Sue Watt discovers how a country once ravaged - part 1

2011-01-26 16:21:40

Barefoot children follow us around the village of Cabaceira Pequena – from the crumbling 13th century LapaniMosque, still in use today, to the wellwhere Vasco da Gama is said to have drawn water for his voyages over 500 years ago, to the huge baobab tree whose shade provides the venue for village meetings and doubles
as the local playground. As we continue our walk, people invite us proudly into their homes, mostly made of mud, coral and thatch. The teacher shows us around his school (one classroom, two blackboards and 298 pupils).

It may seem far removed from the luxury of Coral Lodge 15.41, Mozambique’s newest beach lodge just a 10-minute drive away, but the two are inextricably linked. Most of the lodge’s staff come from this village and its owners, Dutch couple Bart and Alex Otto,
are keen to ensure that the local community benefits from their business. Theirs is the latest in a line of community-based tourism initiatives in Mozambique that began in the late 1990s with pioneers Ibo Island

Lodge and later Guludo Beach Lodge, both within Quirimbas National Park. Ibo Island Lodge was the dream-child of Kevin and Fiona Record, a Zimbabwean couple who fell in love with Ibo Island back in 1995. Establishing several community-linked projects, they worked closely with local people to restore not only three waterfront mansions that form the lodge but also the island’s silversmith industry, setting up a distribution network and a training facility for younger islanders to learn neglected traditional skills.

On the mainland, British couple Amy and Neal Carter-James, winners of the Responsible Tourism Award for Poverty Alleviation in 2009, support health initiatives and education, focusing on women and children, through Guludo Beach Lodge and their charity, Nema. Both lodges are perfect examples of how travellers can indulge themselves with luxurious facilities while simultaneously salving their conscience by giving something back to the local communities.

Coral Lodge 15.41, directly opposite the historic and atmospheric former capital, Ilha do Mocambique, has 10 luxury villas overlooking either the sea or the hotel's private lagoon. ‘I’m getting to know Mozambique through our people, learning about their lives and history, and I love it,’ says Alex, who has trained most of her team from scratch and provides English and Portuguese classes for them and other villagers who want to learn. Local women are also being taught to give spa treatments. The excellent food served in the restaurant is predominantly sourced locally, and villagers are learning how to grow the fresh ingredients required. They are also involved in the conservation of mangroves and reefs, and guides will be trained to share their fascinating history on tours
of the village and the Ilha.The Ottos have also set up a community
fund that will receive a percentage of guest fees and will be invested in sustainable projects chosen by the community. It’s early days yet, the lodge only having opened in May, but if the warm welcome on offer from the Cabaceira people is anything to go by, then the partnership between luxury and local life here looks to be a positive one. It’s not just beach lodges that are reaching out to communities through responsible tourism.