2 Best Sights in Northern Mozambique, Pemba and the Quirimbas, Mozambique

A nominated UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Quirimbas’ historic Ibo Island is fast becoming top of the pops with international travelers seeking a unique experience. This island, once a major slave source for the sugar plantations, is a historic melting pot of different cultures from Arabic to Christian, African to European, Chinese to Indian, with buildings that date back to the 16th century. Arab traders established it as a fortified trading post in 1600 AD, dealing in amber, slaves, ivory, turtle shell, and jet. They were followed by Portuguese and Muslim invaders. Don't miss the 18th-century Portuguese Fort of São João with its massive ancient cannons, restored with U.S. aid money, where local silversmiths fashion jewelry under the cool stone roof of the entrance using age-old methods. Absorb the gloom and terror of the damp cells of the 1791 St. John the Baptist chapel, where slaves were kept before being transported.

Ilha (ilia) de Mozambique, the former colonial Portuguese capital in Nampula province, is a small coral island that was the most important settlement along the East African coast for four centuries. Only one-and-a half miles (2.5 km) long and a third of a mile (600 m) wide, this UNESCO Cultural Heritage Site is home to some of the oldest colonial buildings in the southern hemisphere. Check out the 1610 Jesuit College of São Paulo with its 17th century pulpit from India's Goa province. See the Fortress of São Sebastião, built in the mid 1500s and often described as one of Africa's most formidable fortresses, explore the southern hemisphere's oldest standing European building, the Church of Nossa Senhora Baluarte, within the fort, and take in the 18th century whitewashed Catholic Cathedral where shipbuilders still ply their ancient traditional craft on the beach in front.