There’s more to Maputo than beaches and prawns

There’s more to Maputo than beaches and prawns

Mozambique is a favourite destination for scuba diving and snorkelling, not to mention eating stacks of prawns, which are more affordable in Mozambique than just about anywhere else in the world. Maputo is the country’s capital city. It’s on the coast, so it offers all the traditional Mozambican attractions, but it also has so much more to offer.

Mozambique's beaches

It’s a thriving port city, so its harbour is abuzz with activity. But moving away from ocean-related activities we have the Central Railway Station, which boasts one of the most beautiful old buildings in the city – which may or may not have been built by Gustave Eiffel – he of the famous Paris tower. The station often has live music and assorted entertainment on Friday and Saturday evenings and is a good spot to mingle with locals out for a night of fun.

The Iron House, which, common consensus has it, was designed by Eiffel, is also not to be missed. It was supposed to be the Governor’s house but a critical oversight – steel is not a practical building material in a region blessed with a blazing sun and almost constantly hot weather – meant that the governor was unable to live in it.

The Jardim Tunduru Botanical Gardens are worth a visit for its cycad collection and assorted exotic plants. Failing that you can always boast of visiting a garden by one of the most famous landscapers of the 19^th century. The gardens were designed by Thomas Honney, who designed gardens for various royalty of the era, including the Sultan of Turkey and the King of Greece.

Not far out of Maputo, about 80km, is the Maputo Elephant Reserve, which is part of the Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation Area, a joint project by conservation authorities in Mozambique, South Africa and Swaziland. Obviously, there are plenty of elephants to be seen, but there are also crocodiles, hippos and an awful lot of flamingos.