on Ibo.

 

Snorkelling

 

There are two good snorkelling spots around Ibo Island. Unfortunately they both require a boat transfer. You can organise this with a local dhow captain or our motorboat.  

 

Boat Trips

 

We can organise sightseeing trips to Quirimbas or Matemo Island. There are old channels the Portuguese cut trough the mangroves. These meter wide channels start from Ibo and go to Quirimbas Island. Once on Quirimba you can walk back to Ibo at Low tide or simply return by boat. 

 

Alternatively we can take you on a tour around Ibo Island (weather and tide permitting) where we will pass the channels, the Ibo lighthouse, the fortress, and port. There is a range of traditional Dhow sailing boats that are readily chartered for daytrips or multiple day dhow safaris. Two commercial operators, one a French chef, offer fully organised trips. The rule here is to have a clear arrangement beforehand so there are no surprises.

 

Birding

 

The tidal flats and mangroves are home to a fair deal of wading and sea birds, such as …....

 

Relaxing

 

One of our clients described it nicely in our guestbook… Cinco Portas is like a Holiday within a holiday… People come for a day and stay for a week… reading a good book, enjoying our cuisine and the slow island vibe…

  

Culture

 

It is not uncommon to wake up at night to the sound of drums or a procession trough the main streets.

 

A number of age old ceremonies are still practised on the island.. Amongst others: “Aboruji”, a dance where the men push spikes trough their cheeks; “Ombi”, circumcision and rite of passage for the boys;  “Riga”, rite of passage when a girl enters womanhood, clearing a house of demons and ghosts, etc…

 

Each year on June 24th a small festival is being organised to celebrate the Fiesta do IBO. Traditional & contemporary song and dance, competitions, theatre and arts are at a display. Or you could join the “Tomar de banho” on New Year’s day when the whole village jumps in the sea to celebrate the new year. The predominant religion on the Island is Muslim and of course all religious celebrations have their place on the island…    

 

  

Activities

 Cinco Portas Pensão