YOU’LL NEVER FORGET…

Its natural beauty: spotless white-sand beaches (head for family-friendly Endeavour Bay or the hideaway Gelliceaux Bay), 22 miles of walking trails, clear warm water shimmering with turtles and colourful fish.

INSIDER TIP

Don’t miss the complimentary Tuesday night cocktail party at the Cotton House hotel – practically the whole island attends and it’s a fun way to meet people. Basil’s Bar has a Jump Up night on Wednesdays and a restaurant with a vegetarian menu.

WHY IT’S SPECIAL

Stretching 150 miles from the small port town of Pemba to Tanzania, more than 1,500 miles from the capital, this remote archipelago is largely undeveloped and unexplored, but thankfully not unprotected.

Eleven of the 32 islands are part of the Quirimbas National Park, a

Unesco biosphere reserve; only Ibo Island is truly inhabited.

A 68-mile stretch of the mainland coastline is also part of the National Park; with such minimal human presence, the marine environment is pristine – this is generally regarded as one of the healthiest coral reef ecosystems in the world – and the whole experience of getting here underscores just how wild and remote this archipelago is.

There are no resorts, only three lodges, each on its own private island with powder-white beaches lapped by a warm Indian Ocean. But it’s not all sprawling about on beaches or snorkelling above coral reefs – Ibo Island was once a 16th-century trade centre, its architecture reflecting its Arabic and Portuguese roots, and it is still home to silversmiths who create filigree-like jewellery, their craftsmanship traced back to the

17th century when the island was governed as a province of Goa.

There are three private island lodges to choose from: tiny Medjumbe (anantara.com), which has 13 thatched chalets, each with a plunge pool; Vamizi (andbeyond.com), which has just six luxury beach villas each sleeping 10 to 16 in five or six en suite bedrooms; and Azura Quilalea (azura-retreats.com/quilaleaintroduction), within the National

Park. It has nine luxury seafront villas; and you can go to breakfast in your swimsuit and snorkel back to your room. In fact, Azura Quilalea shares top spot with Mnemba (off Zanzibar) as the most beautiful private island lodge off the entire coast of Africa. Both of them have a house reef that can be accessed right off the beach – a rare and extraordinary pleasure.

YOU’LL NEVER FORGET…

The thrill of transferring by helicopter or small plane to your private island.

INSIDER TIP

Ibo Island has a lovely lodge (iboisland. com), but this is not where you come for a beach holiday – the lodge will arrange for trips to a nearby sandbank, and there are snorkelling and diving opportunities aplenty, but the mangrove-covered island has no beaches as such.