Moçambique seems calmer now from the civil war and everlasting conflict, so we made room in our itinerary to come here.

We flew AirLink from Johannesburg to Nampula. At arrival there was an administration fee for us at the immigration (650 MZN around €10 pp) and the process took about an hour.
We had prearranged transport with B&B Jardim dos Aloés (it’s on booking.com) on the island. It was a three hour drive - nearly 200 km - to the island (6500 MZN - around €100 for both of us) - and the return is the same). The B&B resides in the core zone of Stone Town - the colonial part, it has only three very charming rooms and the very nice Italian host Bruno. He served a very nice breakfast where he tended and shared all his knowledge of the island, and he had taught his chef to bake Italian bread 🥯 

The Island is connected to the mainland  Ia a 3 1/2 km long single line bridge and it has distinct meeting spots so you can pass. It’s a necessity. It was built in 1967 by the Portuguese.

Bruno organised every guided tour for us with the Amisse (+258 875107143). He had a kind of african-mohican appearance (shaved hair in both sides) and was very charming and nice.

The last thing we organised directly with him was a sunset cruise with a dhow (4000 MZN for the boat  - around €65). It was late July (winter in this area) and he expressed great joy seeing two people diving from the dhow in the “cold water”. 

The plaque - or more a welcome sign - is located about 20 km prior to arrival at the island. Another plaque has been present at the wall of the fort, but was removed in 2010 (according to our guide).