Mozambique: a quiet beauty beneath the scars Although foreign explorers have landed on these shores for more than 500 years, it was not the interior that interested them but the deep-water ports at which they could collect gold, ivory, amber, maluane indigo cloth and captured men and women, and take on fresh supplies. In Mozambique, two islands were popular docking spots for the slavers: Ibo and Ilha de Moçambique. The latter became the country's capital after Portuguese explorers annexed the territory in 1505. You can sail to it from the mainland on a rustic, single-sailed dhow from the boutique Coral Lodge. The views can't have changed much for centuries. At one end, the Fort of San Sebastian looms over the channel, cannons bristling through walls that protect the southern hemisphere's oldest church, Nossa Senhora de Beluarte, built in 1522. The wharves are lined with large, eerie coral-block warehouses, now thankfully empty of human cargo. A newly painted church spire - its restoration a result of the island's status as a Unesco World Heritage Site - provides a bright visual beacon from the sea. And at the other end of the half-mile spit of land, the crescent and star of a mosque rise above the thatch of an African village. While the Portuguese were initially successful in converting the population to Roman Catholicism, when Arab slave traders refused to take Muslims, Islam became popular. Today, more than 95 per cent of the coastal population is Muslim: when we visit, during Ramadan, hundreds spill from the mosque at sunset, women swathed in bright capulana fabrics, and calls to prayer echo over the small town. At one end of the island, the traditional thatched housing is packed with residents. But at the other end, colonial double storeys lie in ruins. Once the port had become too small for big modern ships and the capital had been moved to Maputo, the trading families from Portugal, India, China and Oman who once lived here departed, leaving the pastel porticoes and gables to crumble or be invaded by strangler figs. A few buildings have been renovated. Some have been bought by entrepreneurial romantics seduced by the island's genteel decay, who stayed to create guesthouses, a couple of bars, and the island's first boutique hotel, Villa Sands. Marcus Antman, the Swedish architect and part-owner of Villa Sands, was on a mission to visit all of the world's Unesco World Heritage Sites when he found one he couldn't leave. The island has changed enormously in eight years, he says. Then, the only public light was in the bank and if a car came on to the island, you wondered who it was. Now you hear music, motorcycles; there's an ATM. It's quiet, but not deathly silent any more. But then, part of the joy of visiting Mozambique is that it is not perfect - and tourism is still in its infancy. On Ibo and Ilha de Moçambique, the only people we see on beach walks are fishermen sailing out on handmade wooden dhows or dugouts. Boys clamour to sell necklaces made from beads retrieved near wrecks on the sea floor. In the 17th and 18th centuries they were used in payment for slaves. A man's life, locals tell me, could be bought for 100 beads: green and blue ones from the East and red ones from Venice. I buy five strings, and can't help rubbing and stroking them as I wear them, thinking of the wretched men whose lives they may have bought. During a 12-day trip, taking in Ibo and Ilha de Moçambique, a two-night dhow safari and then the luxury resort of Vamizi (below) and Coral Lodge, we see fewer than 50 tourists. While the northern towns attract businessmen and the south lures South Africans and Zimbabweans, the northern coast is relatively unexplored (hence the state of the roads; the 260-mile (418km) journey from Pemba to Coral Lodge took almost nine hours, with a stop-off to change a stripped tyre). Until the roads are fixed, it is fun sitting beside the pilot of a small plane and flying low over turquoise lagoons on to tiny island airstrips cut into the mangroves and coconuts. On Ibo, the strip is just a five-minute drive from Ibo Island Lodge, three old Portuguese houses converted into an elegant guesthouse overlooking the sand-flats where women gather shellfish and boys play football with a ball of compacted plastic bags. From a small jetty, the hotel's dhow safaris depart. Transporting up to 12, the dhows spend three or four nights exploring the area, camping at prearranged sites en route. We had just two nights to spare, both spent on the tiny coral island of Mogundula: sleeping in bell-tents, showering in the bush in water boiled on a fire, marvelling at the density of stars in the Milky Way as we digested barbecued prawns and lobster after a day swimming among turtles and giant purple-lipped clams. The real beauty in Mozambique is below the water. Paolo Macanetta, the divemaster from Vamizi who accompanied me 70ft (21m) down, pointed out multicoloured creatures ranging from a blue-spotted moray eel with a head as thick as a leg to fingernail-sized striped nudibranchs. He told me that divers here see as much in an hour as they might in most other spots in a week. One site, Neptune's Arm, has been classed as one of the top 10 diving spots in the world. The ocean writhes with creatures, particularly from September to December, when the marlin, sailfish, dorado, king and queenfish launch themselves above the waters. In June, there are also tuna. I landed my own, having fought it with rod and line for 40 minutes, and was later presented with it in the form of sushi (the best ever). When not fishing on Vamizi, we talked conservation matters with researchers for the Worldwide Fund for Nature. We even helped them to release newly hatched turtles into the sea. Two hadn't made it from their nest, so we carried them to the ocean side and watched them scoot across the sand, then swim into the waves. They're not the only inhabitants benefiting from tourism in these remote parts. Everywhere we went, people told us how tourism was providing jobs, education, clinics and information about new fishing practices. "If you came 20 years ago, we had nothing but our recent freedom," said one driver, Ansumane Mahando, whose skills at avoiding potholes, goats, bicycles and police roadblocks were as impressive as his patriotism. Tourism is helping us build our country, and for that we have to thank you for helping us. The pleasure, Ansumane, was all ours. Steppes Travel (01285 880980; steppestravel.co.uk) offers a 12-night trip to Mozambique, staying three nights at Coral Lodge, four nights on a dhow safari, two nights at Ibo Island Lodge and three nights at Vamizi Island, from £7,200pp, including full board, a return British Airways flight to Johannesburg and all transfers. April to September are drier and cooler; around Christmas and in the first two months of the year, rain can be torrential. Flying time and time difference Ten hours from Britain to Johannesburg, plus two hours 10 minutes to Pemba. GMT plus two hours. There are several overnight flights, including British Airways (ba.com), Virgin Atlantic (virgin-atlantic.com) and South African Airways (flysaa.com), from London to Johannesburg that connect with flights to Pemba and Nampula. Alternative routes are via Dar es Salaam and Nairobi. The national airline, LAM, is notoriously unreliable. Where possible, use Airlink (flyairlink.com) and South African Airways (flysaa.com) from Johannesburg, Kenya Airways from Nairobi (kenya-airways.com), or Coastal Aviation (coastal.co.tz) from Dar es Salaam. International customs can only be cleared in Maputo, Beira and Nampula, so international passports have to be stamped in one of these airports. There is serious unrest in the south and centre of the country, and driving around those areas is not advised; check gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/mozambique for updates. Ibo Island Lodge Relaxed, unpretentious, colonial-style 11-bedroom guesthouse, with high ceilings, four-poster beds, two dip pools and a rooftop terrace. The best rooms are sea-facing (00 258 2696 0549; iboislandlodge.com; double rooms from $590/£381. A seven-night package costs from $1,415/£915 per person, including four nights camping on a dhow safari, four nights at Ibo Island Lodge and full board, but excluding drinks). Coral Lodge Contemporary, sleekly designed 10-villa thatched lodge on the mainland opposite Ilha de Moçambique, alongside acres of beach, with a dhow for sunset trips, spacious romantic rooms and delicious food (2666 0003; corallodge1541.com; double rooms from $900/£582, full board). Vamizi The most luxurious accommodation in Mozambique, with eight capacious thatched villas, gourmet food by Cape chef Brendan Stein, butler service and full Padi dive and watersports centre, as well as new private villas sleeping 10 (01285 762218; vamizi.com; doubles from $1,790/£1,158, full board; villas, sleeping 10, from $22,740/£13,800 a week). Where to eat and drink All dining here is in-house, owing to the remoteness of the location. Currency About 46 meticals to the pound, essential for buying small goods en route and for tips, although most hotels take US dollars. Visas/vaccinations It is recommended to get a visa for Mozambique before arriving (mozambiquehighcommission.org.uk). We got ours at Maputo airport, but rules keep changing. Although Mozambique is a high-risk country for malaria, in winter there are few mosquitoes. Doxycycline is a useful prophylactic for this area, as it acts also as an antibiotic. Bradt Guide by Philip Briggs and Ross Velton (bradt-travelguides.com); visitmozambique.net. More on Africa Timgad, Algeria: Tales of the Unexpected In Livingstone's footsteps with Sir Ranulph Fiennes Henry Morton Stanley in the Congo Cape Town's most stylish hotels Morocco's off-the-beaten track attractions Twenty destinations for 2014: Liuwa Plain National Park, Zambia South Africa: sites that defined Nelson Mandela The Karoo by Obie Oberholzer Portraits of a ravaged land: incredible photography by Nick Brandt