Resort life on the cheap

A family home seen at the community of Conguiana near Tofo.[Photo by Seth Kugel/Agencies]

Fresh seafood and friendly locals abound off the beaten beach path in Tofo, Mozambique, writes Seth Kugel.

An hour up the sand from the little beach town of Tofo, perched on a peninsula jutting off the southern coast of Mozambique on a bay of gently surfable Indian Ocean waves, I met five children who had never heard of pizza. We were the only six people on that stretch of beach - five black children in the water chattering in Bitonga, and one ghastly white, sunscreen-covered body walking along the sand under a relentless midday African sun.

"Hello! How are you?" one called out in English, a 13-year-old girl.

When they realized I spoke Portuguese, Mozambique's official language, things got more interesting: They asked me to take photos of them, then to see whatever photos from "your country" were stored in my phone.

Snow in New York didn't faze them; they easily identified a hippo in a picture I had taken days before in South Africa. Then a pepperoni pizza popped up; I asked if they knew what it was.

"Food?" asked the girl.

I'm admittedly cynical on cultural globalization - I've spotted Doritos in small towns in the Amazon - but children with no concept of pizza, just down from a beach town where Peace Corps volunteers, scuba fanatics and South African families vacation? The world can still surprise you.

The exchange captured what was so appealing about Tofo (pronounced more like tofu).

I cannot bear to be shuttled to a beach resort to lie in the sun for a few days - all the more so if I'm as far away as Mozambique, a country I added to my swing through southern Africa specifically because it was not well-known to most travelers.

Tofo, though, is relatively undeveloped and inexpensive - and, as my conversation with those locals indicated, still very traditionally African. Rough sand roads, never far from the beach, are host to a mix of African- and expat-run businesses and local fishermen hawking their catch every morning door to door.