Here's where you'll find the “Big Five” above and below the water. We've chosen Scuba Addicts and the Mozambique Experience to bring you a superior all round African adventure and dream holiday!
Top diving specialists at great locations in South Africa in a single itinerary. Whale sharks and manta rays, elephants and rhinos, close encounters with bull sharks and tiger sharks all combine to provide you with an action packed, once in a life time experience!
| Number of Nights | Diver | Non-Diver | SingleSupplement |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 Nights/7 days | £847 / €1101 | £655 / €852 | £60 / €78 |
An extension to your tour visiting the Hluhluwe Game Reserve, Sodwana Bay or Cape Town can also be added to your tour for some added adrenaline!
| Number of Nights | Person | Single Supplement |
|---|---|---|
| 4 Night Extension | £615 / €800 | £77 / €100 |
| Number of Nights | Person | Single Supplement |
|---|---|---|
| 4 Night Extension - Sodwana | £615 / €800 | £77 / €100 |
| Number of Nights | Person | Single Supplement |
|---|---|---|
| 3 Night Extension | £462 / €600 | £35 / €46 |
Group discounts are available
Maximum 18 divers, 9 per group.
A new flight from Johannesburg to Inhambane means you can now reach Tofo beach in hours rather than days. Here you'll be greeted with palm fringed white sandy beaches, warm water and an abundance of large fish. Whale sharks and manta rays are frequently seen throughout the year. The winter months, October to March, see the arrival of the humpback whales migrating south, and a great day's diving in the winter can include all of these majestic creatures in one morning; nowhere else in the world can this remarkable combination be offered.
All tours are fully guided by employees of the Mozambique experience (2 guides) including dive, afternoon and evening activities. Groups dive on a privately chartered boat. Maximum 8 clients per tour.
| Number of Nights | Diver | Non-Diver |
|---|---|---|
| 8 Nights Casa Barry | £1445 / €1879 | £1195 / €1554 |
| 8 Nights Tofo Mundos | £1305 / €1697 | £1055 / €1372 |
| 11 Nights Casa Barry | £1965 / €2555 | £1715 / €2230 |
| 11 Nights Tofo Mundos | £1770 / €2301 | £1520 / €1976 |
Flights from the UK to Johannesburg for both tours can be arranged by us, subject to availability,and are from approximately £550.
A four day extension tour visiting the Kruger National Park and Jane Goodall Chimpanzee Rehabilitation centre is available. You stay two nights at Pretoriuskop Camp in the Kruger National Park and one night at Umhloti Lodge, home to the Jane Goodall Chimpanzee Eden.
| Number of Nights | Person | Single Supplement |
|---|---|---|
| 3 Night Extension | £445 / €620 | £500 / €700 |
Prices on all these tours are per person double occupancy.
“I have dived lots of places, I found Casa Barry with Moz divers a great experience, looked after you, nothing was to much trouble. Went to tofu beach dive centre, dived with the whale sharks, manta rays, fantastic, every where people friendly always very helpful. Great food, cold beers, what else could you ask for?”
Pete Hindley, Exeter
GENERAL DIVING INFORMATION
The diving in Mozambique is absolutely phenomenal and a divers paradise. The warm waters (the water temperature ranges from 23C in winter to 29C in summer) of the Indian Ocean are teeming with life. We have over 1200 species of fish as well as manta rays, whale sharks, dolphins, turtles, migrating Humpback whales and the mythical dugong. The list is endless, the colours of the pristine reefs, beyond description and we even have uncharted reefs if you want to go exploring.
Whale Sharks (Rhincodon typus)
Nothing quite prepares you for an encounter with this gentle giant that wanders the ocean. It is the biggest fish in the sea and it looks like a shark but is the size of a whale (maybe that’s how it got it’s name!) They can reach up to 12m in length and can weigh around 20 tons! Here at Barra we are lucky to be on their migratory route and the best time to see them is between November and May when sightings are pretty much guaranteed, the rest of the year they are still present, just fewer in number.
The thrill of swimming with a Whale Shark is an unforgettable experience. Something in your soul goes incredibly quiet, and the feeling of being so close to such a big and gentle creature is something so privileged it will never leave you. When you daydream about this experience later with a huge grin on your face you’ll be there in the water again watching this incredible creature as it gently swims past inspecting you with an amused eye. Awesome, and because we know how fantastic this feeling is, we will go to the highest endeavour to make sure you also will experience this wonder. There are specific guidelines on how to interact with these creatures that we will brief you on and we also offer the PADI Whale Shark Awareness speciality course for snorkellers and divers that would like to know more about this beautiful beast.
Dolphins
Swimming with dolphins is an experience that every child and adult dreams of, lifting your heart and humbling your soul. Bottlenose and Humpback dolphins are our most common sighted species, they are the most likely to seek out interaction with divers, snorkellers and swimmers, and we usually encounter them in quite large numbers. They can be incredibly playful and you will see them riding the waves or racing the prow of the boat. The skipper will drop you in just ahead of them and you can enjoy the rush of seeing and hearing their chitchat of clicks and whistles. When diving, listen out for the calls and shrieks as a precursor to seeing these intelligent mammals on scuba, a breathtaking experience.
Manta Rays (Manta birostris)
These huge, flying creatures are almost a guaranteed sighting off this part of the Mozambique coastline because of the abundance of Manta cleaning stations in this area. We have cleaning stations at Manta reef, Office and Giants Castle, and sometimes on clear sunny days they can be seen feeding on the surface when the plankton rises in the afternoon. Diving with them has specific guidelines to ensure that they are not frightened, teased or harmed in anyway. But once at the cleaning stations your patience will be rewarded when vast numbers of Manta’s form a holding pattern over the stations, while waiting to be cleaned by small fish. They hover and swoop and come close enough to touch, but you mustn’t touch them for it removes a protective layer of mucus and may make them susceptible to infection. Here at Barra we have a PADI Manta Awareness Distinctive speciality course divers can enrol on if they would like to know more about these gentle animals.
Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae)
These massive creatures can be spotted off our shores, on their migratory route from, June until November. Covering a distance of 16000km, it is the longest known migration on earth. We look for the tell tale sign of water spouting from their blowhole, and the huge splashing from their acrobatics. These mammals can launch themselves completely out of the water (breaching), and engage in fluke (tail) and flipper slapping. We also listen out for their haunting song, which can be heard from a distance of 2km away, each song usually lasts between 10 and 20 minutes, and is repeated continuously for hours. It is the males that sing and it is thought to be part of the mating ritual. To show these creatures all due respect we try and keep a respectable distance between them and our boats, especially as the females, who are with their calves and are the larger of the sexes, can reach lengths of over 15m (almost twice as big as our boats!) They also weigh in quite heavily at between 25-40 tons! You can get close but not too close to these magnificent mammals, on one of our ocean safaris, that go out for two hours at a time, looking and listening for Whales in season.
Must be valid for at least 6 months.
Mozambique visa's must be obtained before you travel to South Africa.
Swaziland and South African visa's are not required.
No torches necessary for night dives as these are generally not done.
Dry suits are extremely uncomfortable when used for these conditions. 5/6mm wet suit sufficient.
Pocket SMB's are not compulsory but a good idea. They are inexpensive to purchase in South Africa.
Tank valves suit either standard A-clamp or DIN fitting regulators.
Windbreaker handy for boat trips.
Money changing available at all banks etc. South Africa and Mozambique use South African Rands.
French Fr is fine. Sterling and US Dollars either in Travellers cheques or cash.
Credit cards : Visa & MasterCard fully acceptable. AMEX and Diners in some places, Switch not at all.
Tap water is drinkable; no need for bottled water, except in Mozambique.
Food in practically all establishments is of excellent quality.
Security / Safety / Crime, is no need for concern.
Electricity is 220v. Adapters are needed for special equipment.
For U/W photographers; don't bother with a macro lens! Wide angle is best - mostly ambient lighting.
Both the Kruger National Park and Mozambique are considered malaria risk area's and Malaria prevention is a must. The Mozambican strain is resistant to Chloroquin, so please consult your doctor for the best preventative method.
Other activities can be arranged on site.
Horse riding, Kayaking, Parasailing, Sailing, Paddle-ski hire, Sundown mangrove cruise, Quad bikes.
Dive boats carry first aid kits and emergency oxygen. Nearest recompression chamber from Shelley beach is situated in Durban.
EMS includes Coast Guard / NSRI / helicopter / ambulance.
Mozambique : Medical facilities limited. Nearest chamber is across the border in Richards Bay. First aid kit & oxygen on the boat.