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Saved: November 30th 2021
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Brokedown Bus
Yet another breakdown in Mozambique. As you can see by the road, they are not exactly up to first world standards. Yes, this is the main road between Quelimane and Nampula. Truth be told - we are tired. The punishing bus journeys of Mozambique exhausted us. In one case, we were on the bus at 4 am and arrived to our destination at 6:30 pm. In hindsight (good ol' hindsight), we would have headed for Malawi after Vilankulos. The soul-crushing bus trips to the north and Ilha de Mozambique just weren't worth it in the end. Don't get me wrong, Mozambique Island is nice to visit, but only if you fly up the country.
The journey to Nampula was very much like the rest of the bus trips - long, hot, uncomfortable and halted by mechanical troubles part way through. We did make it in the end and decided to stay an extra day in Nampula resting before making the final leg to Mozambique Island. We had met a fellow traveller, Jan (Dutch, but living in Mombasa, Kenya), on the bus and we travelled together to Moz Island.
Ilha de Mozambique is a small island, connected to the mainland by a 2.5 km causeway. It is rich in historical importance and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The island measures 700m by 2.5km. Is full of interesting old buildings,
Ilha de Mozambique
Small boy in doorway on the island. some derelict, others in the process of revitalization. There are not many tourists and not a lot of infrastructure. One thing that we hoped to do was more snorkling, but it did not pan out. After we found out the locals use the beach as a large, outdoor toilet, we did not want to swim in the ocean or brave the beach. The island is overpopulated - maybe because during the 17-year civil war the island was one of few places untouched by the war. The result is that almost every building, derelict or not, houses several families, living in very poor conditions.
On our last night, Jan treated us to a local bar that he found on his wanderings. It was basically someone's backyard where they brewed local cane spirit. It was some kind of nasty, but we tried it anyway! From there we went to a local restaurant and celebrated Jan's birthday with proper beer and good food. Thanks to Jan who paid for the evening!
We headed back to Nampula the following day. We had to stay overnight so we could catch the train early the next morning. We decided to try train travel to
Ilha de Mozambique
Slave warehouse memorial. The slave trade flourished on the island. see if it could be better than bus travel. In the end, it was long, but definitely more comfortable than the bus. The scenery through this part of the country is very beautiful and rugged. It was nice to enjoy the scenery from the train and be able to take pictures.
We arrived into Cuamba late, after 12.5 hours on the train (meant to be 10 hrs). Found our humble resthouse, ate, showered and went to bed. The next morning we were up early to catch a bus or minibus to the Malawi border. By this time we were pretty fed up with travel in Mozambique and just wanted out. As fate would have it, we were delayed 2 hours leaving Cuamba because there were not enough passengers for the bus to leave. The journey was very bumpy, at one point I felt like I was in one of those fat-busting machines that shakes the fat away, my whole body was vibrating (which made me think - if you vibrate all the fat out of one area, wouldn't it just settle in another?). When we were dropped off in the border town of Mandimba we were swarmed by local
Slave Memorial
This is what happens when you pull your camera out! boys and their bikes wanting to take us to the border. These lads wanted to put us on the back of their one-speed cruiser bicycles with all our bags. We laughed at first, because it was just crazy, we have way too much stuff. They were relentless. In the end we walked all the way to the first checkpoint with them dogging us at every step. It was not funny anymore to these tired, cranky, hungry and thirsty travellers. Luckily, the guard at the checkpoint seemed to sense our frustration and he flagged down an eighteen-wheeler truck to take us to the border (farther than we thought, it would have been a long, hot, dusty walk). The truck also kindly took us the remaining 5 km to the Malawian border too.
After the not-so-friendly welcome from the Malawian border official, we had to negotiate our next leg of the journey. We ended up in the back of a small pick-up truck (open) on our way to Liwonde. After changing into a minibus because the truck broke down, we finally found ourselves in Liwonde, around 5 pm. It took us 11 hours to travel less than 300 km. Sheesh!
Women
We stumbled across this women's football game the first evening in town. Yes, they are playing on concrete and some of the women are barefoot. Truth be told - we are tired.
In Liwonde we wanted to to see Liwonde National Park, but after searching for an entire day for the boat company that did transfers to the park via the Shire River we gave up. We did find the company (or the guy as it turns out) but his prices were far too high for just two people and we had met no other travellers in our wanderings around the town. It was too bad as the Shire River is a large river that runs the length of the park and it would have been great to see the river and the landscape from a boat. In the end we enjoyed other parts of Liwonde like the bustling night market that took place right outside our resthouse.
There is more to come, but we've decided to split the blogs up so it isn't one super long blog. Thanks for your patience as we have not been in touch lately. Our long travelling days have left us with few days in places where there is internet access.
Lots of love,
Laini and Peter
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Mikee
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Courage!
Thanks for the blog guys - keep on truckin'! Here's to short bus rides and beautiful scenery....