Ilha de Moçambique to Ibo Island, Mozambique 28 - 30 Mar 08

More crumbling relics of past glory

After a pleasant VFR flight in fine weather (1:13), we landed on the smooth grass runway at Ibo. On arrival, a young Moslem called Mohammed told us he would guard our plane for us. We agreed to pay him on the day of departure. We were driven to Ibo Island Lodge on a dirt road, passing smiling faces and crumbling houses on the way. The lodge is set in three restored mansions overlooking the water, north-west of the dhow port. We were received by managers Cassius (from Zimbabwe) and Peter and Therin (from South Africa). Great lunch in the garden where there was also a pool with comfortable bed-chairs in the shade for the afternoon siesta.
In the late afternoon we went on an historical walking tour of Ibo with a local guide called Ali. Ibo was fortified in 1609 and by the late 18th century had become the most important town in Mozambique after Ilha de Moçambique. At that time, the island was a major export point in the slave trade. In the late 19th century it served as headquarters for the Niassa Company, but in 1904 the headquarters were relocated to Pemba which had better sea access routes and harbour and Ibo faded into oblivion. Ali showed us inside the old customs house where dusty files are still stacked up on the shelves.
Ali also told us that Ibo means Ilha Bem Organisada (Well Organized Island). It seems the island earned that name due to the abundance of fresh water to be found.
The history of Ibo may have been glorious but it was also pretty gory. There are three forts on the island and they were all used as prisons or places to keep slaves before they were shipped out. Ali told us that people used to sell their own uncle or cousin to the slave traders. And more recently, in 1964, freedom fighters were imprisoned at the Fort of São João before they were executed, and their bodies thrown over the walls and left to rot on the ground.