Baraka Beach

We were there for our honeymoon in 2019, what a divine place it was! Breakfast was divine, the pool sparkling and the staff attentive. The few minor issues we had were attended to immediately. 5 years on after a terrible personal tragedy my husband aurprised me with a return visit. We arrived full of expectations. Our first 'surprise was the reception - we felt the way when you arrive at family that have to put you up for a weekend out of duty, nothing else. The room we stayed in in 2019 looked exactls it did then, but sadly absolutely NO maintenance was done on it since then. The linen was not renewed since then. The sheets are threadbare. The pillows are bags with lumpy stuff in it, selling like wet chicken. The towels are perfect - to remove dead skin cells - and live ones too. They will remove splattered bugs off your car, with the paint as an added bonus. The shower is a dream for a scientist with an interest in mold and algae. The room, and the entire place in fact, is an entomologist's dream! We saw a bigger of insects there than at the area our chickens are kept part of the day. If ever there is a TV show Pool Restorers they will probably fail trying to restore this impossible challenge! However, not all is bad about the place. Hearing our vehicle's doors go "chunk chunk" was extremely satisfying! The trip back was relaxing. We stopped at a small roadside place. We were receives like VIPs. The prego he ate wa perfect, my half chicken as good as it can be. We left with a whole cooked chicken and a few pao. That stop was the best part of our trip!

We booked Baraka Beach because of the excellent reviews and were really suprised by this place. It's a hostel, not a hotel and it's quite run-down. It has a potential to become a cute little hostel, I agree that it's built in a nice eco style. But now you wouldn't want to swim in the pool, the furniture and pillows by the pool are run-down and dirty, the tablecloth is not beeing cleaned and there are caterpillars all over the place, especially in the shower and at your doorstep to the cabin. There are mainly two young boys working at the reception/bar and they are mostly concerned that the guests must drink rum. They were friendly and welcoming and our grown-up kids played games with them. The breakfast is good, but you will have to wait a loong time to get it. The wi-fi only works at the reception area. The boys at the reception booked us a trip to the Bazaruto, which was a terrible experience with three young boys driving an old boat at full speed with all the passengers screaming. I hope the owners of Baraka, who reportedly live abroad, will put down some money to fix it. I have no confidence in the good reviews. We were looking forward to four relaxing days in Vilanculos and were very disappointed. It feels like being scammed.