Pemba is a port town in Mozambique located on the south side of the world’s third largest natural bay. It is the most important centre in northern Mozambique, and therefore has banks, patisseries, supermarkets and restaurants, although the town is very run down with paved streets having massive potholes and other storm water damage. The town was built over rolling hills, and most people live in wooden huts set amongst many thick baobab trees.
The town is renowned for its Portuguese colonial architecture. It was renamed Pemba at the end of Portuguese rule, in 1975.Pemba is also renowned as being a prime destination for water sport and diving enthusiasts as a coral reef lies close to the shore. Pemba has increasingly become a tourist destination, particularly for upper-middle class Mozambicans and South Africans. There is now a weekly flight from Johannesburg to Pemba, a five-star hotel, the Pemba Beach Hotel, restaurants, and other forms of entertainment.