The key topping to any fantastic family holiday? The seaside! Africa is the place to find the bleached sand and gently undulating waters that will entertain children for hours. Grown-ups will love the sparkling private pools, ridiculously tuned-in butlers, and fresh seafood from the ocean at every turn.
Mozambique, Mauritius, and the Seychelles all offer year-round sunshine, but they do suffer from wind and rain at times, along with a bit of harmless, but unsightly seaweed. The best times to go are often April and November when the weather is unusually calm as the seasons change.
Ocean African Beach holidays
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Broadly speaking, May – September is the cooler dry winter, Oct/Nov and April are the ‘cross-over’ periods that tend to bring very calm and friendly weather, and November kicks off the rainy season which lasts until about March.
The rains in Mozambique, Mauritius, and the Seychelles are not the kind of rains we endure in the UK, but more like scattered showers with consistently warm/humid temperatures. However, this season can bring grey skies for a prolonged period, with rain and wind which can feel cold. We don’t want to put you off, but sadly we haven’t found a way of guaranteeing sunshine for our guests just yet (we’re working on it).
With Seychelles, there tends to be more rain on the bigger islands of Mahe and Praslin because they are hilly, so head for the smaller islands during the rainy season. Mozambique is lucky when it comes to rain and wind e), as it is quite protected by Madagascar which gets walloped by all manner of violent weather and heavy rain.
Mozambique stretches a considerable distance and so its northern and southern rainy season patterns are distinct. The southern coastal section of Mozambique has a shorter rainy season than the north, with most of the rain falling in Jan/Feb whereas the north tends to experience the full Dec – March.
Wind
Mauritius (and, to a lesser extent, the Seychelles and Mozambique) can get particularly windy during the winter (May to September).
This is great for windy watersports, but may not be so great for all the family waves can pick up volume and wind can be generally irritating.
We recommend sticking to the north and western sides of Mauritius if you want to avoid the wind during this time. The wind comes from the North-West from December through to March but these winds are usually gentle and warm, and as the east coast is pretty much always windy, we’d generally recommend the west coast throughout the year. Regarding Mozambique, head for a resort that is protected from the southeast and faces north/northwest, such as Azura / Andbeyond Benguerra.
Seaweed
These southeast trade winds that blow in the cool winter of May – September bring more than just wind they tend to wash up seaweed. The key places where this can happen are Southwest Mahé and Praslin in Seychelles, the south and east coast of Mauritius, and some Mozambique beaches.
The good news is plentiful:
The seaweed won’t hurt you (not even if you throw it at your children, we’ve discovered);
Many resorts and hotels will actually head out before you are awake in the morning, and clear the beach for you.