Monday, May 23, 2011

Favorite Places part II: Tofo

 
Google stock; Worlds biggest fish the whale shark





For my favorite places part II, I think I have to mention Tofo, Mozambique. While traveling around the rest of southern Africa, I got so many other backpackers telling me I had to go diving on Tofo, that it was inevidable that I ended up there. I was pretty disapointed however when I go there, due to the fact that it was January first, and all the prices where tripled at the hostels. On top of that, the whole town was so crowded when I got there, that the one road into town was grid locked, and I had to walk about a mile from where the bus finaly had let us off. In the dark, getting directions to a hostel, I finaly arrived at the ultra packed Fatimas Nest Backpackers.

The Mesa State crew


The lounge area at Fatimas Nest


Paying $20 a night for a shoulder to shoulder, tent to tent hostel is never on my agenda, and the only reason I stuck it out was the awesome beach, great weather and beautiful scenery, but on about the sixth the whole town seemed to be abandoned of tourists, and the cost went back to normal. Me and my friends practicaly had Fatimas to our self, and were free to explore the area in peace.














 
 
 
Tofo and surrounds have some truly excellent diving, with nice reefs and excellent large marine life. Whale sharks and Humpback Whales in season, reef sharks and much more. We were told at a marine biologist seminar, featuring whale sharks, that the Tofo area has one of the greatest concentrations of the giant fish in the world. Evidently the whale sharks, along with giant manta rays, put Tofo on the map. The biologist even took people on snorkeling tours with them, when they needed to tag or track the sharks. The reafs aren't any good for snorkeling, being too deep to see, but there are atleast three dive centers in town. Liquid Adventures is where we got the best deal, and ended up getting open water certified.
Diving turned out to be one of my favorite things i've ever done, and now I'm hooked for life. Once you get use to the low oxygen and restrictive breathing, things for me became extremely relaxed and soothing, topped with amazing sights a non-diver would never experiance.









For four or five days all I did was dive in cool reefs with names like Clownfish Reef, Mike's Cubbard, Salon, Sherwood Forest and Manta Reef. It was an unforgetable week.




















North of Tofo beach








1 comment:

  1. These underwater photos are really good! Did you take them yourself?

    ReplyDelete