Mulala Marine Sanctuary is located on the coast of Nacala, Mozambique. Nacala is a port city with around 200,000 people that is vital as one of the country's main agricultural, export and industrial centers. Although the MPA is on a private stretch of land, we are located only 7 km from Nacala International Airport, and around 10 km from the city center.

Just fill our donation form here: https://www.mulalamarinesanctuary.com/donations Thank you so much in advance!

We have a year-round volunteer project, where people from all over the world can come stay with us in exchange for sharing their skills and time. Our volunteers can help with a number of things: monitoring the MPA, raising awareness through social media, gridding the coral areas, seaweeding, giving presentations in schools, scuba diving, and creating new marine conservation presentations. We are happy to welcome people with all different levels of experience and skill sets. Please reach out to us if you or anyone you know may be interested in joining the program!

No, anyone is welcome to help here. We have a lot of easy tasks that need to be done such as waste removal or taking footage of the sanctuary for social media. Also there will be enough time for training for the more difficult tasks.

We have limited gear available and can provide you with everything in theory. Bringing your own fins, snorkels, masks, wetsuits and/or rashwests is probably the most comfortable way for you. In any case, we provide cylinders, BCDs and regulators.

In order to volunteer, you don't need a diving certificate. There are plenty of jobs on land and most of the jobs in the water can be done snorkeling. Still, diving here is a plus and provides an immersive and unique experience. If you are interested in a diving certificate, it is possible to do your certificate here with us. Just let us know in advance.

Certainly! There are a lot of delicious local vegetarian and even vegan dishes such as Matapa and Shima. We had already loads of vegetarian volunteers and all were very satisfied with the food choices.

It is two weeks, but we recommend to stay for longer as then you will get used to the tasks and our project and your stay will have even more impact.

Accommodation consist of three units: 1) Two bedroom unit with kitchen, living area, bathroom and netted veranda 2) Two bedroom with private ensuite each, with shared kitchen, living area, guest toilet, scullery and netted veranda 3) One dorm unit with four beds bathroom and coffee area There is a common area where we work, eat and hang out plus many more leisure spots such as a trampoline, a swimming pool, a volleyball court and of course the wide, open ocean.

We start with a briefing at 8:00 am and discuss the tasks of the day. Depending on the tide, we first do our onshore or offshore tasks including cleaning the corals, beach clean up, social media management, school and funding presentations. Around 1:00 pm we have lunch. After lunch we continue with tasks as discussed during the briefing. The evenings are free and you can go to the gym, play games, take a nice swim in the ocean or do whatever you like. On Tuesdays and Thursdays you are invited to join the Portuguese class of the local expat school.

We provide accommodation for up to four volunteers. Depending on the season we always have around two to four volunteers. So you can look forward to meet many international people here, including the local expat community.

No, all beds have a spacious, built-in mosquito net. However, you should bring your own repellent as it is difficult to buy here.

The sanctuary has a good internet connection. In case of power outages or outdoor trips it might be useful to have a working SIM card. These are very affordable. You can buy them at Maputo airport or here in Nacala, in the city. Best providers are Movitel and Vodacom. In some areas of the housing though you don't have good reception.

Yes, we have good Wi-Fi in the main house!

First, fly to Maputo. From Maputo there is a connecting flight to Nacala. You will be picked up from the airport. We don't recommend coming from Maputo to Nacala on land as the travel takes four days. In the future, there might be a more direct connection to Nacala as the airport is being expanded.

There are always countless projects going on here at Mulala Marine Sanctuary! At the moment, we are growing and planting corals in certain areas to promote biodiversity. We are raising environmental awareness by giving presentations in schools. We also plant around 200 mangrove trees every year. Almost every day, we snorkel to weed the seaweed that negatively impacts the corals out. Moreover, we are monitoring a rabbit breeding project in surrounding villages, so that we can supplement protein into the diets of local people to make up for the fishing lost by the MPA. This project requires direct communication and education with the people of the surrounding villages.

First, we take care of the beautiful corals we have already in our sanctuary by surveying them regulary and freeing them from harmful sea weed. Second, we have a coral nursery where we regrow smaller corals until we relocate them. Lastly, we build cement structures that we put into the ocean that provide a foothold for new spawning corals. In addition, we go to local schools and try to raise awareness about our cause in order to educate the future generation to also take care of our marine wildlife.