Barco's De Macaneta Lodge

We had a lovely stay, was a little hot! Accommodation was great and lovely to have air con. Very accommodating we only had to ask and we recieved! Thank you for the tour of the island, the guys did a great job.

What a magnificent place - out of this world! If you are into relaxing then this place is definitely for you. After an eight-hour journey from Johannesburg to Barcos, we finally crossed the ferry and arrived at De LaRey's shack and had a great laugh there for a while before continuing the last 2 to 3 km to Barcos. So far we had travelled without incident and thought the last 2 km would also be a breeze. Well, we were mistaken, however it was certainly fun having travelled up in a 2x4 SUV. The last 200 m became thick sand and yes, we got stuck. After deflating the tyres to 1.2 bar we finally got out of the sand. So that answers my earlier query, yes you can make it in a 2x4 SUV, but I would not try it in a saloon car. We were made to feel at home by Solly and his team, and thanks to Alfonso who took really good care of our log cabin which was always clean and a pleasure to stay in for a long weekend. The surroundings of beach and more, were excellent with fish, prawns and crayfish always available to be purchased. We had a fantastic time. We visited a couple of pubs on Maceneta and had a great time there too. I will be back one day but have been warned to stay away from school holidays when it does get slightly busy. Solly, we had a great time and send our regards to all there and Claire says she is coming back to smuggle socks back to South Africa! Give our regards to all at Barcos, especially Alfonso.

First time visit to Barco's. Stay excellent.

Absolutely beautiful place in a pristine location; accomodation perfect: clean, comfortable, well equipped kitchen. 4x4 obligatory. It is a long, bumpy but exciting journey involving two ferries up from the Farazela border, so we recommended that you go for a few days to make it worthwhile! Very family and boating orientated; not a party destination. Afrikaans influence. Huge bay ensures deep, calm waters but no waves to speak of besides shories. No reefs for snorkelling but lovely pool area perfect for kids. Really lovely place to go and unwind on the white beaches while the boys go fishing. Enjoy!

The lodge is really nice. The units need to be kept a little cleaner though, especially the kitchens. Staff are friendly and speak Portuguese and Afrikaans with little English and Zulu. The manager Solly is really friendly and always willing to help. If the ferry is not working it's really difficult to get to the lodge and this adds around 1.5 hours to your journey and can only be accessed with a 4x4 due to the sandy roads. Fishing was really bad when we were there. We kept hearing of the locals netting and selling fish in the mornings but never saw that. There were the odd nettings but the locals were not always willing to sell the fish.