Omuhipiti – Saquina Island

The islands emerging as if they were mushrooms in the long sea-blue landscape, become a kind of reverse oasis in a sense, land in the sea desert.

Born in Monapo and moving to the island at the age of two, this is the screaming proof
that only after living a long time can we define our identity.

The sea goes through rocks eaten away by time and salt. But they are still piled there, as if protecting – for the Island to remain an island – the land from the sea that arrives in violent waves and dies, albeit a little at a time, in the foam of the days. Also the Fortress of São Sebastião, built between 1545 and 1547 to control those arriving by sea, today seems to fulfill the mission of resisting the advancing waters. And it resists imposing, feeding the mysticism of its construction. In the island’s founding legend, Muanante is the name of the gigantic creature that one night set to work and the following morning had already built the Fortress. This story resists time, by word of mouth, in what academicism calls oral tradition, still so present on the Island. To this day, there are those who do not believe that men and women, the natives and those who arrived by caravels and wanted to make the Island a permanent dwelling, could by their own hands erect the monument in heavy vertical stones.

From monuments to people, the Island is this invocation of mysticism. This is what Saquina’s image confirms to us, in her namesake restaurant, there so close to the sea and so close to the Fortress. The face covered with m’siro, this powder acting as a veil, which hides and at the same time insinuates the face it covers, as if imposing on our gaze the challenge of revelation. “The m’siro/the enchantment of my eyes/completes your insular image./On the shore of your body/the apotheotic foam/of the waves’ orgasm./The jubilation on the singing cliff.” is a lot in these verses by Nelson Saúte.

Born in Monapo and moving to the island at the age of two, this is the screaming proof that, if the place of birth defines our origin, only after living a long time can we define our identity. “I’m from the Island” – she says 42 years after her birth, with her hands preparing nimino, a fish and banana stew (which can also be made with cassava or sweet potatoes). The trips are also about the flavours that mark the memory of the place. But the space where the restaurant is located today, which is an obligatory stop for anyone visiting the island, right by the sea, is also evocative of other memories. As a teenager in love, Saquina would spend long afternoons watching the sun being swallowed by the sea and the night covering the sky, to allow as much privacy as possible. This memory still seems physical and Saquina doesn’t hide her smile. After all, from sea (mar in Portuguese) to love (amar) the distance is but an “a”, invoking the “ah” that suggests sighs of dormant pleasures.

In August, whales and dolphins hit the coast, beyond Goa Island.

The Island is the insular part, but also the mainland part, one being the raison de vivre of the other. The continent is only so because there are long kilometres of water separating it from the spasms of dry land. A trip aboard a sail-powered and motor-powered canoe, with the bumps typical of the sea roads, leaves us at the Governors’ Summer Palace, built in 1765. Today, it is a ruin that summons the history of more than six centuries. The Nossa Senhora dos Remédios Church, built in 1579, in an architecture reminiscent of the Manueline style of the time, is another mandatory stop.

Saquina, with her face covered in m’siro, personifies the mystery that characterises her
Omuhipiti.

From monuments to people, the Island is this invocation of mysticism.

This is Omuhipiti – the island’s original name – that Saquina is proud of. The historic Omuhipiti, but also made of vegetable and living matter like the mangrove, suggesting a garden in the middle of the sea where herons can be seen on light branches. Omuhipiti, which is the arrival point, but also the departure point to Cobras Island, Goa Island, and Sete Paus Island, which emerging as if they were mushrooms in the long sea-blue landscape, become a kind of reverse oasis in a sense, land in the sea desert.

In August, whales and dolphins hit the coast, beyond Goa Island. “Come back then, with more time to spare. They will discover other tourist attractions, another part of our history,” she dares us as if more than 500 years of life were possible to encompass in less than 500 years of visit. But we will come back. Perhaps to get to know her house, in the Museum district, where the buildings tell stories of other times, of times when there was no time and no desire for time to be suspended. Also to get to know the streets of fire, invoked in a popular song, that only those who stay on the Island for a long time may know. Just over three days wasn’t enough. How much Island does a man need?

▶ How to go

Fly with the LAM to Nampula and from there it’s a little over two hours by car to the Island of Mozambique.

▶ What to do

A stay in Ilha de Moçambique is in itself a worthwhile experience. Walking through the streets, between the City of Macúti and the City of Stone and Lime, visiting monuments that recall other times, is to be close to a distant historical moment, but which says a lot about humanity today. A boat trip to Goa Island and from there on, repeating the route of Portuguese navigators is another route that our imagination requests.

▶ Where to eat

Eating nimino or siro-siri matapa helps to emphasize the memory of the Island of Mozambique. You can try them at Saquina’s restaurant. But there is also the cuisine, always diverse, of several restaurants and hotels spread throughout the Island.

▶ Where to sleep

There are a multitude of hotels. From those that offer, in the past, a feeling of sleeping in the lap of History, such as Quinta das Amoreiras or that place us in front of a vast sea and help us escape from the urgent needs of the world, such as Villa Sands.

▶ What to watch out for

Being aware of the weather when you want to go on boat trips will help you not to be surprised by turbulent experiences. If you visit the Governors’ Summer Palace, be careful with the floors that time has made fragile.

Issue 68 Jul/Aug | Download.