Santa Carolina Island, part of the Bazaruto archipelago, off the coast of the southern Mozambican province of Inhambane, will soon have a luxury hotel, thanks to a 50 million US dollar investment by the Rani Resorts Group.

The Mozambican Tourism Ministry approved in March a proposal for the building of the new hotel.

Rani Resorts, founded by Saudi businessman Adel Aujan, owns a chain of hotels in Mozambique, including the Indigo Bay Island Resort on Bazaruto, the largest island in the archipelago, the Pemba Beach Hotel, in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, and luxury resorts on Medjumbe and Matemo Islands in the Quirimbas archipelago, off the northern coast.

The group is currently designing the architecture of the hotel on Santa Carolina, which should be presented to the government before the end of this year. In the meantime, work is underway to demolish the ruins of the existing hotel.
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MAPUTO, 3 June 2008 (IRIN) – Time is one of the few commodities that duty manager Susana Diniz, 28, does not have much of as she attends to a stream of guests booking into the 158-room Holiday Inn hotel in Mozambique‘s capital, Maputo. 

“We have been fully booked for the last few weeks, thanks to the international guests attending some conferences taking place here,” Diniz told IRIN. She recently returned home after a seven-year stint in the hospitality industry in Brazil, where she obtained a hotel management degree.
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General Management: Azura is delighted to announce the appointment of highly qualified management couple Jean-Francois and Nicola Crinquand who will start at the end of May. Jean-Francois is Relaix and Chateaux Hotel Management trained, the couple have significant overseas experience in managing luxury boutique hotels in remote island locations in the Caribbean, as well as in Africa and Europe. Most recently they launched and managed the exclusive 5 star luxury Jade Mountain in St Lucia, and also managed its sister property at Anse Chastanet (Conde Nast Traveller reader awards 2007, TOP 25 HOTELS, The Americas & the Caribbean).
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The area around Pemba offers turquoise seas, palm-fringed beaches, excellent diving, game fishing and thrilling walking safaris. Pemba has a few high-end hotels, beach resorts, a casino, an international airport and proper medical facilities. Up to now tourism has not made a serious impact yet which gives the visiting tourists a true feeling of exclusivity, privacy and adventure in an untouched part of east Africa.

Londo Lodge has an eclectic restaurant that offers the best food in the area. Combining local traditional grilled fish with Asian and European influences puts Londo Lodge restaurant on the map.

The restaurant offers stunning sunset views of Pemba bay, excellent service and a real Mozambique experience of international cuisine standards.

The food in Mozambique is largely Portuguese with Far Eastern influences. Specialties are peri-peri chicken, Zambesi chicken, shellfish, including Delagoa Bay prawns (which are grilled and served with peri-peri sauce), matapa (sauce of ground peanuts and cassava leaves) with rice or wusa (stiff maize porridge). Restaurants can be found in main towns, as well as hotel dining rooms.

Tipping in Mozambique: Tipping is not normally expected outside of Maputo. In Maputo and other tourist areas, 5 per cent of the bill is normal (depending on standards of service and the place itself).

Dutch group African Riviera plans to invest $324-million (about R2,4-billion) over the next two years to develop tourist projects in northern Mozambique, a top official said.Tourism Minister Fernando Sumbana said the company would build a floating hotel at Mozambique Island, the country’s former capital off the northern coast of the southern African country that is linked by a bridge to the mainland.“We recently held a conference on Mozambique Island after inviting the private sector and other interested stakeholders to draw up an ambitious plan to revamp the island, and African Riviera pledged to invest,” he told Reuters.

“They are currently finalising the proposal, and we are waiting for it, to analyse and approve.”

The company had also expressed interest in constructing a five-star hotel in the nearby mainland town of Lumbo.

“They told us that they want to develop an ambitious project worth $324-million in the next two years. The island will be our draw card for tourism attraction in northern Mozambique, therefore we need sound investments there,” Sumbana said.

African Riviera would work in partnership with Mozambican Port and Railway company (CFM), which owns key infrastructure in the region. Sumbana said construction was expected to start on the second quarter of 2008, once the company secured a licence and its proposal was approved.

Arriving at Pemba Beach Hotel is to enter an exotic realm in an ancient land, where you may feel you are living the dream of adventures past and still to come. Representing a fusion of Arabic and African inspired influences, this Mozambique hotel impresses with its sweeping compilation of Arabian-inspired buildings, colonnades, turrets and archways sprawling over 100 acres.

You are spoilt for choice with accommodation at Pemba Beach Hotel, its 102 rooms, all with sea views and individual balconies, providing a truly sumptuous rendition of Mozambique east coast living. The Indian Ocean glitters beyond manicured lawns, whilst inside your room you are cosseted in a haven of rich furnishings, Persian rugs and marble-clad bathrooms.