An airy cottage with a rustic charm accessible by 4x4 with a heavenly view. Spacious and well-kitted for a couple on a palm tree-lined dune, with the best view of Barra Beach. Sit in ironwood chairs or sip a cold drink with ice from your ice machine at your breakfast table and gaze on the reef just off Barra Beach, local fishing boats and the north coast of Mozambique stretching into the haze. Marvel at this vista from your comfortable bed. Star gaze on beach sand in front of your stoep.
The space
A spacious for a couple grass-thatch cottage built in wood and local materials with a lot of rustic character, which is cute and comfortable, and opens up on a sizeable veranda, which is like a breezy, outdoor living room. Shaded by trees and the adjacent main house, and up on a dune overlooking Barra Beach, the sea breezes ensure that even in mid-summer the cottage remains surprisingly cool and quite mosquito-free. A studio-style open plan kitchen with all the amenities, and main room with a comfortable double bed, mosquito net and fan. Lots of storage space. The veranda leads to a soft-sand space in front that has a large brick braai, perfect for star-gazing at night. There is ample parking space in the back.
NOTE: We have do a non-4x4 option for parking at a lodge nearby (900m) for R50 a day - enquire for details.
(PLEASE NOTE: Our electricity is Pay-as-You-Go - we ask guests to top up on arrival and as they need.)
This cottage is part of our dream home (built by Etna and Renaud Booysen) we have recently acquired and feel is too much of a hidden gem to have kept to ourselves. Please enjoy it - it is beautiful and spectacularly located.
PLEASE NOTE: One important request and house rule we make is that guests burn only coal fires, with the grid down, in the braai. Absolutely no wood fires! Both the cottage and house are made of wood, reeds and grass, and an ember can burn them down. We thank you for your understanding on this.
Along the Lighthouse Road (Rua da Farol), a 4x4 road turning off the main road just before you reach Barra and running along the back, top of the dune next to the beach to the old, famous lighthouse at the point, which is about a 600-metre walk away on the beach or road. There are restaurants to sample all along the the beach below. Local fish, prawn, calamari, clam and crayfish catches will be brought to your door to negotiate a sale, and Sarah can daily bring fresh fruit, vegetables and Portuguese rolls. It's about a 150m walk down a path to the beach.
For those without 4x4s, there is a rental service in both Tofo (20km) away, and Barra. Contact us for pricing and details.
Our minority shareholder Luis and his family will welcome you, briefly clean each day, give advice on Dhow trips to Pansy Island in the Inhambane estuary, where to shop, who to buy fish from, and make your stay more comfortable. Should you require more than the quick daily clean-up, or washing of clothes (which is not included), negotiate a further price with him.
Just by the way, a squirrel may visit. It's extremely cute and harmless, but perhaps watch your fruit, vegetables and cashews!
Guest access
Guests of the cottage have access to the sizeable sanded "beach"in front of the cottage, which includes their own braai area. If there are no separate guests staying in the main house, feel free to use the space in front of the house too. There is plenty of parking under trees at the back of the house and cottage. If no guests are in the house, feel free to use the parking under the awning too. Some 4x4s struggle to make the last part of the hill up to the awning. We will soon have the access paved. Thanks for bearing with us.
