Sailaway Dhow Safaris

Live-Aboard adventure

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Kitesurf on Benguerra

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Island Accommodation dining room

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Photo: relaxing at the beach

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Relaxing in one of the islands

Photo: Villas do Indico rooms

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Villas do Indico

Benguerra Lagoon

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Benguerra Lagoon

Welcome to Sailaway Dhow Safaris

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“The best way of seeing the islands! Skip the overpriced hotels!”
After staying on the islands for a week we did a dhow safari and ended up wishing we have of just skipped the “5″-star luxury and just had a longer adventure on the dhow.
Client feedback October 2012

Operating since 1997, Sailaway offers a unique adventure to the Bazaruto Archipelago National Park.

Join us for a day safari to Magaruque Island, or an overnight safari to visit various islands and coral reefs.

Our safaris include meals and refreshments, park entry fees, snorkeling equipment and either tented or lodge accommodation on the mainland.
Live-aboard options on a dhow or yacht are also available.

Dugongs

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Dugongs are the only member of the order Sirenia from the family Dugondidae. They are found in the Western Indian Ocean with a marginal occurence on the east coast of Southern Africa. In Mozambican waters dugongs are found between the river Rovuma to south of Moma in Nampula province and from the Save river to Maputo Bay. The Bazaruto Archipelago and Mozambique coast is one of the most important african habitats for dugongs in Western Indian Ocean.

Their distribution is limited by specific habitats requirements, particularly sea grass meadows growing in shallow, sheltered lagoons protected by reefs and islands.

Dugongs are one of the most endangered large mammals of the African continent and are amongst the most threatened mammalian species in the western Indian Ocean.

The major causes of their decline are hunting and accidental entanglement in fishing nets, particularly gill nets. Extrapolation of a recent survey produced an estimated total population of just 104 animals remaining in the area surrounding the Bazaruto Archipelago.

The Dhow

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For more than two thousand years, lateen rigged dhows have been sailing the Indian Ocean, linking economies and people, and creating a cosmopolitan maritime Indian Ocean culture. While trade was the primary rationale, a great variety of people used dhows to cross the oceans: sailors, merchants and settlers. In former days, dhows transported slaves, religious refugees and conquerors.
For centuries, Arab shipwrights crafted boats using sewn construction – sewing the planks together with coconut fibre cord – but this craft has more or less died out, being superseded by nailed construction.

The Islands

admin — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:45:38 +0000

The Bazaruto Archipelago is situated 10 to 15 km offshore between Vilankulo and Inhassoro and consists of five islands; Bazaruto, Benguerra, Magaruque, Santa Carolina and Bangue. These islands and surrounding waters constitute the Bazaruto Archipelago National Park.
Bazaruto is the largest island in the archipelago with towering dunes and islands lakes, frequented by water birds and home to the Nile Crocodile. The south point of the island, Ponta Dundo offers a spectacular view of the achipelago from the summit of the dunes.

Two-Mile Reef is situated off the eastern shoreline of Benguerra and offers great snorkeling and diving opportunities. Beautiful and diverse coral formations and thousands of tropical fishes from tiny clownfish to large wrasses and parrotfish can be found here. Moray eels, various rays and white-tip reef sharks can also be seen when scuba diving.

Magaruque is the third largest island in the achipelago. One can walk around this small island in a couple of hours. A base reef on the lee side of the island is a popular snorkeling area.