Field note · Mozambique · Nampula

Ilha de Moçambique

Ilha de Moçambique is about 3 km long and 500 m wide, and once you are on it there is no transport worth the name – you walk, or you hire a bicycle. Everything therefore happens at the two ends of one structure: the 3.4 km bridge on the N105 from Lumbo, which OpenStreetMap records as a single traffic lane closed to heavy goods vehicles. Road transport is the chapa, the Mozambican minibus, from Avenida do Trabalho in Nampula beside the railway station, three to four hours away, leaving when full and starting before dawn; failing that you relay through Monapo and Lumbo. Nampula (APL) and Nacala (MNC) are the airports, both served by LAM from Maputo; there is a disused aerodrome at Lumbo itself. The only passenger train in the north is the CDN service inland from Nampula to Cuamba, which does not come this way. The water is how people reach Cabaceira Grande and Pequena, Chocas, Goa and Sena – dhows and small local craft with no timetable, no lifejackets and a bad safety record. Cyclones in December to March and the Cabo Delgado insurgency to the north are what close routes here.

Researched: 28 September 2026
Reviewed: not yet
Ways of moving: 11, 47 sources
Not confirmed: 11
Fares seen: 2024–2026

How transport works here

11 ways of moving, each with its rule

We confirmed seven ways of moving to, from or around Ilha de Moçambique: one by road, one under your own steam, one by water, one by air, one by rail and cable and two hired or on demand, from 47 sources. Four entries are not a service at all but a rule that decides whether travel happens: a permit, a closure, a border, a season or an authority's say-so. Two of them run only on demand or when the seats are full, so there is no timetable to show; the rule is written where the timetable would be. One needs a phone call or a message before you turn up.

The fares were seen in 2024 to 2026; a fare from an older year is a floor, not a price. Eight fares carry no year, because they could not be confirmed and the field says so. We rate 7 of the 11 high confidence, our own judgement of the sources. The entry was checked on 28 September 2026, and ends with eleven things we could not confirm.

4 ways

Rules, permits and closures

service status

The Ponte de Acesso, the single-lane bridge from Lumbo

Lumbo on the mainland to the southern tip of Ilha de Moçambique, carrying the N105

There is one road on and off the island and it is this. OpenStreetMap maps the crossing as a single way tagged bridge=yes, highway=primary, ref=N105, lanes=1 and hgv=no – one traffic lane for 3.4 km, closed to heavy goods vehicles, which is why nothing bigger than a chapa or a light truck crosses. Two vehicles meeting on it cannot pass, so traffic takes turns; who gives way at each end could not be established from any published source, so watch what the chapa drivers do. There are no footways separate from the carriageway and the parapets are low: a car went over the side into the sea in May 2015 and the driver drowned. Walking across takes the better part of an hour and people do it. Wikivoyage says a causeway charge of 'Mts 5,000' is payable, but that figure is in pre-2006 meticais and no current toll could be confirmed.

When: Open continuously; it is a public road, not a service
Takes: A few minutes by vehicle, 40 minutes to an hour on foot
Fare: No current toll confirmed. Wikivoyage's 'about Mts 5,000' is in the old currency withdrawn in 2006 and should not be relied on

SeasonYear-round. Salt corrosion is the standing maintenance problem – the 2009 rehabilitation was mostly repairs to 370 piles and to the corroded deck beams and expansion joints. Run byAdministração Nacional de Estradas (ANE); the 3.4 km structure was rehabilitated by Teixeira Duarte in a programme announced in 2009.

service status

Cabo Delgado and why nobody drives down from Pemba

The coastal and inland roads north from Nacala and Nampula towards Pemba and on into Cabo Delgado

This is the single biggest change to travel in northern Mozambique since 2021 and it is not visible on a map. The UK Foreign Office advises against all travel to Cabo Delgado Province except Palma town and the area around Pemba and Afungi, and against all but essential travel even to those, because of attacks by groups linked to Islamist extremism; security forces have roadblocks throughout the province. It reaches into Nampula province too: the Foreign Office advises against all travel to the districts of Memba and Eráti, which sit on the coastal road between Nacala and the Cabo Delgado border, and against travel to Mecula and Marrupa in Niassa, where there have been lethal attacks at hunting lodges used by international tourists. Ilha de Moçambique, Monapo, Nacala and Nampula city are outside the advice-against areas. The practical consequence is that the old overland run from Pemba down to Ilha is not a route to plan casually – people fly Pemba to Nampula instead.

When: Standing advice, reviewed continuously; this version updated 20 August 2026 and still current on 28 September 2026
Takes: Not applicable
Fare: No charge, but travelling against Foreign Office advice can invalidate travel insurance

SeasonYear-round. The situation can change at short notice. BookingRe-read the advice the week you travel and check whether your insurer excludes the districts on your route. Run byUK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office; Mozambican security forces run the roadblocks.

service status

Cyclone season, December to March

Every road, boat and flight in Nampula province

The northern Mozambique cyclone season runs with the rains from December to March and it does not arrive politely. Three tropical cyclones crossed this coast in a single season – Chido in December 2024, Dikeledi in January 2025 and Jude in March 2025 – and the district administrator of Mossuril, the mainland district facing Ilha across the bay, counted more than 25,000 public and private structures destroyed or damaged and more than nine tourist establishments severely hit. When a storm is coming, LAM grounds the northern flights: it cancelled every Maputo service to and from Nampula, Pemba and Nacala on 9 and 10 March 2025 for Jude, and the disaster agency INGD projected more than 340,000 people affected. Dirt roads go first, the Mossuril and Chocas branch among them. Boats stop. Watch the INGD and LAM announcements, not the forecast apps, and build slack into a December-to-March itinerary.

When: Cyclones cluster December to March; the rains run roughly November to April
Takes: A cyclone closes flights and roads for two to four days; damage to the unpaved roads lasts months
Fare: No charge. Airlines rebook rather than refund

SeasonDecember to March, with the wettest months December to March on the island's own climate record. BookingNothing to book. Leave a spare day either side of a flight and do not schedule the dhow trip on your last morning. Run byINGD (Instituto Nacional de Gestão e Redução do Risco de Desastres); LAM decides its own cancellations.

permit

The Mozambique Electronic Travel Authorisation

Every arrival by air or land, including at Nampula and Nacala airports

This is the thing that stops the trip before it starts. British passport holders, and nationals of a number of other countries, must hold an Electronic Travel Authorisation before travelling to Mozambique for a tourist or business visit of up to 30 days. It is applied for through the official Mozambique eVisa portal, paid online, and it cannot be paid for on arrival at the border any more. Processing takes at least five working days, so apply well ahead. Carry a printed copy of the approved authorisation and the payment confirmation, because immigration ask for them on the way out as well as in, and be ready to show proof of accommodation, an onward ticket and funds. Travelling with a child under 18 needs an unabridged birth certificate naming both parents, and a notarised consent affidavit no more than three months old if one or both parents are not travelling.

When: One application per visit; apply at least five working days before you fly
Takes: At least five working days to process
Fare 2026: About US$47, made up of a US$37 visa fee and a 650 metical processing fee, paid online at application

SeasonYear-round. BookingCompulsory in advance through the official portal. Print the approval and the payment receipt. Run byMozambique eVisa portal, run by the Mozambican immigration service.

One way

By road

minibus

Chapas from Nampula, and the relay through Monapo and Lumbo

Nampula to Ilha de Moçambique direct; or Nampula to Monapo, Monapo to Lumbo, then across the bridge

In Nampula the stand is on Avenida do Trabalho, about 400 m east of the railway station and south-west of the airport. Ask for Ilha. The chapa is a minibus and it leaves when it is full, not at a time, and in northern Mozambique that means early – four in the morning is normal. Coming the other way, chapas off the island go between 03:00 and 05:00, so if you plan to leave after breakfast you have missed them. If no direct vehicle is going, do it in stages: a chapa or a truck from Lumbo, the mainland village at the near end of the bridge, to Monapo on the main Nampula–Nacala road, then a Nampula chapa from Monapo. The government sets prices on the main routes and chapa stations in the bigger towns post the fares on a board, so ask at your guesthouse what the number should be and hand over a large note rather than asking the conductor the price.

When: When full, through the morning; the last useful departure in either direction is early afternoon. From the island, 03:00 to 05:00
Takes: 3 to 4 hours Nampula to Ilha; about 1 hour Lumbo to Monapo; about 3 hours Monapo to Nampula
Fare 2024: 300 MT Nampula to Ilha; 100 MT Lumbo to Monapo; 200 MT Monapo to Nampula, in a Wikivoyage listing last edited in October 2024. Nampula was in a severe petrol shortage in September 2026 with half a litre selling for 250 MT on the informal market, so expect these to have moved

SeasonYear-round. The rains from December to March wash out the unpaved feeder roads, and cyclones close them outright. BookingNone. Turn up at the stand and wait for the vehicle to fill. Run byPrivate chapa owners; fares on main routes are regulated by government.

One way

On foot, by bike, or otherwise

bicycle hire

Walking and hired bicycles, which is the whole of transport on the island

Stone Town in the north, Makuti Town in the south, the fort at the northern tip, and the bridge at the southern end

There is no bus, no shared vehicle and no fixed transport on the island, and you do not need one: it is about 3 km end to end and only 300 to 500 m across, roughly a twenty-minute walk from tip to tip and three blocks wide. The street grid is the sixteenth-century one, so navigate by the Fortaleza de São Sebastião at the north end, the Palácio dos Capitães-Generais museum in the middle of Stone Town, and the Mesquita Grande and fishing harbour in Makuti Town. Bicycles are the local way to cover it faster in the heat: Gabriel's rents them by the day, and the tour operator Ilha Blue describes the island as the right size for a bicycle and a kayak. The museum building also holds a tourist information office that sells proper street maps.

When: Always; bicycle shops keep daylight hours
Takes: 20 minutes on foot from one end of the island to the other
Fare: No current bicycle hire rate could be confirmed; ask at Gabriel's or your guesthouse

SeasonYear-round. It is hot and shadeless in the middle of the day from October to March. BookingWalk in. Run byGabriel's and guesthouses on the island.

One way

By water

boat

Dhows and local craft to the Cabaceiras, Chocas and the offshore islands

Ilha de Moçambique across Mossuril Bay to Cabaceira Grande, Cabaceira Pequena, Chocas and Mossuril; and out to Ilha de Goa, Ilha das Cobras and Ilha de Sete Paus

Go down to the fishing harbour by the Mesquita Grande in Makuti Town, or ask at your guesthouse, and negotiate directly with a boat owner. The fleet runs from the one-person kangaya through the ekalawa, tindiri and mwathia to the old Swahili sailing dhows, and none of it has a timetable – a sailing dhow leaves when the wind and the tide suit, which in practice means you go in the morning and come back in the afternoon. Goa Island with its 1870 lighthouse is about 25 minutes out. The organised version is safer and easier to arrange: Ilha Blue Island Safaris run dhow sailing, snorkelling, kayak trips and overnight camping on the uninhabited islands, and there is a dive centre at the northern end of the island below the fort that also arranges boat trips. Take the safety seriously. In April 2024 an overloaded fishing boat running the short crossing from Lunga to Ilha capsized and at least 91 people died; the island administrator said the boat was rated for about 100 and was carrying around 130, and was a fishing boat not fitted out for passengers.

When: No timetable. Local boats cross through the day; tourist dhow trips are arranged the day before
Takes: About 25 minutes to Goa Island; roughly an hour under sail to the Cabaceiras, longer against the wind
Fare: No published fare. Local crossings are negotiated at the harbour and organised dhow trips are quoted per boat by the operator on request

SeasonYear-round for the short crossings, wind and tide permitting. Whales pass July to September. Do not go out in cyclone weather between December and March. BookingAsk at the harbour for a local boat, or email or phone Ilha Blue a day or more ahead for an organised trip. Agree the price and the return time before you leave. Run byIndependent boat owners; Ilha Blue Island Safaris, info@ilhablue.com, +258 84 124 7161 and +258 84 445 9429.

One way

By air

scheduled flight

Nampula (APL) and Nacala (MNC) airports, and the dead aerodrome at Lumbo

Maputo, Beira, Pemba, Lichinga and international services to Nampula; Maputo to Nacala

Nampula International is the practical gateway, 4 km from the city centre and on the same side of town as the chapa stand and the railway station, so the road in from the airport passes both. Nacala International is closer to Ilha in a straight line but has less service. LAM, the national carrier, is the operator on the domestic routes, and its own booking form lists Nacala (MNC), Nampula (APL) and Pemba (POL) as origin airports along with Dar es Salaam and Johannesburg. LAM seats are hard to find on the general online travel agents; book on the airline's own site. There is a paved aerodrome at Lumbo itself, right beside the bridge, still on the national airports register as Aeródromo de Lumbo (LFB/FQLU), but no scheduled passenger service to it could be found.

When: Several LAM flights a week Maputo to Nampula; fewer to Nacala. No confirmed scheduled service to Lumbo
Takes: About 2 hours Maputo to Nampula. From Nampula airport it is a further 3 to 4 hours by road to Ilha
Fare: No current published fare confirmed; LAM sells on its own website and prices are not listed publicly

SeasonYear-round, but LAM grounds northern flights in cyclones – it cancelled all Maputo services to and from Nampula, Pemba and Nacala on 9 and 10 March 2025 for Cyclone Jude. BookingOn LAM's own site. Allow a full day between landing at Nampula and needing to be on the island, because the road leg depends on a chapa filling. Run byLAM Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique; airports run by Aeroportos de Moçambique, EP, +258 21 468 800.

One way

By rail and cable

train

The Nacala corridor railway, and why it will not take you to the island

Nampula to Cuamba, inland towards the Malawi border. Freight only on the Nampula–Nacala section past Monapo and Lumbo

Nampula station is in the city centre, a short walk from the Avenida do Trabalho chapa stand, and the ticket office sells for the next day only. The passenger train is not run by CFM, the state railway, but by the northern corridor concession CDN, and CFM's own passenger page says so in as many words: in the north, passenger transport is provided by the concessionaire CDN. The train is one Executive class carriage and six second-class carriages, and it runs inland: Nampula departs 05:00 on Tuesdays and Saturdays arriving Cuamba at 16:00, and Cuamba departs 05:00 on Thursdays and Sundays arriving Nampula at 17:08. Nothing goes the other way down the 533 km line towards Monapo, Lumbo and Nacala port except freight, so the railway is of no use for reaching Ilha. Buy your ticket before 17:00 the day before; there is only one Executive carriage and it fills.

When: Twice a week in each direction on the Nampula–Cuamba line. No passenger service on the Nampula–Nacala section
Takes: 11 hours Nampula to Cuamba; 12 hours the other way
Fare 2026: About 670 meticais one way in air-conditioned Executiva class, under US$10, as listed in January 2026

SeasonYear-round; delays are routine because the passenger train waits for freight crossings. BookingAt Nampula station before 17:00 the previous day. Arrive early to queue. Run byCDN, Corredor de Desenvolvimento do Norte, under concession from CFM.

2 ways

Hired, booked and on demand

moto taxi

Moto-taxis in Nampula, Monapo and Lumbo

Around Nampula city and between the mainland villages at the Monapo and Lumbo end of the road

The motorbike with a rider is the default short-distance vehicle in Nampula province, and it filled the gap left by chapas on routes they do not serve; hundreds work the streets of Nampula from before 07:00 until late. They wait at the informal markets and road junctions, most of them unlicensed, and there is no meter – agree the price first. On the mainland side they are the practical way to cover the last few kilometres from a chapa drop-off to Lumbo or to a village off the tarred road, where nothing else runs. September 2026 was a bad time to depend on them: hundreds of Nampula moto-taxi riders blockaded the city's avenues and the N1 in protest at a petrol shortage that by then had lasted about twenty days, and petrol on the informal market had reached 250 meticais for half a litre.

When: Constant in Nampula city in normal times; thin and expensive during a fuel shortage
Takes: Minutes for a city hop; 20 to 30 minutes for a village run
Fare: 50 MT for a ride in Nampula city in an undated Wikivoyage listing, and not confirmed for Lumbo or the island. Riders' own accounts put a day's takings at 250 to 300 MT with roughly half going on fuel

SeasonYear-round. Fuel shortages, not weather, are what stop them. BookingNone. Flag one down and agree the fare before you get on. Run byIndependent owner-riders, largely unlicensed.

vehicle hire

Self-drive or a car with a driver from Nampula

Nampula to Ilha de Moçambique on the Nacala road, turning off at Monapo; and on to Mossuril and Chocas-Mar

Sixt, Europcar, Avis and a local firm called Moti all have desks just outside Nampula airport. The route is simple: take the road towards Nacala and turn off at the signpost for Ilha de Moçambique, which is at Monapo; it takes about two hours and the tarred road is good. Where it stops being good is the branch to Mossuril and Chocas-Mar – 21 km of dirt off the Ilha road, which floods in the rains and has cut the district off from the rest of Nampula. Do not plan to arrive after dark, and remember that the bridge at the end is one lane and barred to heavy vehicles. If you have no licence or no appetite for the road, guesthouses on the island and in Nampula arrange a car with a driver; no published rate for that could be found.

When: On demand at the airport desks
Takes: About 2 hours Nampula to Ilha by car, against 3 to 4 by chapa; 45 minutes more to Chocas on the dirt
Fare: No current published rate for hire cars or for a car with driver in Nampula could be confirmed. Ask the desks at the airport or your guesthouse

SeasonDecember to March the unpaved sections flood. Cyclones Chido, Dikeledi and Jude between December 2024 and March 2025 destroyed more than 25,000 structures in Mossuril district alone. BookingReserve a hire car before you land – the Nampula fleet is small. A car with a driver is arranged through your accommodation. Run bySixt Moçambique, Europcar, Avis and Moti at Nampula airport.

Not confirmed

What we could not find out

11 things the researcher looked for and did not find, in their own words, with where to ask instead. None of this goes into the planner; it stays here until someone confirms it.

01
How traffic actually alternates on the bridge could not be sourced. OpenStreetMap tags the 3.4 km crossing as lanes=1 with hgv=no, which is the hard evidence for it being single-lane, but no published account was found of traffic lights, a signalman, priority signs or a convoy system at either end. Ask at the Lumbo end or watch the chapas.
02
No current toll for the bridge could be confirmed. Wikivoyage's 'about Mts 5,000' is in the pre-2006 metical withdrawn twenty years ago and is not a usable figure. The national roads agency ANE's website (ane.gov.mz) does not resolve from here.
03
Tuk-tuks on the island are unconfirmed. Mozambique's tuk-tuk is called a txopela and it is well documented in Maputo, Matola and Quelimane, with Yango running an electric fleet in Maputo and Matola from 2026, but nothing was found placing txopelas on Ilha de Moçambique or in Lumbo. The island is small enough to walk, which may be why. Ask a guesthouse before assuming one will meet you at the bridge.
04
Chapa fares are from a Wikivoyage listing last edited in October 2024 and are probably out of date. Nampula was in a petrol shortage in September 2026 severe enough that moto-taxi riders blocked the N1 and half a litre was selling for 250 meticais informally. Ask at the Avenida do Trabalho stand or your guesthouse for the current board price.
05
Tide tables and their effect on the dhow crossings could not be sourced. The Cabaceiras and Goa Island sit behind shallow sandbanks and local practice is said to work around the tide, but no operator publishes departure times against tide state. Ask Ilha Blue or the boat owner when you agree the trip.
06
No fare could be confirmed for any boat crossing – local dhow hire, the Chocas or Mossuril crossing, or an organised Ilha Blue trip. Everything is quoted on the day or on request.
07
Whether any scheduled aircraft still uses Aeródromo de Lumbo (LFB/FQLU) could not be established. It is on the Aeroportos de Moçambique register and mapped as a 4.4 km aerodrome beside the bridge, but the authority's live flights endpoint at aeroportos.co.mz returns an error and lists no departures, and no airline schedule mentions it.
08
Chocas-Mar and Mossuril could not be researched properly. The only route detail found is a 2015 report that the branch from the Ilha road to Mossuril district seat is 21 km of dirt and floods; whether chapas serve Chocas on a regular basis, from where, and at what fare, was not confirmed by any source.
09
Jornal de Notícias published a piece headlined 'A ponte que é orgulho de Moçambique' on 2 March 2026 which is likely to describe the bridge in detail. It could not be cited: jornalnoticias.co.mz does not resolve from here, and the Google News link would not decode to a publisher URL. Someone with access should read it.
10
No Mozambican source was found publishing chapa timetables, a terminal list or fares for Nampula province. verdade.co.mz, aimnews.org, cartamz.com, opais.co.mz and mznews.co.mz all have working REST APIs and were searched; none covers local transport fares. clubofmozambique.com and jornalnoticias.co.mz were unreachable.
11
Whether the ETA requirement applies to a given nationality was only checked in UK Foreign Office advice, which speaks for British passport holders. Other nationalities should check the Mozambique eVisa portal directly.

In the planner

What the planner can route today

The options above live on the place page, not in the departure board: a boat that comes when you phone has no time to show. What the board can do for Ilha de Moçambique is this.

N: Scheduled flightsnearest airport APL is 156 km away
N: Trains and coachesno timetable feed known for this country
N: Ferriesno crossing within 25 km
Y: Driving and taxiOpenStreetMap roads; cab fare from the country band
N: Bike and scooter shareno share feed known
N: Cruisesno open itinerary source anywhere

Y routable now · F found, not yet implemented · N no source known. Nearest place with more: Monapo, 48 km.