Being abandoned on a tropical island, kilometres away from civilisation, sounds like a scary experience.
The idea of being alone with no food or water could drive anybody insane – just ask Chuck Noland, the character Tom Hanks played in the 2000 hit film, Cast Away.
Eventually Noland resorted to drawing a face on a volleyball and calling it Wilson, just so that he would have some company.
Fortunately the island I found myself stranded on was a beach resort with luxury chalets, pristine blue water and top-quality service.
The Medjumbe Private Island resort, off the coast of Mozambique, is part of the eight Rani Resorts in Mozambique.
I have always dreamed of spending time on a tropical island, and this trip was made even more special by the fact that it was the first time I had left South Africa.
I left a wintry Cape Town and Johannesburg and landed in Pemba, a coastal town in northern Mozambique, where I was to spend a night, with seven travel journalists, at the Pemba Beach Resort.
We were greeted by beautiful sea views and got to taste some of the local flavours and experiences. After burning my mouth on some extremely hot peri-peri sauce I joined some locals in an activity that crosses many cultural and language barriers – watching soccer.
I returned to my room all excited for the next day we were to embark on a flight to several tropical islands for the rest of our stay.
Excitement turned to nervousness when I arrived at the airport to find we would be flying on an aircraft smaller than a limo, and my fears weren’t helped by the pilot advising us that the wind would make it a bumpy flight.
After the plane skipped off the runway my nerves were soon settled by the sights of aerial Mozambique and the reefs of the Indian Ocean, seen mostly through the lens of my camera.
In Medjumbe my camera stayed glued to my face as I continued to take pictures of the magnificent surroundings, and a sense of accomplishment came over me when I looked back at the tiny plane that brought me there.
As someone who grew up taking public transport and was afraid of rollercoasters, it was a feat that I had flown in a plane that would take my baby nephew and niece about two minutes to dismantle.
The resort itself resembled something out of a Swiss Family Robinson story, with much of the decor made of seashells and wood.
A swim in the limpid water was followed by great food, including local crayfish – about three times the size of the ones we are used to.
That was all washed down by two of the local beers, Laurentina Clara and 2M, meaning MacMahon, but better known as Dosh-em.
I also had the chance to taste a few caipirinhas, a popular Portuguese drink that is also the national drink of Brazil. The mixture of fresh limes, lemons, sugar, lemon juice, cane spirit and striped sugar syrup was the perfect way to cool down after swimming and enjoying the warm weather.
The next morning I had my first experience of snorkelling and after getting used to the idea of breathing through a little tube in my mouth instead of through my nose, I spent several minutes seeing what many divers describe as one of the best diving reefs in the world.
Our stay in Medjumbe was due to end the next day, but we were told there were some technical difficulties with our baby plane so we’d have to stay another day.
The difficulties continued the next day and our quick two-day stay in Medjumbe turned into a rather leisurely four-day stay on the kilometre-long island paradise.
By the fifth day reality set in as we were booked to fly the Mozambique airline LAM to Johannesburg from Pemba. This flight could not be missed, and seeing our little plane was still in trouble, we had to board a boat to begin a wet journey home.
The boat sped over the deep blue waters of the Indian Ocean to another island resort, known as Matemo, where there was another small plane ready to take us to Pemba. It might have been very wet as we tried to dodge the sea spray and bounced over every wave, but it was fun. Views of other islands and keeping an eye out for sightings of dolphins and whale sharks took a lot of my attention away from the fact that I was soaked.
Sadly there was little time to admire beautiful Matemo as we had to board the plane to catch our connecting flight.
The LAM flight took two hours from Pemba to the country’s capital, Maputo, and that was the last time I experienced the warm weather of Mozambique.
After a short stop we were back on a flight, this time to Joburg where the chill of winter greeted us and my tropical holiday ended.
We were treated to luxury service in the form of the FNB Slow Lounges at OR Tambo Airport and a cosy bed and breakfast in Johannesburg at Leighwood Lodge in Parktown North, where underfloor heating restored some tropical warmth.
Back in chilly Cape Town it dawned on me that to get home I had had eschew a malfunctioning small aircraft, travel from one island to another by boat, go from there in a chartered aircraft and another three commercial flights, and touch down in four cities in two countries over two days.
“The life of a jetsetter!” my mom joked. That’s about right – and I could get used to it. - Sunday Argus
l Junior Bester was the guest of Nicky Arthur PR, 1Time Airline, LAM, Rani Resorts in Mozambique, FNB Slow Lounges and Johannesburg’s Leighwood Lodge.