The beautiful beaches of Tofo and Barra

The disappointment of Bilene didn't subside much when we reached Tofo unfortunately. On the upside, Tofo has a beautiful beach and the rain had cleared up when we arrived, so we were very happy with what we saw.

However, the prices were still sky high compared to the quality of accommodation you receive. We found a slightly more reasonably priced bungalow with sea views at an old backpackers lodge that is trying to market itself to a more family and couples oriented crowd. The room looked lovely at first sight, so we had agreed to take it, but a closer look brought an open air bathroom in dire need of repair, a mattress with springs prodding through and a not so great mosquito net over the bed, which was the biggest downside as there were so many mosquitoes around! Needless to say, we didn't have a great night's sleep and awoke the next morning wondering whether our high hopes of lazy (but comfortable) Mozambican days at the beach might not materialise.

But then we found Flamingo Bay Lodge. A little further up the coast in Barra is the idyllic and romantic resort called Flamingo Bay. It took a little calculating and persuading on my part, but we decided to book a room for a night or two, and when we arrived, we definitely made it two! What a little piece of paradise. This was the holiday I was waiting for, and as it was low season, it wasn't actually that expensive. We stayed in an amazing chalet on stilts in a lagoon fed by the sea, amongst mangroves and with actual flamingoes walking around!

The room was clean, had air-conditioning and was perfect. We could walk down the steps from our room right into the lagoon, and at the top of the steps there was an outdoor shower to rinse yourself off before sunbathing on your own veranda.

There were kayaks that you could use at your leisure to paddle around the lagoon when the tides were high enough...

...and when you were fed up of the lagoon and your room, there was an infinity pool near the restaurant area to swim in.

We were there on a dinner, bed and breakfast basis, so we ate well, and on our final night I managed to persuade Joost to stay one more day, with the promise that we camp for a few nights afterwards to keep within our budget. The following night we camped at a backpacker joint called Fatima's Nest, which has a reasonable camp site near the beach, but we were visited by a number of mosquitoes in our roof tent that night, which resulted in one of the worst night's sleep for a long time. We were too tired to do anything the next day, so we decided to pack up and slowly make our way another step further up the coast.