SilverWood author puts spotlight on Mozambique
Published: 18 Dec 2025 - updated: 12 Jan 2026
By Stephen Powell
It’s been a long road a-winding, but it often is with book projects. I live in Portugal and try to pay attention to what is happening in the Portuguese-speaking world. Three years ago I cottoned on to an interesting yarn in Mozambique. An Idaho millionaire was pouring money into rehabilitating a national park, Gorongosa, where many animals were slaughtered during the country’s civil war.
"Wow, that’s a good story," enthused the journalist in me. So in 2024 off I went to Mozambique, a country two-and-a-half times the size of the United Kingdom, with a shoreline which extends for one third of Africa’s Indian Ocean coast. Sadly it has been synonymous with war and poverty, but I knew there was at least one inspiring story to tell. What else might I discover?
The answers are in Letters from Mozambique, due to be published in January. Mozambique is still mired in poverty, despite rich resources. I experienced the country as a mix of beauty, vitality and real frustration. One party has been in power for Mozambique’s entire half-century of existence.
I spent three months there and tried to apply a travel philosophy which I spelt out in an interview published in the December edition of the magazine Tomorrow Algarve (tomorrowalgarve.com).
STOP PRESS JANUARY 2026: read Stephen's 'Life after Reuters' article on the baron.info here.
Stephen Powell is an Algarve-based travel writer. With fellow writer Sue Hall, a close neighbour, he will be running a travel writing workshop on May 18-21, 2026.
See the website stephenpowellauthor.com for details.
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