It was the second time in a decade that we traveled to Tofo.
With the company and in a car of friends living in Maputo, the inaugural trip flowed smoothly and pleasantly. The second forced us to wake up early in the capital.
And at eight o'clock in a machibombo to which was added almost another hour spent aboard a plate, between Inhambane and the town.
The view of Tofo, its sands and the sea just in front, was a deserved reward. It quickly dissipated into the curiosity we shared about how we would find the place, what would be the same and what had changed.
The Return to Tofo, Soon, a Decade Later
We knew that we were approaching the end of the rainy season, in the wake of the passage of a few tropical storms and hurricanes, of which the “Filipo” which entered Mozambique on March 12th. There were 17 of us. Several hotels, lodges and houses closer to the sea were still recovering from the damage.
In the landscape, we noticed little or nothing, not even too many coconut trees with shaved tops, a hallmark of the recent passage of typhoons.
On the final coastline, where the verdant Indian Ocean massacred that stronghold of East Africa, everything seemed similar. Otherwise the same.
The main beach of Tofo, with waves stretching up the sand.
We stayed in an elegant villa in Tofinho. Elegant and luxuriant, but too open.
Exposed to the melgas that, in the wake of the long Mozambican rains, proliferated, massacred us and generated an inevitable malarial concern.
From this airy house, as or more tropical than its surroundings, we went out onto the sandy streets that announced the dunes lined with bushes above the beach.
In the middle of the following morning, with the sun scorching us and intensifying the emerald translucency of the Indian Ocean, we began a walk south, towards the promontory that enclosed the town's bathing area.
Aerial image of the peninsula that encloses Tofinho
The Rediscovery of Tofinho
We stopped at a fruit stand, determined to replenish the supply of passion fruits that we devoured by the kilos. There was also a shortage of fruit growers. We resisted buying other fruits that would burden us on the walk.
We leave them to their lunch in the shade, at their chima soaked in some spicy sauce.
We advance until the sandy path leads to an earthy peak, partly grassy. Crown him with a monument. An arm and hand emerge from a pyramid.
They display a broken chain, a common symbol in Africa for liberation from the yoke of slavery imposed by colonial powers.
The one at Tofinho, in particular, has retained, since it was built in 1989, a specific meaning.
It served as a memorial, it is said, to the victims of the PIDE who, during the Mozambican War of Independence, threw them into a crack in the rough and sharp coast below the Josina Machel neighborhood.
The Controversial Hole of the Murdered
Macabre, the place was, for some time, preserved by the Mozambican authorities, a few bones kept in showcases so that the crimes would not be forgotten.
Sign indicating the Hole of the Murdered, in Tofinho, Tofo
The attempt lasted as long as it lasted. It is estimated that, in 2023, criminals looted the remains. The Hole of the Murdered was left abandoned. It was filled with rubbish. Even so, there are those who continue to try to use their spiritual power.
We peer into the narrow abyss of the cliff when, out of nowhere, three women appear from the top of the trail.
Even with us on the balcony that surrounds the crevice, they line up in the shade of a bush hedge, just above the waves that crash against the cliff.
Without us expecting it, they raise their arms and keep us pointed at the sea. They thus inaugurate any esoteric ritual, of appeal or summons that combines chants with screams and moans.
They sound morbid to us.
They give us goosebumps. Curious as we were, we waited a bit to ask them what they were doing. However, they dodge contact and head back up the hill in an obvious stampede.
We thought a little about what had happened there.
Hike from Tofinho to Tofo
Soon, we followed in their footsteps, towards the center of Tofo, stopping for a swim in a more appealing cove where a Mozambican instructor and three foreign apprentices surfed the waves generated by the offshore reef.
It was the first invigorating communion with the Indian Ocean of Tofo after several in 2017.
And the recovery of sharing the local sea with the multinational community of surfers who surf Tofo, along with snorkelers and divers who delight in its sea full of corals and other underwater exuberances.
Craft sellers promote a picturesque coconut radio in Tofo
As the afternoon progresses, we continue in search of the center of the town, its residents, artisans and vendors.
We find the market in a measured hustle and bustle.
A line of women displaying fruits and vegetables complements, with natural freshness, the offerings of a few stores and minimarkets.
Stalls in the Tofo commercial area, illuminated in the afterglow.
“They’re going to take them all, right?” says a saleswoman, when she confirms that her passion fruit display was what interested us most, amidst conversations in Bitonga and other local dialects from competitors frustrated that we weren't taking anything from their stalls.
Tofo’s Contribution to Mozambique’s Independence Process
Most of them offer cashews. Nor would I expect anything else. During the colonial period that extended from the 1975th century to independence in XNUMX, the Portuguese added vast and profitable cashew plantations to the region's coconut landscape.
There, thousands of natives of the province of Inhambane were forced to work, in slave mode and, later, for almost symbolic payments. How it happened in other parts of Mozambique, this crushing yoke proved decisive for the local uprisings that, in 1964, contributed to the triggering of the War of Independence.
Tofo can also be proud of the fact that, in June 1975, it was one of the stops on Samora Machel's journey, between Rovuma and the capital Maputo, where independence would be proclaimed and where the nation's first president would take office. Tofo also hosted the meeting that resulted in the inaugural version of the Constitution of Mozambique.
After almost half a millennium, Mozambique became Mozambican. Cashews survive, along with the immense coconut trees. Cashews and coconuts generate important income for the subsistence of many Tofense people.
Passage through the Tourist-Commercial stronghold of Tofo
They also contribute to the cuisine served in the small restaurants lined up on the street behind the market.
That night, we would still have to sit in one of them, and enjoy a few specialties.
Bus transformed into a take-away bar, adds more color to the center of Tofo.
Further along, closer to the beach, there are bars, still somewhat shabby as we had seen on the previous excursion.
Now, with the novelty of an old yellow bus converted into a trailer bar takeaway.
We pass east of the bus and the hedge of trees that delimit the center.
We returned to the sand, this time, the main beach of Tofo.
Woman and dog on top of the highest dunes in Tofo
The sun surrendered to its setting. A girl accompanied by a dog, reigned at the top of the highest dunes in the town.
We see her, sitting, above the A-shaped roofs of a few wooden bungalows, above the coconut trees, palm trees and papaya trees that also grew from there.
The sun still sets above one of the immense coconut groves that surround Tofo.
He had settled in the best spot in Tofo to watch the disappearance of the great star.
There was still some time left. Time that we were determined to take advantage of.
Bather crosses the hot sand of Tofo Beach, Mozambique
In discovery mode.
Tofo Beach and an End-of-Day Surfing Frenzy
From the front of the market, we walked towards the dunes, surrounded by a bustle of surfers attracted by a low but vigorous swell that entered the bay.
Surfers walk along Tofo beach, Mozambique
Several intersect. Some, coming from the top of the dunes, others, from the inner entrance of the cove. In an instant, they share the vacancies, in an increasingly golden ecstasy.
We photographed them and their magical silhouettes.
Surfer on the crest of a small wave, at Praia do Tofo, Mozambique
Until sunset sets behind the endless coconut grove, the afterglow takes over the bay.
As it got dark, the instructors and lifeguards dictated that everyone should get out of the water.
“No Bathers” sign taken down, on the most dangerous threshold of Praia do Tofo
Lusco-Fusco and the Entry into the Bars and Restaurants Scene
With difficulty, they put an end to the marine fun, fully aware that another one was waiting for them right next door.
The bars, the restaurants, the multi-ethnic and Babel community of the town, in a few days, will be encouraged by the increase of people who would arrive during the dry and high season.
We confirmed it again. Pandemics, storms and hurricanes shake Tofo's rhythm. They do not bring him his Mozambican signs of life.
Dusk scene of a street in the small center of Tofo.
HOW TO GO
Fly from Lisbon to Maputo, with TAP - flytap.com from €800 round trip.
Book your Mozambique program with Travel Quadrant: quadranteviagens.pt
