Bela Vista Lodge

Bela Vista Lodge consists of five luxurious houses – one house with 3 bedrooms and four with 4 bedrooms. We do not only aim to provide luxury, style and comfort, but also to make you feel at home at all times. You will never want to leave after you’ve entered the spacious, open plan, exclusively designed houses.

 

 

 

The additional facilities at Bela Vista Lodge are currently a work in progress. At present there is 24-hour security and private car and boat parking. Due to the current lack of restaurant and bar on site, Bela Vista Lodge can arrange the hire of a private chef to prepare meals at your house in the evenings.

 

 

 

Bela Vista Lodge will soon be offering the following additional facilities:

 

• A restaurant serving a variety of dishes, platters and snacks throughout the day and evening.

• Swimming Pool

• Conference room for +/- 20 people, with associated facilities

• Quad bike rental (per day)

• Library with internet facilities

 

Updated information will be provided when the above facilities are available. Thank you for your patience.

 

Bela Vista Lodge has five luxury houses – one 3-bedroom and four 4-bedrooms. All of the houses are open plan, roomy and well-ventilated and have been designed with the environment in mind.

 

 

 

The split level decks and lounges provide a variety of outside areas to where you can relax with hammocks and cushions everywhere. There is a spacious braai deck with plenty of room for bigger groups and also a fully equipped kitchen that you can make use of. Downstairs the double bedrooms share a luxurious bathroom with a sunken bath; both open onto the front and back deck through glass doors.

 

Upstairs you will find another comfortable deck with stunning sea and lagoon views, leading to an inside lounge with two additional bedrooms, each with two single daybeds and a shared en-suite bathroom. The outdoor shower can be used while enjoying the star filled Mozambican night sky.

 

 

 

The houses are sumptuously appointed with high quality percale linen, quality crockery and kitchen ware, fans in all rooms and hammocks for chilled afternoons. The houses are serviced daily.

 

Praia do Barra and Praia do Tofo dive at the same dive spots. You can book a dive charter from either of these destinations to take you to the reefs. Some of the reefs are closer depending from the two different launch sites. The dive spots offer world class diving in clear warm waters. It also caters for all levels of diver. Some of the dive spots are close to land while others are so far that the land only are visible as a tiny speck.

 

When underwater, you can expect to find a variety of reef structures from flat reefs to coral bommies and swim-trough’s to gullies. 

 

More activities and facilities on offer

 

 

Tofo and Tofinho beaches, just a short distance from Barra Beach, are renowned for being the best surf beaches in Mozambique. The waves in Tofo are perfect for beginners and for the more experienced, go to Tofinho and Back Door beaches. If you don’t have your board you can rent one from various surf shops in the area and some also provide lessons. If you are lucky, you could find yourself sharing your waves with the many local dolphins and sometimes Whale Sharks come in close enough to enjoy the swell.

 

 

Spend the morning or afternoon exploring the local countryside, and beaches on horseback - it’s also a great way to see a little more of the life and culture of the local villagers. Rides are usually around one and a half hours, the horses are relaxed and well looked after and the guides are knowledgeable and experienced. Beginners can ride at a gentle walk or for the more experienced, enjoy a gallop along the beach through the surf.

 

 

There is some excellent fishing to be done from Barra, both from the shore or boat and the area is known for its excellent game fishing. You need to bring your own equipment if you are fishing from shore but there are various fishing charters available that will take you out by boat for a chance to catch the big ones.

 

 

You can hire kayaks from various places at Barra Beach and its the perfect way to explore the mangroves and waterways of placid Barra Lagoon which are teeming with bird life including stunning pink flamingos.

Situated opposite Inhambane on the other side of the bay - Barra has proved to be one of Mozambique’s most popular destinations. Tourism levels have been steadily increasing throughout the years, which in return, have lead to more development and interest in the area & country! The peninsula that Barra is situated on, has naturally protected Inhambane’s bay from strong currents and rough sea’s making the waters of the West side of Barra’s peninsula (facing Inhambane) - very calm and clear. This has made fishing much easier for the locals - prawns (big) in particular. The bays calm waters have also attracted a lot of the Dhow community and to this day, Inhambane’s harbour still has the largest fleet of working dhows!

 

Although the North facing side of the Peninsula is not as protected from strong currents as the West facing side, the oceans waters are still very calm, creating good conditions for activities such as swimming and snorkelling. Barra offers scuba divers many beautiful coral reefs to explore and if you are a deep sea fishing enthusiasts - expect excellent big game fishing! Catches include: Giant Trevally, Kingfish, Bonito, King & Queen Mackerel, Springer and Kawakawa. Sailfish is popular between the months of April and August where as Marlin are popular between September and January.

 

Millions of coconut trees thrive in this part of the Inhambane province, so expect plenty of coconuts scattered around. If you ask kindly, staff at the lodges will crack open the coconuts for you!

 

    

 

The hot rainy season is from November through to end March. The winters are mild which many guests prefer (May through to July) because of the lower incidence of malaria. The average max temperature in centigrade in summer (Oct – Mar) is 30 degrees and in winter (May – Aug) 20 degrees. Sea temperatures vary from 22 to 32 degree Celsius.

 

 

The locals are very friendly here and every so often, they will walk around with items to sell including, fresh produce, Pau (Portuguese rolls), prawns, fish to sell (if you use your bargaining skills correctly, you can get them for quite cheap), paintings, arts and crafts and a few other things to take home as a souvenir! There is also a small shop at Barra lodge selling basic toiletries, sweets and souvenirs.

 

TIP: Mozambicans love clothes and if you have spare clothes (especially board shorts), then remember to take some with you, to trade with!

 

Barra offers some great night life and a few lodges usually have a pub/club effort going on for the tourist who wants to enjoy some good music and local beers with friends. Several resorts have very small shops with a couple of essentials but a short drive of 15 to 20 minutes can take you to the Tofo area where bigger shops are available. Fuel is available at the nearby Tofo area.

 

 

Access by road is an almost pleasant drive by tarred road suitable for the passage of a normal vehicle. However, there is a sand road where a 4x4 is necessary. Those with normal vehicles will be collected from a safe parking area. For fly-in packages, you will fly to Inhambane and then be collected by the resort owners.

 

     

 

 

These massive creatures can be spotted off our shores, on their migratory route, from June until November. Covering a distance of 16000km, it is the longest known migration on earth. We look for the tell tale sign of water spouting from their blowhole, and the huge splashing from their acrobatics. These mammals can launch themselves completely out of the water (breaching), and engage in fluke (tail) and flipper slapping. We also listen out for their haunting song while we dive, which can be heard from a distance of 2km away, each song usually lasts between 10 and 20 minutes, and is repeated continuously for hours. It is the males that sing and it is thought to be part of the mating ritual.

 

To show these creatures all due respect we try and keep a respectable distance between them and our boats, especially as the females, who are with their calves and are the larger of the sexes, can reach lengths of over 15m (almost twice as big as our boats!) They also weigh in quite heavily at between 25-40 tons! You can get close but not too close to these magnificent mammals on one of our ocean safaris which goes go out for two hours at a time, looking and listening for Whales in season.