We had a bad start to the trip to Vilankulo, as we almost ran out of petrol and had to drive 45 minutes out of our way to find a petrol station. The coconut palms that cover the landscape around Tofo give way to baobabs and bush as we drove north. Bad weather followed us all the way up and by the time we reached Vilankulo, a huge storm was about to break. The downpour let loose during lunch so we were restricted to exploring the town by car in the afternoon instead of taking photographs of what we were assured were beautiful views.
While exploring the town in the afternoon, we met Ali Odowaa Amin, a Somalian who owns Complexo Ancora, a restaurant and hotel on the beachfront. He’s imported camels from Somalia (one of which used to belong to Gaddafi) for rides on the beach. We were looking forward to riding the exotic creatures but they objected to leaving their stable because of the rain.
There’s not much else to do in Vilankulo when it’s pouring, so we checked out a couple of lodges, dive operations, dhow safari tour operators and backpackers’ around town.
