{"id":6025,"date":"2016-04-27T11:57:21","date_gmt":"2016-04-27T10:57:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ethosmarketing.co.uk.dedi391.nur4.host-h.net\/blog\/?p=6025"},"modified":"2020-11-17T15:53:30","modified_gmt":"2020-11-17T15:53:30","slug":"amandas-magical-mozambique","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/2016\/04\/27\/amandas-magical-mozambique\/","title":{"rendered":"Amanda’s Magical Mozambique"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Amanda England<\/strong><\/p>\n

As I changed trains at Gatwick I looked wistfully at the signs for the airport terminal.\u00a0 I was at the start of my journey to Birmingham International.\u00a0 I found however that it was remarkably easy to travel from Horsham to Birmingham by train and well worth the trouble.\u00a0 The airport is small and very well equipped with so many restaurant choices and a good array of duty free shops.
\nI was a guest of Turkish Airlines<\/a> and this was my first flight with them.\u00a0 Well, they certainly know how to go out of their way to make you feel valued as a partner.\u00a0 Enes our host was charming.\u00a0 He organised a seamless check in and escorted us to the Business Class lounge – conveniently located for the shops if you wanted to have a wander, but why would you?\u00a0 The tantalising display of cakes – chocolate brownies, marble cake and flapjacks (just to name a few) was too hard to resist!\u00a0 If you preferred savoury then there was a mouth-watering selection of salads, from tabouulah to a more simple potato salad.\u00a0 It was at this point that I was advised that Turkish Airlines have their own chefs on board their flights.\u00a0 Wow, must make sure I don’t over-indulge now….<\/p>\n

Just prior to boarding, the Turkish Airlines Airport Manager came to see us off.\u00a0 Very impressive.\u00a0 That was just the beginning though.\u00a0 Settling into the very spacious and comfortable business class seats, the in-flight chef came round with our welcome drinks.\u00a0 Homemade lemonade, freshly squeezed orange juice or raspberry soda.\u00a0 Divine.\u00a0 I had to try both the raspberry soda and the lemonade – just to compare you understand!<\/p>\n

I now know that the best was yet to come.\u00a0 On arrival into Istanbul Airport we were whisked off to the Business Class lounge.\u00a0 This was simply the most incredible airline lounge that I have ever seen.\u00a0 No wonder it won “Best Lounge Worldwide” in the annual Skytrax Awards in 2015.\u00a0 I truly cannot imagine what you could possibly want that they have not already thought of.\u00a0 The double-storey lounge has been artfully divided into various sections.\u00a0 These range from a mini cinema, to a golf simulator range, to a child friendly area complete with a remote controlled car track and Sony Play Stations.\u00a0 The food areas incorporated a piano bar, an olive station, Turkish “street food” concessions, an indoor\/ outdoor garden and a more formal dining area to name but a few.\u00a0 This really was a hotel rather than a lounge, even down to the suites that you could book for a few hours!\u00a0 It was a very welcome break before we continued with our journey –\u00a0 another 12 hours of flying time before we arrived in Mozambique.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a> \"Photo <\/a>
\nOn arrival in Maputo we were met by Dana Tours<\/a> and the driver from Machangulo Beach Lodge.\u00a0 Swiftly and efficiently they drove us the short 15 minute drive to Maputo Marina.\u00a0 Here we would wait for our boat transfer to Machangulo Beach Lodge<\/a>,
\nNot a bad place to spend a couple of hours after a flight.\u00a0 The Marina Restaurant, complete with swimming pool, overlooked the sea.\u00a0 It was quite a basic set up but the staff were friendly, the facilities clean, the views great, the prices affordable and the food wonderful.\u00a0 Our first taste of the famed Mozambiquan prawns and we were not to be disappointed.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a> \"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

Fully fed and watered we now made our way to the Machangulo boat.\u00a0 A smooth hour and a half crossing and our destination appeared.\u00a0 Well I say it appeared – we saw a beautiful deserted beach with a group of people waving madly at us before they burst into what appeared to be impromptu singing, swaying and clapping, beaming from ear to ear.\u00a0 What a welcome!\u00a0 On closer inspection, we could now start to make out a few thatched roofs nestled in amongst the forest.\u00a0 This was a true African Lodge in both name, location and I hoped experience.<\/p>\n

\"Photo\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 \"Photo\u00a0 <\/a><\/p>\n

After a refreshing fruit cocktail we were shown to our rooms by the very charming Kelly and Jaco, the couple who run this lovely lodge.\u00a0 My villa was set back way, way into the forest but with the added benefit of being so close to the ocean I had the continuous soothing sound of the waves breaking against the beach.
\nA quick change and it was back for dinner.\u00a0 The main event at dinner was the Zambezi chicken curry.\u00a0 Authentic and perfectly proportioned.\u00a0 And then came the pudding….\u00a0 This was possibly the best chocolate mousse ever experienced and we made sure Phillipe the chef knew this.\u00a0 When asked he did share with me his secret recipe, but I couldn’t possibly divulge it…<\/p>\n

All set now for a great night sleep….<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a> \"Photo <\/a><\/p>\n

Next blog Coming Soon…<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Amanda England As I changed trains at Gatwick I looked wistfully at the signs for the airport terminal.\u00a0 I was at the start of…<\/p>\n

Continue readingAmanda’s Magical Mozambique<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[92,1,88],"tags":[206,209,205,208,52,207,210],"class_list":["post-6025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-africa","category-default","category-polana","tag-dana-tours","tag-ethos-fam-trip","tag-machangulo","tag-machangulo-beach-lodge","tag-mozambique","tag-polana","tag-turkish-airlines","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6025\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}