Going the Distance

Sometimes, getting to the shores of your dreams means going that extra mile—or 8,000.

- BY SARAH KHAN

It's been said that Mozambique’s 1,600-mile Indian Ocean coastline, probably the most beautiful in Africa, and the islands of its archipelagos will spoil a sand-and-sea lover forever. This is true. I once spent a few days sailing on a traditional dhow through the northern Quirimbas Archipelago, stopping every evening to set up camp on another untouched island. This was more basic than anything I'd do now, but it imprinted on my mind the particular beauties of Mozambican waters: a shifting, unfurling canvas of turquoise, sapphire, and aquamarine. When I lived in South Africa, a decade ago, Moz's coast and the lively capital, Maputo, a pastiche of colonial and brutalist architecture, made a convenient roadtrip. But the country has been off the radar for many Americans becau