INDIAN OCEAN


FROM LEFT: Sunrise over Anse Source D’Argent on La Digue Island in the Seychelles; lamb biriyani; an elephant on Tanzania’s wildlife-rich savannahs; accordion player, Sauti za Busara music festival, Zanzibar, Tanzania PREVIOUS PAGE: Grey heron on the beach at Bandos Island, the Maldives


festivals


Time your trip to coincide with a festival for the guarantee of a vibrant atmosphere


1 SAUTI ZA BUSARA,


TANZANIA Zanzibar’s annual live music festival is one of Africa’s best, showcasing local taarab and bongo flava bands alongside African stars from as far afield as Algeria and South Africa. 11–14 February 2021. busaramusic.org


2 HOLI, MAURITIUS COMOROS


Also known as the Comoro Islands — Grande Comore, Mohéli and Anjouan — Comoros is among the region’s best-kept secrets. In Moroni, the capital, you may detect hints of the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar in the narrow lanes and carved doors. Wildlife-wise, the islands echo Madagascar, with mongoose lemurs on Anjouan and whales and dolphins offshore. But in many ways, the Comoros is a place apart — and fascinating for it.


dodos Gone but not forgotten, dodos live on as an


emblem of Mauritius — they feature in the island’s passport stamp. Poignantly, they’ve also come to symbolise the mass extinction that threatens our planet. For the past 50 years, Mauritius has had a conservation network that’s focused on the nation’s endangered plant and wildlife species. Île aux Aigrettes, a protected islet off the east coast, is one of its gems. mauritian-wildlife.org


elephants Strangely, perhaps, Africa has few safari


regions that include Indian Ocean beaches as well as wildlife-rich savannah. Tanzania’s Saadani National Park is one of those rare, magical places. Base yourself at Saadani Safari Lodge and you can spend your days in a four-wheel-drive vehicle searching for herds of elephants. They move between the trees and the Wami River, cooling themselves with slow flaps of their ears.


Culturally diverse Mauritius has a packed calendar of festivals. The most colourful of these is Holi, a two-day Hindu celebration involving bonfires, music and the good-humoured showering of friends and neighbours with fistfuls of gulal powder in rainbow hues. 28–29 March 2021. tourism-mauritius.mu


3 AZGO, MOZAMBIQUE


For five days in May, Maputo’s annual arts festival, Azgo — local slang for ‘let’s go!’ — floods the campus of Eduardo Mondlane University with Mozambican and pan- African music, cinema screenings and adventurous art shows. 19–23 May 2021. azgofestival.com


Jul/Aug 2020 97


IMAGES: GETTY; ALAMY


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