🇲🇿Mozambique

Boat and Underwater Protocol

• Use licensed local operators who check tides, swell, currents, dive level, marine-zone permission and the actual sea forecast.
• Ponta and Tofo boat launches commonly cross surf; check rescue and reboarding procedures and carry an SMB where required. Deep pinnacles and reef ledges are not casual Open Water substitutions.
• Confirm available oxygen, communications, nearest medical facility, evacuation transport and the skipper's lost-diver plan before departing. Do not dive after illness or outside training limits.
• For snorkeling and freediving, never dive alone, never hyperventilate, use suitable flotation, and do not follow megafauna into open or unsafe water.
• Follow dive-agency and medical guidance for safe surface intervals before flying after scuba, especially when planning domestic connections.

Medical facilities and medicines can be limited outside large cities, and some hospitals request payment before treatment. Do not assume a recompression chamber, advanced trauma service or fast air ambulance exists near Ponta, Tofo or Bazaruto. Carry a diving-insurance policy with emergency consultation, evacuation and repatriation appropriate to the planned activity and remote island transfers. In a suspected diving injury, end diving, seek local emergency help, provide first aid and emergency oxygen through trained responders if available, and contact DAN/your insurer for medical coordination.

The CDC recommends malaria chemoprophylaxis for Mozambique and review of routine and travel vaccinations; arrange individual medical advice before departure. Yellow fever certificate requirements depend on travel origin and transit. Use mosquito protection, safe drinking water and food precautions.

Protected Habitats

• Bazaruto Archipelago National Park protects reefs, seagrass, dugongs, turtles and island systems. Obtain park permissions and follow relevant no-take, boating, anchoring and marine-wildlife codes. A Bazaruto-specific regulation was adopted in April 2026.
• Maputo National Park encompasses the former Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve, with marine fees and restrictions for diving, snorkeling, wildlife watching and nesting beaches. Use approved guides and do not enter closed or sensitive areas.
• Mozambique granted whale sharks, manta rays and devil rays legal protection in 2021. Marine Megafauna Foundation research documents drastic historic declines around Tofo, underscoring why tourism must not promise or pressure wildlife interactions.
• Never feed, touch, chase or stand on marine life or coral. Use moorings where directed, maintain approach distances from whales, dugongs, dolphins and turtle nests, and take no shells, coral or wildlife. Avoid buying threatened-animal products.
• The Quirimbas and other northern marine habitats are ecologically significant, but public travel advisories currently make casual tourism inappropriate in much of that region.