3 Best Sights in Mozambique

On the floor of The Great Rift Valley, Gorongosa National Park was once one of Africa’s crowning glories, where thousands of plains game followed by hundreds of predators fed off some of the richest grazing grounds in Africa—a microcosm of the continent itself. But it became a casualty of neglect, civil wars, and plunder. Today, thanks to the 2004 non-profit Gorongosa Restoration Project of U.S. businessman Greg Carr and the Mozambican government, Gorongosa is steadily becoming the jewel in Africa’s crown once again. It's almost in the dead center of Mozambique, in Sofala Province, approximately 62 miles (100 km) from the port of Beira. Featuring the 6000 feet-high (1860 m) granite massif, Mount Gorongosa, the park today develops local communities, education, health, and skills, and provides a unique wildlife experience. Discover rivers, spectacular waterfalls on the mountain slopes, the beautiful Lake Urema, savanna, rainforest, flood plains—each of the different habitats home to all kinds of creatures, from big game such as elephant and lion, to reptiles and birds (339 species including the Green-headed Oriole—a bird you’ll find nowhere else in the world).

Watch the National Geographic documentary

to whet your appetite.

A nominated UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Quirimbas’ historic Ibo Island is fast becoming top of the pops with international travelers seeking a unique experience. This island, once a major slave source for the sugar plantations, is a historic melting pot of different cultures from Arabic to Christian, African to European, Chinese to Indian, with buildings that date back to the 16th century. Arab traders established it as a fortified trading post in 1600 AD, dealing in amber, slaves, ivory, turtle shell, and jet. They were followed by Portuguese and Muslim invaders. Don't miss the 18th-century Portuguese Fort of São João with its massive ancient cannons, restored with U.S. aid money, where local silversmiths fashion jewelry under the cool stone roof of the entrance using age-old methods. Absorb the gloom and terror of the damp cells of the 1791 St. John the Baptist chapel, where slaves were kept before being transported.

Ilha (ilia) de Mozambique, the former colonial Portuguese capital in Nampula province, is a small coral island that was the most important settlement along the East African coast for four centuries. Only one-and-a half miles (2.5 km) long and a third of a mile (600 m) wide, this UNESCO Cultural Heritage Site is home to some of the oldest colonial buildings in the southern hemisphere. Check out the 1610 Jesuit College of São Paulo with its 17th century pulpit from India's Goa province. See the Fortress of São Sebastião, built in the mid 1500s and often described as one of Africa's most formidable fortresses, explore the southern hemisphere's oldest standing European building, the Church of Nossa Senhora Baluarte, within the fort, and take in the 18th century whitewashed Catholic Cathedral where shipbuilders still ply their ancient traditional craft on the beach in front.