Azura – Mozambique Luxury Boutique Hotel

The Helicopter arrived at Azura Quilalea

There was much excitement at Quilalea on Saturday when we had our first helicopter transfer to Pemba! Sarah James from Original Travel, Julian Asher from Timeless Africa and Marisa Nogales from Descrube enjoyed the inaugral flight in our beautiful helicopter.Guests will be enjoying this scenic flight to our beautiful island in the future.

Sarah, Marisa & Julian with Chad, our pilot

Chad giving the guests their safety briefing

Getting ready for the flight

Chad and Sarah posing for the camera

We have lift off!

The Marie Claire team washed up on the Benguerra Island shores on Tuesday 6th March with very little idea of what to expect. The team had flown in from all over the world, most of them with just an address in hand. Two boats filled with 9 people and 21 pieces of luggage who’d been travelling for over 24 hours – it’s amazing how everything can be put to order for even the weariest of travellers with a glimpse of luxurious daybeds and glistening pools. A glass of champagne and a cold towel sealed the deal, this was going to be an incredible trip.

Each year the Marie Claire beauty team go on location to shoot all our summer issues in one place. Along with one photographer, his assistant, one digital technician, one hair stylist, one make-up artist and three international models, we endeavour to shoot high-fashion, directional images in the most impressive of backdrops.

Day one and we piled in the land rover with Faizel for the hugely important recce to scout locations and plan out the shoots. We weren’t disappointed. Towering sand dunes, rich vegetation, tranquil lakes, miles of white beaches, crashing waves and a stretching horizon of sand bars. Benguerra Island had it all and we were overwhelmed with the landscape options available to us.

And so the routine began, 5am start we load up the trucks and head out for the morning’s shoot. 10.30am we’re back at the Presidential Villa for the team’s favourite past time, second breakfast. 18 eggs later courtesy of the unflappable Castro and Lino, and we’re off again with our drivers Shabba or Jamal for the rest of the day, we don’t stop until it’s too dark to shoot.  But it’s not all work, each evening the food wowed each of us and even the fussiest was catered for. Never have a crew eaten so well or been so looked after.

Nine days and seven shoots later, we’re done and set to the exhausting chore of packing all the equipment and shipping off back to reality. For a team of people who travel the globe and see luxury on a regular basis, it’s sometimes hard to impress. But we can say with full confidence that Azura Retreats will stay in our hearts and memories for a long time to come. The best of the best and we only hope the pictures do it justice. They’re onto something very special over there and are trend setters themselves – you should know that second breakfast is still being continued from all these miles away.

Thank you to all the team at Azura, from all the team at Marie Claire.

ILTM Africa at the Mount Nelson kicked off with a panel discussion and some keynote speakers, including a very interesting scenario analysis from Clem Sunter.

We then had 37 meetings every 15 minutes for the course of the two days, seeing the top African Luxury Travel specialists from across Europe, the USA, South America and Australia. We also did a lot of networking over the two nights as one does at travel shows.

It was a very successful show where we had a chance to make some new contacts, and re-affirm longstanding relationships with our key travel trade suppliers.

Stella also managed to squeeze in a number of side-line meetings, including one with Colin Bell to discuss his latest ventures. She also met with Luke Bailes from Singita to discuss Mozambican opportunities & with Beks Ndlovu to discuss Zimbabwean opportunities.  Last but not least she met with several journalists from Conde Nast Traveller and did a video interview with Barbara from Opulent Living.

Warm regards,

Stella and Krista

The smell of Easter

The Quilalea kitchen was filled with that all too familiar smell of all spice and cinnamon, which makes you reminisce back to your childhood days of baking in the kitchen with your family over the Easter weekend. The Quilalea ‘family’ baked up a storm as we wanted to make things extra special for the guests to feel at home, while away from home. We made bunny biscuits flavoured with orange and nutmeg, Easter spice cupcakes and hot cross buns with chocolate, cinnamon and pecan nuts. So yummy!

One of the most tranquil experiences that one can have is a mangrove Kayak at Sencar Island.  Sencar is the nearest island to Quilalea and falls within the sanctuary that surrounds us. I will never forget my first time that I went to go see the mangroves. I had seen mangroves before and was expecting what I knew were trees in water, but never thought that it would be as beautiful as what I saw that day.

The brown coral rock of the island and the green of the mangroves have the perfect contrast and give the area a very warm feeling. The best part of it all is when you enter the area you actually paddle into an open space in the island and you are surrounded by coral rock and mangroves trees full of birds on both sides. It all gets very peaceful quickly as you venture further into heart of the mangrove area. The tall trees protect you from the wind and there are no waves, all you can hear are birds and the occasional swash of an oar in the water. This mangrove area is completely dry at low tide and can only be accessed at high tide; this however makes the water very warm. The reason for this is that during the day when it is dry the sun heats up the sand and the coral rock and the water flows over this and causes it to be very hot. It is almost like bath water.

It’s a very gentle and slow kayak and now that I have done it a few times I have grown to love it. The further you go into the mangroves the smaller the paths become and before you know it you totally surrounded by magnificent mangroves and all sides and it forms the most amazing picture. In some parts you can hear the waves crashing on the seaward side of the island. It is actually very hard to describe what an amazing experience it is…. Just as you think that you are totally lost and the path is just going to end it opens up again and you back out in the open and you can see where you are.

This peaceful experience can be enjoyed by everyone. If you visit Azura Quilalea it is an experience that cannot be missed.

Warm regards,

Hielke van Helden
Watersports Activities Manager

“I want to go fishing” was the response from my 7 year old daughter Sienna when asked what she wanted to do at Azura Benguerra. We had decided to go up there as a family for a few days to celebrate Christopher’s birthday, to look at some new development work we want to do and also bring our new wine cellar on line.

My children have grown up spending time at Azura, and for them it’s a wondrous world of beach play, sandcastles, snorkelling and marine discovery. Plus of course they have the staff wrapped around their somewhat little fingers! But above all else they love 2 things: fishing with Daddy to catch some sushi for Mum, and heading off on one of their Landrovers to the Wild Side for a picnic. The Landrovers are, after all, named after them, which always leads to a heated debate about whose we will be driving. This time around Pirran II took the glory.

There had been sailfish and marlin caught (and of course released) the previous week, so hopes were high. In the end, Mummy’s potential tuna sashimi was snatched by a huge Bull Shark that my husband took 2 hours to bring to the boat. And they all returned with smiling faces, and at least one fish in hand, which our chefs prepared for lunch on the BBQ at the Presidential Villa, and then the celebratory birthday supper in our wine cellar.

I just love the new wine cellar. We did one up at Azura Quilalea and guests adore it, so thought we would transport the idea to Azura Benguerra. It makes a fabulous private dining room, where we can pull out all the stops with some special fine dining, and of course its a great refuge on a hot day, with its cooling air conditioning. Then again I can well imagine myself holed up for an afternoon of scrabble with a bottle of red from our farm in France as well.

So what was I up to while all the fishing activity took place? Aside from a lot of meetings with management and staff, in my usual way I spent a lot of time wondering around the bush with builders getting scratched to the nines, working out what new thing we might build where. I like to look at empty spaces in paradise and dream, and then of course comes the hard work of making that dream a reality. Suffice it to say we shall be adding another villa or maybe 2, and there will be some changes for the Spa. I’m going to try to blog more often on what its like behind the scenes owning Azura, so watch this space for more news!

Stella Bettany
Owner Azura Retreats