A luxury new resort with a spa is to be built on Paradise Island – also known as Ilha Santa Carolina – in the Bazaruto Archipelago in southern Mozambique.

Opening in 2011, the project is a joint venture between Rani Resorts and Echo Delta Holdings, the concession holders of the island.

The resort will have 50 boutique bedrooms as well as a large Sanctuary Spa-branded facility, which will offer indigenous treatments combining Mozambican and Indian Ocean elements.

Other facilities will also include a dive centre and an air strip for easy access to the mainland. Ilha Santa Carolina was an exclusive playground for the rich in the 1950s and 60s, when Mozambique was still a province of Portugal. Bob Dylan is reputed to have composed his song Mozambique on the piano of the original hotel, before the war of independence and the ensuing civil war.

Rani Resorts currently has a portfolio of seven island and safari destinations, including Indigo Bay Island Resort and Spa on Bazaruto Island and the Medjumbe Private Island in the Quirimbas Archipelago in northern Mozambique. Details: raniresorts.com