Friendly people, great diving and lost of nothing to do !
Disadvantages:
Lost of nothing to do if you aren't into diving, vegetating and socializing
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
As a keen diver we frequent Ponta do Oura and Ponta Molangane in Mozambique on a regular basis. Although there are “better” diving spots in Mozambique, if you’re looking for value for money accommodation, good service and a pleasant diving experience, Ponta do Oura and Ponta Molangane are the places to go.
Currency and exchange ================== The South African Rand is a readily accepted form of payment and this can be very useful when purchasing local art and other trinkets to take home with you. (I will explain later)
Don’t expect to be able to use your credit card to buy or draw money from a cash machine as I don’t think they have ever seen a credit card, let alone a cash machine, although from time to time there are one or two of the dive operations there who will be able to do manual credit card transactions, (don’t count on it though) and realistically who trusts manual over electronic transactions theses days anyway?
Make sure that you have sufficient cash with you before you enter Mozambique as banks are few and far between and generally only appear in the bigger cities. You can choose to exchange money at the hotels as well, but this is usually only possible at the bigger 4 & 5 star recognized hotel chains. Negotiation is a large part of the Mozambican culture and you can generally buy with USD, GBP and the South African Rand.
The exchange rates fluctuate quite a lot and you should be getting between 10000.00 and 12000.00 metacais per US Dollar and between 1500.00 and 2500.00 per South African rand. (I am not sure what you would get for a British Pound as they don’t tend to use it as often as the South African Rand and US Dollar.
Be careful of exchanging money on the streets, you may get more for you Pound, Dollar or Rand but this is a risky business and you stand the chance of being done in or stolen from. The Mozambicans are very friendly and honest people, but as in every society in the world you will get those one or two that give the country a bad name, all I am saying is be careful.
Buying local art other trinkets ====================== The best currency to use is the South African Rand due to the fact that as soon as the locals catch wind of the fact that you may have Dollars or Pounds or they hear that you have a foreign accent their prices generally go up between 100 and 1000 percent. (And I’m not kidding)
We bought two carvings of cats for R85 while one of the British tourists that was with us paid £250 for a single carving of a woman that was slightly smaller than one of our cats. Another useful tip is to make friends with a South African tourist and get them to go with you and negotiate a better price.
Remember to always start negotiation by asking for a price and then making an offer that is at least one third of the starting price. If you start by offering a price first you have already lost the negotiations and you are likely to end up paying far too much for the piece you want.
This is a general plea from a nature conscious diver, PLEASE DON’T buy shells and other items that come from the sea bed, this just encourages the locals to go and pillage the sea more and kill the reefs off for their own financial gain. I assure you there is enough other local art and other stuff to buy.
Don’t think that you will get away without negotiating for local art and trinkets as this seems to be a well practiced custom in the region and the artists tend to take offense to the fact that you don’t want to negotiate.
Remember though that negotiating only applies when you are buying stuff from the side of the road and markets, don’t try it in the shops, restaurants or hotels as this generally does not work.
Diving ===== There are too many dive camps and operations to name and list prices for each individual one so I will try and give you general price ranges.
Prices normally range from R1900.00 to R2800.00 per person sharing and these prices generally include 3 nights, 5 dives and 2 meals a day.
You can also choose to pay for your accommodation, food and dives separately. I would recommend this option as it tends to work out cheaper and you can get better value for money.
Accommodation can cost anywhere from R150.00 to R250.00 per person sharing per night depending on the dive camp and season. Dives range from R175.00 to R200.00 per dive for day dives and R230.00 and R250.00 for night dives (the price for night dives usually includes a disposable light stick for safety which is compulsory.)
If you choose to eat in the dive camps food will cost you between R75.00 and R90.00 per day for 2 meals. You can get three meals a day if you shop around at the different restaurants in the area. (Ponta Molangane did not have any restaurants the last time I was there so you don’t have much of a choice when staying there.)
It’s a very good idea that you book before you arrive in Mozambique for a diving trip or in general any trip you plan to Mozambique. Ponta do Oura and Ponta Molangane are both becoming popular dive destinations and tend to be very busy during peak seasons. At the bottom of this review I have added some websites that you can have a look at if you so choose. (don’t worry I don’t work for or own any of the listed companies on these websites and I also do not get anything out of advertising them, I put them there for the benefit of the reader and in the interest of promoting diving in general.)
Restaurants, food and alcohol ======================== Restaurants in Ponta do Oura include fish, Portuguese cuisine and your traditional stake house (slightly more expensive than the rest but well worth the money.)
Be careful of where you buy food, stay away from the markets and roadside stalls that sell food, trust me when I say you probably won’t have the stomach for it. Stick to the dive camps and restaurants in the area (it’s better for your health)
If you are going to drink (this is not a good thing to do while on a dive trip in general) don’t go to the local bottle store, the prices are ridiculous and as a tourist they will rip you off wherever they can, buy you drinks from the restaurants that have licenses. If you are a beer lover you have to try the local beer (it’s cheaper than bottled water and other soft drinks. Soft drinks cost about R11.00 water is about R15.00 and beer ranges from about R6.00 to R8.00 (go figure)
A must for everyone visiting Mozambique is to try the Prawns and Cashew nuts. You will probably never find better quality cashew nuts and bigger prawns anywhere else in the world, for the same very low price. To give you an idea we bought a 5kg bag of Tiger prawns that were larger than normal for this type of prawn for R45.00 (Anywhere else you would pay between R200.00 and R300.00 a kilogram. (And they were delicious!)
Transport & getting around ===================== Border pickups can be arranged before the time with the dive camps and operators at Ponta do Oura and Ponta Molangane. These range from R80.00 to R120.00 per person depending on where you are going.
It’s not always a good idea to rent cars in Mozambique as it is rather expensive and unfortunately the only way to travel around these is by 4x4
The best way to get to either Ponta do Oura and Ponta Molangane is to first land in South Africa and then travel to Mozambique. If you do plan on renting a car in South Africa find out if you can take it cross border. This can be very expensive and unpractical. You can take the rental car to the Kosi Bay border post and leave it in the secure parking area on the South African Side, this will set you back about R20.00 per day for open parking and R40.00 per day for shade net covered parking.
Some of the dive operations may fetch you in Maputo if you choose to fly in there but if they are prepared to fetch you they may charge you per kilometer over and above the normal per person border pickup rate.
Visas ===== Make sure that if you have your visa before you arrive in Mozambique. They can be bought at the Maputo airport and most of the border posts entering from the South Africa and Swaziland sides, I hear (but this does change from time to time, it is Africa after all).
Speak to your travel agent before leaving home and find out what the best option for you is. It’s worth going to the trouble before hand than hassling with an uncooperative border official.
If you buy you visa from the Mozambican Embassy in Pretoria South Africa it will cost you R80.00 (this was the fee last time I bought one.)
General ======= I still enjoy going to Ponta do Oura and Ponta Molangane. It is always a pleasurable experience and I would go every weekend if I could.
Mozambique is generally a safe place but if you do plan on walking around at night go in groups, especially the ladies. (You have to worry more about the other tourists than the locals, but it is a good safety practice in general to walk around in groups though.)
It is definitely the place to be if all you want to do is vegetate, dive and socialize like me. I hope this helps for those of you who are planning a trip to the beautiful and unexplored land of Mozambique. Good traveling.
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