MapMozambiqueTofoPraia do Tofo / Tofinho / Praia da BarraTofo

Praia do Tofo / Tofinho / Praia da Barra

Inhambane Province · Praia do Tofo

also known as Tofo, Tofinho, Barra Beach, Tofo Beach, Praia do Tofo, Praia da Barra, Ponta da Barra

Part of Tofo →

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

beginner-friendlymedium crowds

On this page

The spot
Wind
Forecast
Month by month
Water
Level
The scene
Launch
Schools
Tips
Getting there
Photos
FAQ

Riding essentials

Season

Apr–Oct

Months riders and schools name

How windy

15-25 knots

Character: mixed

Room to launch

huge

access rules on record, below

Water

mixed

28 °C in summerThere are three riding options: Tofo bay for small waves, Tofinho for bigger waves, and Barra lagoon for flat water

Hazards

Reported by riders

Level

Beginner to advanced

With a caveat: see Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Crowds

medium crowds · busy Jul Aug Dec Jan

Schools

named at this spot

From the airport

Inhambane Airport (INH)

Transfer times under Getting there

When it fills in

Comes up around midday and runs through the afternoon; mornings are usually light. That is the dry-season pattern. Outside May-October the wind is less predictable in strength and in timing.

Nearbystraight-line distance

Guinjata Bay25 km

Backup spotsWhere riders go when the wind doesn't work here.

Ponta Zavora
Praia da Barraalso a name for this spot
Tofinhoalso a name for this spot
Praia do Tofo bayno page yet
Vilanculos / Bazaruto area
Praia do Bileneno page yet

The spot

Praia do Tofo is a dive town first and a kite spot second, better known for whale sharks and manta rays than for anything with a bar in it.

Three beaches

Three beaches do the work: small waves in Tofo bay, proper wave riding at Tofinho, and flatter lagoon and sandbar water at Praia da Barra.

Season and water

The defensible window on the Inhambane coast is May to October, when the dry-season southeast trades come through, though Barra and Tofinho get given later peak months, so plan off the live forecast rather than the calendar. Water sits around 28 C at its warmest and about 23 C in the coolest months.

Learning and hazards

Beginners should learn at Barra with the school instead of treating open ocean as a forgiving classroom. Tofinho is why advanced riders come: warm water over a reef, with rocks and a wind angle that make local advice worth having before you launch. Nobody publishes beach zoning or rescue information for any of the three, and the boats working the bay are out there for the megafauna, not for you.

The wind

locals call it Southeasterly trade wind

Direction

cross-on

Direction to shore

cross-on

Dominant direction

SE to SSE in the main dry-season Tofo pattern; NE and E-sector winds also work at Barra and Tofinho.

Kite sizes

567891011121314151617

metres · typical quiver highlighted

The quiver, in words

For a 75-85 kg rider in the 15-25 kt dry-season trades, 9 m is the everyday kite and 7 m covers the top of the range from August to September.The rest of the year the honest answer is light-wind gear: a foil kite or a 12-15 m tube with a big directional or a large twintip. That is what the local school stocks and what it puts people on, which tells you how much of the calendar sits under 15 kt.

Character

mixed

When it fills in: see above ↑

Typical strength

15-25 knots in the May-October dry-season window; local schools also emphasize light-wind equipment for local conditions.

Seasonally useful but not guaranteed every day: light-wind days call for foils and big boards, while the dry season brings steadier 15-25 knot southeast trades.

The best-supported kite window for Tofo Beach is May-October, with August-September the most reliable. Tofinho is given as best August-December and Praia da Barra as best October-December, so anyone working all three beaches should check current forecasts instead of assuming one season covers them. Mozambique's south coast also carries a late-December to early-April cyclone and rain risk.

Forecast

Live forecast

Windguru Windfinder Windy

Month by month

riding season from the spot record · the wind series here holds no strength figure

No month-by-month share of windy days is held for this spot. The months riders and schools name are Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, and whatever the series does hold is in the table below.

Measured at Inhambane Airport, ~14 km from the spot (2008-10-01 to 2026-07-31 (observation window; not continuous)).

Every figure, month by monthWind from

Month	Wind from
Jan	SE
Feb	SE
Mar	SE
Apr	SE
May	SE
Jun	SE
Jul	SE
Aug	E
Sep	E
Oct	ESE
Nov	E
Dec	E

How this was measuredmeasured · 2008-10-01 to 2026-07-31 (observation window; not continuous)

What was recorded here is in the table above, but it holds no wind-strength figure for any month, so no season is drawn from it. The season is the one the spot record names.

A station this far away — often inland or at an airport — can understate accelerated local wind. The direction is a column of the table above, month by month. Highlighted months are the riding season from the spot record.

Inhambane Airport · windfinder.com · 2008-10-01 to 2026-07-31 (observation window; not continuous)

The water

Type

mixed

Standing depth

Standable water is a Barra feature, not a Tofo one. The sandbar there gives flat to choppy waist-deep water on the right tide, which is where lessons and first independent sessions go. Tofo bay and Tofinho are open-ocean beaches that shelve away quickly: no teaching depth, and at Tofinho the shallow part is reef and rock rather than sand.

Tides

Large semi-diurnal range. On the Back Beach station 3 km from Praia do Tofo, highs run from about 1.5 m to nearly 3.0 m and lows from 1.3 m down to about -0.1 m, so a spring cycle moves roughly 3 m of water. Kiting here is often called tide-independent, and for Tofo bay in a steady trade that broadly holds.Tide and breaksThe sandbar at Barra and the reef shelf at Tofinho both change character across that range, and wave quality at Tofo and at Tofinho moves with the tide. Check the table before Barra and before Tofinho even if you skip it for the bay.

Temperature

28 °C summer · 23 °C winter

Wetsuit

Boardshorts are normal in warm months; a shorty or thin summer suit is useful in the cooler June-August water, around 23 °C in late August with a July minimum near 23.1 °C.

Currents

Open Indian Ocean beaches at Tofo and Tofinho can have surf-zone drift and rip-current exposure; no authoritative current chart was found for the kite zones.

Conditions

There are three riding options: Tofo bay for small waves, Tofinho for bigger waves, and Barra lagoon for flat water. Tofinho is a fairly exposed reef/point break with rocks, while Barra is a big sandy beach with shallow flat-to-choppy water and small waves around the sandbar.

Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Beginners can take IKO lessons with Kitesurf Tofo and use the flatter Barra lagoon conditions with supervision. Independent beginners should avoid Tofinho: it is rated intermediate/expert, with a reef/point break and rocks. Tofo bay and Barra suit freeride/intermediate sessions when launch, wind angle and boat traffic are manageable.

The scene

What riders come here for

freeridewavesflat waterlight windsurf-kite traveldive-and-kite trips

Who it suitsbeginnerlessons

Relaxed backpacker, dive-travel and beach-lodge scene, with Tofo as the lively base and Barra more resort/lodge oriented; kite crowds appear much smaller than the dive and surf crowds.

Launch and rules

three ways on to the water, and what each one asks of you

With a school or a boat

2 schools name this spot

See who they are

On your own

Room to launch: huge

Read the access rules

Somewhere else

1 spot nearby

Guinjata Bay25 km

The one spot within 40 km is under Nearby

Rescue

No lifeguard and no public rescue boat. The local school teaches and rents but will not release gear without a recognised certification and a passport, which is the only gatekeeping on the beach.

Dive and ocean-safari boats are on the water most mornings and are the de facto help within the bay; they are working boats, not cover, and they stop running in the afternoon when the wind is best. At Tofinho there is nothing at all. Reef and rock, and a small launch area.

Launch

The local kite school works out of Praia do Tofo and uses three beaches: Tofo bay for the everyday session, Barra lagoon on transfer, and Tofinho for waves. Tofo and Barra are broad sandy beaches. Tofinho's launch area is small and better left to experienced riders.

Hazards riders report 15 reported

Wind

No lifeguard and no rescue boat; the dive fleet is off the water by early afternoon, which is when the wind is best

Crowds and zones

boat traffic from dive/fishing operators
Dive, ocean-safari and fishing boat traffic from Tofo/Barra operators

Bottom

reef at Tofinho
Reef and rocks at Tofinho, including very shallow rock sections
Reef and rocks at Tofinho, including very shallow rock sections
Tofinho's launch area is small and hemmed by rock: a bad place to lose a kite

Waves and currents

rip currents on open beach sections
Medium to bigger surf at Tofinho and open-ocean shorebreak at Tofo
Rip-current and longshore-drift risk on exposed Indian Ocean beaches
Sharks come with the Tofinho surf, and there is no kite-specific incident data either way
About 3 m of spring tidal movement, which exposes and covers the Barra sandbar and changes the reef depth at Tofinho within a session

Other

marine life (whale sharks/manta rays are harmless but common in the water)
Cyclone and heavy-rain risk in the southwest Indian Ocean summer season, especially late December-April on the south coast
Sharks are a hazard at Tofinho; no kite-specific incident data is available

Rules & access

1 min read

2026: no kitesurf permit, launch zoning, hours or seasonal ban is published for Tofo, Tofinho or Praia da Barra, and this stretch sits outside the nearest declared protected areas, Pomene Special Reserve up the coast and Bazaruto Archipelago National Park beyond it. That may change: an Environmental Protection Area running from the Save River south to Zavora, which would take in Tofo, has been proposed and is waiting on government approval.Current practiceWhat applies in the meantime is practice rather than statute. Keep out of the corridor where dive and ocean-safari boats launch and land on Tofo's main beach, the one restriction stated outright. Keep a respectful distance from whale sharks, manta rays and migrating humpbacks; this is a working megafauna tourism site and boats will be manoeuvring around animals.Beach and boat rulesAs elsewhere in Mozambique, driving on the beach outside designated launch strips is prohibited, and a temporary maritime licence is required for private boats, jet skis and kayaks.

Access rules drift faster than anything else we hold — check locally, and propose an edit if this has changed.

Schools that ride here

Rider tips

Book the local school at Praia do Tofo for daily lessons and rental; it also lines up dives with Peri-Peri Divers on no-wind days.
Carry a certification card and your passport if you want to rent. Without them you get taught, not handed a kite.
Bring light-wind gear: foil kites, hydrofoils, big boards and big tube kites.
Reserve that kit before you fly if you are not carrying your own, because it is what the school stocks and what most of the calendar needs.
Ride Tofo bay for small-wave freeride when the trade is in.
Go to Barra for the flat sandbar sessions, and treat Tofinho as a wave spot only if you already ride reef point-breaks.
Read the tide table before Barra and before Tofinho even if you skip it for the bay: a spring cycle moves about 3 m of water.
At Tofinho the offshore direction is south-southwest, so the SE trade arrives side-shore over a right-hand reef. Good for backside riding, unforgiving if you drift down onto the rocks.
Launch clear of the corridor where the dive and ocean-safari boats come and go on Tofo's main beach.
Dive in the morning and kite in the afternoon, not the other way round: the boats go early, the wind comes at midday.
Do not bank a kite trip on December or January. Warm water and a holiday atmosphere, less certain wind, higher rain and cyclone risk.

Getting there

Airport

Inhambane Airport (INH)

Route

Fly to Inhambane Airport and take a road transfer to Tofo/Barra, or drive north from Maputo on the EN1; Maputo-Tofo is roughly 7-8 hours by road.

Transfer

20-30 minutes from Inhambane Airport to Tofo. The road is 20.9 km and takes about 23 minutes, or about 20 on the quicker estimate.

Cost level

low to medium locally, higher if flying. Tofo has hostels and self-catering as well as lodges; flying into Inhambane is the fast way in and the expensive one.

Staying

Kitesurf Tofo House, backpacker hostels, self-catering beach houses, dive lodges around Tofo, and the beach resorts at Barra.

No-wind days

Scuba diving, ocean safaris for whale sharks and manta rays, snorkeling, surfing, SUP/kayak where available, humpback whale watching in season, local markets and Inhambane day trips.

Photos

FAQ

Is this area suitable for beginners?

Yes, beginners can take lessons and use the flatter Barra lagoon, but should avoid Tofinho, which is rated intermediate to expert with a reef/point break.

When is the best time?

Tofo Beach's best window is May to October, with Tofinho best August to December and Barra best October to December.

What is the wind like?

Southeasterly trade winds, typically 15-25 knots in the dry season, cross-on to shore.

Is there a kite school?

Yes, Kitesurf Tofo runs daily lessons and rents gear from Praia do Tofo.

What hazards should I know?

Reef and rocks at Tofinho, rip currents on open beach sections, and boat traffic from dive and fishing operators.

The bigger pictureEverything about Tofo

Last updated: August 2026