Northern Islands

Day 1. Depart UK for Dar es Salaam

Day 2. After clearing customs and immigration, take an onward flight to Pemba, then transfer to your chosen lodge by light aircraft, 7-nights [FB]

Matemo Island Resort

Just eight kilometres long and three kilometres wide Matemo Island Resort is found in the heart of the Quirimbas. The resort offers 24 thatched airconditioned chalets within 10 metres of the beach. All have en-suite bathrooms, outdoor showers, a mini-bar and verandahs - complete with hammock and day bed, perfect for watching the world go by! Facilities include bar and restaurant, swimming pool and dive centre, and a water taxi to Ibo Island for a cultural experience. For a real treat, stroll along the Western beach and see Flamingos preening and feasting themselves in the shallow waters. Diving is pristine with new sites being discovered all the time, and plentiful reefs, just minutes from the island, offer a spectacular array of fish and coral.

Medjumbe Island Resort

Medjumbe is a small, mystical island, just one kilometre long and 500 metres in width, close to the world famous St. Lazarus Banks. This intimate resort caters for discerning island, leisure seekers as well as dedicated divers and offers 12 luxury, en-suite rooms, with air-conditioning and mini-bar. Traditional Mozambique architecture adds texture and intrigue and each chalet overlooks the sea. Facilities include bar and restaurant, swimming pool, and dive centre. Located in a marine reserve where the diving wall is less than one kilometre offshore and extends up to seven kilometres, Medjumbe is a diver's paradise!

Quilalea

Accommodation at Quilalea is a haven of secluded luxury. Guests stay in nine large, 'island villas', each with enormous windows to better appreciate sea views and breezes. Natural rock walls, makuti thatch and colonial ceiling fans keep you cool by day, while a king-size bed draped in a romantic net completes the African/Arabian luxury. At the north end of the island is the restaurant, set on a peninsula and offering fabulous ocean views to both the west and the east. Amongst activities available on Quilalea is to charter the Kiraku, an 11 metre yacht, and to sail around the Quirimbas - either for a few hours, the day or stay for a few nights on a diving package.

Partner special: 2nd person pays 50% on accomodation only (valid from 1 May to 31 June 09).

Vamizi Lodge

'Maluane' is Northern Mozambique's largest ecotourism project, which aims to combine luxury adventure tourism with the protection of endangered wildlife and habitats. Vamizi, Maluane's first lodge to open to guests, epitomises barefoot luxury. Twelve beach side villas have a deceptively casual elegance; inside you are welcomed by king-size four poster beds, billowing muslin mosquito nets and Egyptian cotton sheets; whilst, outside, an assortment of sun-loungers and Swahili swing beds invite relaxation. The underwater life is equally impressive; already 350 species of reef fish and 30 different genera of coral have been recorded, dolphins arrive with the dawn and Manta Rays drift in the shallows. More than 200 turtle nests have been recorded and protected on the beach, and between November and June you have a very good chance of seeing these ancient creatures come onto the beach to lay their eggs. Waters are crystal clear and the reef completely untouched by bleaching, thanks to a deep canyon of deep blue water. There are snorkelling and dive sites right off the shore.

Guludo Lodge

Guludo Lodge is a true eco-lodge, set on undoubtedly the best beach in the Quirimbas National Park. It is perfectly positioned to dive some of the best, and most pristine, coral reefs in the world, as opposite Guludo???s calm bay is the Quirimbas Archipelago's fringing reef with breath-taking coral diversity as well as copious schools of game fish, turtles, sharks and, at the right time of year, humpback whales. With vast diving diversity Guludo offers a range of diving from sheltered tranquil coral gardens to drop-offs with strong currents.

Guludo's PADI dive centre is fitted out with brand new, top-of-the-range equipment and staffed by experienced instructors. A full range of PADI courses is on offer as well as recreational diving, catering for all levels of divers. Guludo also offers a range of day trips around the Archipelago, bush walks and community based activities.

Accommodation is in either nine generous custom built tents or the new bandas designed to blend luxury with a mix of traditional and contemporary styles and with the highest of environmental and social integrity.

Each tent is carefully positioned to work within the existing landscape and to capture the fresh sea breeze. Each tent has an open-air bathroom with hot bucketshower cleverly created with local marble & bamboo and kitted with 'green' toiletries. A dehydration enviroloo is shared between two tents.

All the bandas over look Guludo's beautiful beach and enable you to watch the sun spectacularly rise over neighbouring Rolas Island through bleary eyes from the comfort of your own, extravagant king-sized bed. Only the occasional monkey playing in your hammock can disturb the peace! A high roof shelters a spacious veranda encompassing a stylish Swahili-inspired waiting seat, hammock and traditional sun-lounges. The bedroom is raised with a king-sized bed under an extravagant, hand-crafted mosquito net, ensuring the most is made of the dazzling sea views. Behind the bedroom is a large bathroom with twin sinks and a huge shower and up the stars a loo with a view!

Day 9. Depart for UK via Pemba via Dar es Salaam [B]

Day 10. Arrive home.