V
A
M
I
Z
I
“None of us could believe how special this island is. We felt as though we had been let in on a secret or had found a piece of buried treasure�. Chris Caldicott, House and Garden
Mozambique – The country Mozambique has been a destination for travellers and adventurers since ancient times. The Egyptians, Phoenicians and Romans were all drawn here by the plentiful gold, ivory and timber. Arabian mariners followed in their wake, boarding their dhows for the long journey south. As the world flocked to Mozambique, its rich natural resources were traded for spices and silks with the Chinese, Indonesians and Indians.
These competing interests often made Mozambique’s history a turbulent one, but the dust has settled and the post-colonial era has seen the country emerge with its most priceless asset intact: a land of outstanding natural beauty. With 1,500 miles of coastline rich in coral and marine life and warms seas disturbed only by the migrating humpback whales, this is a destination to take the breath away.
Vamizi Island – The location “Vamizi Island is a pearl in a thousand miles of crushed shell.”
21°C–25°C. From October to April the mercury hits a pleasant 27°C–30°C.
The Quirimbas Archipelago stretches as an unbroken chain of 32 coral outcrops in the clear waters off the coast of northern Mozambique. Reefs and sandbanks link this myriad of islands, islets and rocky outcrops.
With regular direct international flights to Pemba (Mozambique) and Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), your Vamizi experience begins the moment you disembark; you will be greeted and taken to the resort’s luxurious customfitted plane, which takes you on the short flight to our private airstrip on Vamizi Island.
Only 4 kilometres off the mainland at its northernmost tip is Vamizi Island. Spanning just 12 km by 2 km, it’s climate is protected from any extreme weather by its low-lying offshore position. In the cooler months of June to August temperatures rarely dip below
That geography and location have been kind to the island is clear. Cyclone free and non-malarial, this sparsely populated stretch of unspoiled land is the perfect desert island castaway location.
Island history The passage of time has been kind to Vamizi. Fortunately for us, for hundreds of years it was considered of no strategic or commercial interest. By remaining isolated and undeveloped, wildlife has been allowed to flourish, undisturbed by human impact. Whatever troubles beset the mainland during its colourful history had minimal impact, leaving this desert island paradise intact and unspoiled. Then, at the end of the last century, a former banker called Jean Louis Masurel, his British
friend and conservationist Christopher Cox and his French wife Julie Garnier, a wildlife vet, discovered Vamizi and, committed to preserving its natural beauty, pooled their resources, talents and passions to launch an ambitious conservation project on the island. Today the Maluane Project encompasses tourism, ecology and involves the 1,000 strong local Olumbi community, proud inhabitants of Vamizi Island for centuries.
Vamizi Island – Private Villas. Now Vamizi is being extended to offer private villa ownership on the island, available only to a privileged few.
provide 5* convenience and comfort. Airconditioning is not required as your villa is soothed by the sea breezes that gently waft through open sides.
On large private beachfront plots (from 5 acres), the villas have been designed sympathetically to complement their environment and to provide an exceptional quality of accommodation and island living.
There’s no need to be troubled as your home is fully serviced by the excellent staff at the Lodge, who can even prepare your catch of fresh fish.
Spacious, bright rooms and private terraces created from traditional materials blend with premium brand fittings and furnishings to
All you have to do is relax and ponder how a beach can be so white and how a sea can appear to be like liquid sapphire.
The Villas – Exteriors Vamizi has been a cultural crossroads influenced by African, Portuguese and Arabic society. Every villa on the island is a reflection of this deep history. Here is Africa with its detailed timber structures, woven fabrics, decorative screens and hand carved features. Here is Arabia with its courtyard architecture that allows for privacy.
Here are the Traditional and Dhow Sail Villas, with their interpretations of the maritime and trade influences that first brought the world to Mozambique. And here is the Canopy Villa that recalls the grand sweep of treetops that offer shelter and shade in a tropical world. Vamizi delivers exceptional island living in your own private retreat.
The Villas – Exteriors Vamizi has been a cultural crossroads influenced by African, Portuguese and Arabic society. Every villa on the island is a reflection of this deep history. Here is Africa with its detailed timber structures, woven fabrics, decorative screens and hand carved features. Here is Arabia with its courtyard architecture that allows for privacy.
Here are the Traditional and Dhow Sail Villas, with their interpretations of the maritime and trade influences that first brought the world to Mozambique. And here is the Canopy Villa that recalls the grand sweep of treetops that offer shelter and shade in a tropical world. Vamizi delivers exceptional island living in your own private retreat.
The Villas – Exteriors Vamizi has been a cultural crossroads influenced by African, Portuguese and Arabic society. Every villa on the island is a reflection of this deep history. Here is Africa with its detailed timber structures, woven fabrics, decorative screens and hand carved features. Here is Arabia with its courtyard architecture that allows for privacy.
Here are the Traditional and Dhow Sail Villas, with their interpretations of the maritime and trade influences that first brought the world to Mozambique. And here is the Canopy Villa that recalls the grand sweep of treetops that offer shelter and shade in a tropical world. Vamizi delivers exceptional island living in your own private retreat.
The Villas – Interiors Every villa is designed to give you a sense of personal space and privacy. From the master bedroom you have an elevated view of the sea. From there it’s a short hop to the marble shower or onto one of the many traditional Swahili daybeds from where you can watch the sun arc lazily across the sky.
The furnishings and fittings have been meticulously selected to deliver the highest levels of tropical living and comfort. But more than this, you have the opportunity to add personal touches and design to the villa to suit your individual tastes. In a very unique location you can create something that it uniquely yours.
The Service Naturally you’ll enjoy living in your secluded, private space, but there’s nothing like having 5 star service just a stone’s throw away whenever you need it. The nearby Lodge can take care of everything for you. Housekeeping is on hand to keep your desert island villa in immaculate order and look after mundane things such as the laundry and restocking your fridge, while chefs are available for a little homegrown
luxury dining. The concierge can help you to plan your activities and excursions and even remedy any travel concerns. If you decide to dine out, dishes will be served under lantern light in the dining room. And with cocktails and fine wines at the bar - and acres of cushions and sofas for sitting very soft at any point - you might just feel that heaven can wait.
The Service Naturally you’ll enjoy living in your secluded, private space, but there’s nothing like having 5 star service just a stone’s throw away whenever you need it. The nearby Lodge can take care of everything for you. Housekeeping is on hand to keep your desert island villa in immaculate order and look after mundane things such as the laundry and restocking your fridge, while chefs are available for a little homegrown
luxury dining. The concierge can help you to plan your activities and excursions and even remedy any travel concerns. If you decide to dine out, dishes will be served under lantern light in the dining room. And with cocktails and fine wines at the bar - and acres of cushions and sofas for sitting very soft at any point - you might just feel that heaven can wait.
Beaches Visitors to Vamizi are often rendered speechless by the beauty of its beaches. So why not quote the words of others? “Sandy banks gleamed under barely a meter of translucent water.” “Ribbons of white sandy beaches encircled the island.” “A choker around the island made of the whitest sand with beautiful shell pendants.” Wildside magazine.
“Miles of blinding white sand packed with pretty shells.” Black Book. “Footwear and our feet have become idyllic strangers, it would be wrong to put shoes back on.” O.B Chile. We think you get the picture.
Beaches Visitors to Vamizi are often rendered speechless by the beauty of its beaches. So why not quote the words of others? “Sandy banks gleamed under barely a meter of translucent water.” “Ribbons of white sandy beaches encircled the island.” “A choker around the island made of the whitest sand with beautiful shell pendants.” Wildside magazine.
“Miles of blinding white sand packed with pretty shells.” Black Book. “Footwear and our feet have become idyllic strangers, it would be wrong to put shoes back on.” O.B Chile. We think you get the picture.
Adventure & activities Life on the island offers more than the opportunity simply to experience world-class diving and fishing.
Sail the seas in a traditional dhow and imagine yourself as an Arabian mariner of long ago. Or simply enjoy a private picnic on the beach.
Say hello to our more leisurely side. Snorkel just inches below the waves and get close up to the dazzling colours of Vamizi’s marine life. Bring the binoculars and observe the darting, swooping lifestyles of the rare and colourful bird life.
Whichever you choose, here is an invitation to do something that modern life rarely allows: lose track of time.
Fishing The same deep drop offs that protect the island’s coral ensure a teeming marine life. Over fifty varieties of game and reef fish have made their home here. Knowledgeable local fishermen understand each fish species’ habits and movements and how the weather, seasons, water temperatures and tides will affect the day’s catch.
Backed up by top-of-the-line equipment, they can guarantee you unrivalled game fishing, with the real possibility of a recordbreaking haul. Even for first-timers the experience will be a memorable one. As your boat heads out in search of marlin, wahoo and yellowfin tuna, you’ll be distracted only by the dolphins and whales passing alongside through the crystal clear water.
Diving Vamizi has been voted one of the world’s topten dive sites and is considered by many experts to be the best they have ever experienced.
Coral bleaching and damage to the marine ecosystem is unknown here, while crystal clear waters provide maximum visibility.
So say hello to Babylon, Fraggle Rock, and Neptune’s Arm.
You’ll see the rewards when you take the plunge. Beneath the waves exists spectacular underwater scenery of canyons and pinnacles covered in a vast and breathtaking array of coral in almost unimaginable shapes and colours.
These are just three of fifteen exotically named locations that lure both the beginner and expert to Vamizi’s shores. With the proximity to deep drop-offs (a sharply descending underwater wall), the reefs have been protected from the rises in water temperature that have had a devastating effect elsewhere in the Indian Ocean.
Shoals of fish in their hundreds, huge groups of reef sharks, walls of snapper, swaying eels and the rare bumphead parrotfish have all made this their home. To dive off Vamizi is to see that rainbows do live underwater.
Spa On Vamizi the pace of life naturally soothes and nurtures you above and below the water. If that isn’t enough, you can also call on the expertise and knowledge that comes from the modern science of energy and body treatments. Shiatsu, reiki and craniosacral therapy are available along with Indian head massage, deep tissue, Swedish and aromatherapy massage. Other therapies owe more to the teachings
that have been handed down through the generations. An Ashtanga yoga teacher is on hand to help you look at yourself and your surroundings from a whole new perspective. Beauty therapies using natural recipes are borrowed from the local women. Relax as the minerals ground from Vamizi rocks, local seaweed masks and sea salt scrubs are employed as the secret ingredients to maintain your tan and make you glow, inside and out.
Flora & Fauna Nature on Vamizi is a feast for the eyes and the ears. The sights and sounds of the natural world surround you every day. Butterflies flutter by while monkeys chatter and shake the treetops. In the distance, dolphins leap and whales splash. The island is home to 132 species of birds, 400 species of fish and 180 types of unbleached coral – many of which are on global endangered lists. Here they thrive. Abundant and exotic vegetation flourishes on Vamizi. The lush mangrove forests - the
rainforests of the sea - provide a glorious backdrop the shoreline and bind the sands to prevent erosion. Visit the M’siro Tree with its sweetly scented blooms used to make a white facial paste for special ceremonies. Marvel how nature crafted the Mickey Mouse plant, the Fever tree (immortalised by Rudyard Kipling), the Beach Morning Glory tropical vine and the yellow-flowering Necklace Pod, prized by butterflies and hummingbirds. And so many more to enjoy…. The island is home to a riot of colour and the rich imagination that named it.
Conservation Vamizi employs a permanent conservation team who work to counter the threats of indiscriminate fishing and general population pressure. Vamizi management also supports the work of the World Wildlife Fund to improve the marine ecosystem and develop sustainable fishing practices in East Africa. A conservation scheme is nothing if the locals do not support it. Happily, the Vamizi Island plan is directed by the Maluane Project,
which was founded by the resort’s founders, with the active participation of the islanders. Combining tourism and wildlife initiatives, it runs a number of community projects, carries out day-to-day ocean surveillance and works on the ocean and forest floor. It’s a constant challenge. Throughout the year the islanders will monitor turtles, report on illegal fishing, clear the reefs and bush of invasive species, and study the life of dolphins and whales.
Vamizi Island Private Villa Sales t: + 44 (0) 1285 762218 e: info@vamiziprivatevillas.com www.vamiziprivatevillas.com