Blogs from Southern, Mozambique, Africa - page 13

The conductor of my Maputo-bound minibus resembles Laurence Fishburne after a career change, and the sound system boasts an impressive array of Billy Ocean, Spagna, and even RAF, but I pay a high cost for these diversions via another hot, lengthy, cramped journey. There's no respite to the disappointment when we arrive in Maputo, with the city host to a series of overpriced hotels with limited availability. I find a room in a place recommended by S but can only take it for one night, and when I later stumble across a pensao with free Internet and availability for three subsequent nights I book a room sight unseen. I take merciless advantage of the fast web access to go on a photo uploading spree. Maputo has a tediously bad reputation for crime, and a warning notice ... read more

The Nampula TCO rep had guessed we'd get to Vilankulos by about 5PM but her estimate is conservative by 100%, a pleasant surprise. Sadly, we aren't actually dropped at Vilankulos but at the junction from which it's a 25 minute chapa ride distant, but the chapa - more like a Sudanese boksi - leaves immediately and we soon find ourselves on a street corner in the centre of Vilankulos. We've barely disembarked when a Portuguese woman offers us a lift to wherever we want to go. Our first choice, the delightfully-named Zombie Cucumber hostel, is full, as is the woman's subsequent suggestion Dolphin Dhow. She then suggests Baobab Beach, which turns out to have a couple of spare huts. It's amusing to see the woman's interaction with her young daughter, who appears to be her assistant. ... read more

Unfortunately whale shark season finished several months back, and my interest in diving near Vilankulos wanes as soon as I hear that news. However S and I investigate an overnight dhow "safari" leaving the following day - it offers a night of camping on one of the islands of the Bazaruto Archipelago, plus snorkelling and walking, with transport being in a traditional dhow (with the main propulsion provided by a non-traditional outboard). It's expensive (not appreciably less than my land-based safaris in Kenya and Tanzania) but holds the promise of seeing interesting sealife including whales and dugongs. Our other companions are four thirty-something San Franciscans on a world tour after having been made redundant. They're inclusive in that admirable American way, and seem to be reliving some of their college days going by the cooler of ... read more

The end of our trip had come. The plan was to see more of Moz but once in Tofo we decided to just hang out. The beach there is lovely and we met so many nice people! We mostly hanged on the beach and tanned, and played bao!! What a great game. SO easy and yet so entertaining. Hooked up with a couple of South African guys and they showed us around quite a bit. One day we went to a beach further up the coast and looked for cray fishes but we didn't find any. We saw all the nice luxorious places though.. But I still feel the hut we had at Bamboozi was better. Very close to the beach and under the coconut trees. I love palm trees but they are scary when the ... read more

Finally Africa! The lady that checked our passports was very dissapointed, shaking her head when we did not have a place to stay. -Crazy backpackers. This how ever turned out not to be a problem at all. As soon as we stepped out of the terminal a woman came up asking us if we wanted to go to Fatimas Backpackers. And of course we did! Also met a 73 year old man from Sweden. Very friendly old navy officer. He gave us his number, just to call if we were wondering about something. =) And if we say like this - the air in Africa must be something special, he looked very healthy! Arrived at Fatimas at noon. First things first - we needed meticais! Went to an ATM. But no... could not take out any ... read more