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| Down and delicious at Lagoa Poelela, southern Mozambique |
Just
what is it about an immaculate sunset? Is it the colour, the timing, the feeling
it brings? Its meaning is quite different to a sunrise, which for me
is the joyous outbreak of new possibility. A sunset is the slow farewell, the
heart breaking goodbye, the last kiss before the lover gets on the train. It is
pain and pleasure. It is the onset of darkness, the end of reason. It is
Hesperian depression exquisitely personified.
I
have spent a good part of my life as a travel writer chasing the immaculate sunset.
And I’m pleased to say I found one a while back at Lagoa Poelela, near
Inhambane, in southern Mozambique. We are
1hour 15 from Inharrime said their SMS with directions. Sunset at 5pm. It was all the bait we
needed to put foot. From the main EN1, we turned off the road to Ponta Zavora, upcoming
dive-n-surf spot, and barrelled down coconut lane (Inhambane province has over
3 million coconut trees) arriving within half an hour of the sun set.
Oh
my.
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| High drama on the Indian Ocean |
To
the distant thrum of the unseen sea behind enormous dunes, the orange sun and
the copper waters of Lagoa Poelela performed an extraordinary, almost obscene,
farewell dance. As the sun slipped sexily down the skies, there were pink and
coral clouds, wild bronze and mackerel silver reflections. Flocks of birds
shadowed the sky. The jetty poles stood in black silhouette. We stood in
wonder.
Well
just for a moment. Then we quickly got out cameras, being media types and all, graciously
accepted G&Ts and got stuck into the perfect sunset. Chatting, snapping,
sipping, more snapping. Once upon a donkey’s years ago I worked for a travel
magazine whose delightful curmudgeon of an editor, if you’ll indulge the
paradox, made his young underling photojournalists swear they would never,
ever, on any account whatsoever submit a photograph of a sunset. He would have
no truck with chocolate box rubbish he said, sunsets were simply natural
occurrences that happened daily and did little to expand our understanding of
humanity or travel. I spent many unhappy hours restraining myself (those were
pre-digital days, we used film, expensive film) from taking sunset photographs,
even in the Zambezi where they are famously wild and red.
“This
one’s for you bru”, I said out loud, as I snapped my thousandth shot of the
perfect Lagoa Poelela sunset.
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| The sunrises aren't too bad either |
Lagoa
Poelela faces due west and is an eco-lodge with pleasant self-catering chalets
overlooking the shores of Lagoa Poelela, a lake that never reaches the sea. It’s
pretty surreal because you hear the sea but you can’t see it. It’s about 2km
away over the dunes, and you can walk there or drive. The lagoa
(lake) covers around 76kms square and is surrounded by wetlands, estuaries and
coconut groves. It’s fairly low in salinity (you could mix it with whisky at a
push) and high in birdlife. Plenty, plenty birds.
The
okes here quite rightly decided not to allow any motorised activities alongside
the shores of this gentle lagoa, no
quad bikes, no motor boats, no jet skis. So it’s very Zen hanging out here. I think
the best thing to do is to slip off quietly on a kayak and go explore the
mangroves and estuaries. It’s a gentle pursuit, and very good for the tits,
girls. Move slowly and lightly, quietly, through the waters, exploring lagoa’s edge, listening to the birds, eyeing
the silver horizon ….
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| Loving the Afro-brolly on the beach at high tide |
