Paradise is getting a US$102 million makeover.

South African luxury safari travel company Singita is investing US$60 million to build a 60-bed lodge on Mozambique’s Santa Carolina Island, made famous by the global reality show Survivor, according to Moneyweb.

The company is also investing US$42 million on projects around the Bazaruto Archipelago, including Santa Carolina, which is nicknamed Paradise Island.

The existing hotel on the island – built in the mid-1900s when Mozambique was still a Portuguese colony – is uninhabitable, but in its heyday purportedly paid host to such well-known celebrities as Elton John and Bob Dylan.

Mozambique’s tourism industry has bounced back after Covid pandemic, growing 35% in the latter half of 2023; however, last year it took another beating owing to the violence that followed the disputed national elections.

Mozambican President Daniel Chapo’s government has now pledged to make it easier for tourists to get travel permits, and is introducing 10-year residency visas for investors bringing in US$5 million

Singita owns luxury lodges in five African nations, including Tanzania and Rwanda, but says this is its first foray into marine conservation.

The archipelago forms part of one of the most vital marine corridors and biodiversity hotspots along the East African coast, and is home to sea cows and whale sharks.

25 November 2025
Image: Freepik