Skift Take
There’s some hard work ahead to correct public perceptions, but luxury tourism in northern Mozambique should be able to weather the fallout from Cyclone Kenneth. And the local economy needs it now, more than ever.
In the wake of Cyclone Kenneth, parts of Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province are a mess. As the second intense cyclone hit the country in a matter of weeks when Kenneth made landfall in late April, it whipped the coast with winds of 140 miles per hour and dumped up to 20 inches of rain.
Today palm trees lie flattened in villages where simple adobe houses lie in ruins. Food aid has been slow to arrive and erratic in distribution. To make matters worse, the U.S. State Department has warned against travel to the region due to extremist attacks on local villages.
It’s a far cry from the paradisiacal images that have brought luxury tourists to these far northern reaches of the country. While oil
