Northern Mozambique

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After all the visa hassles we finally found ourselves in Mozambique, in a little town called Metangula on the shore of lake Malawi.

Tourism is at its infancy/almost non-existant here, it took is 3 days of travelling including a very pleasant train journey from Cuamba to Nampula to get near the east coast... the views from the train were spectacular and we had a cabin with fold down "beds" (more shelves really, but was the height of luxury compared to our usual modes of transport!) at every stop it was bedlam on the platform as people desperately tried to load and unload goods or sell anything from tomotoes, live chickens to furniture through the windows!




We were travelling with a Spanish guy, Jose, for some of the time, who was not only fluent in Portuguese but was also a docter, so was doubly useful (altho he was subjected to constant badgering about any aches and pains!)

First off we headed to Nacala Bay, where we finally got to dive again! The diving was excellent with loads of weird and wonderful tropical fish, including seahorses and lionfish....



while here I was woken up in the middle of the night by lots of little sharp stings, took us a few minutes to realise that the tent had been invaded by ants, who had eaten their way through the base and were now chowing down on my flesh! We hastily emptied and de-anted and took down the tent in the middle of the night before hunting down the dorm room... I didnt know the Spanish (or portuguese for that matter) word for ants, so when i told the nightwatchman about the ´pequeno animales´ in our tent he promptly grabbed a bow and arrow ready for action!

Next we chilled out for a couple of days in Pemba and built the formidable "castle Jimannastan" on the beach! complete with coconut leaf drawbridge and portcullis!




We met Jose again and sailed to Ibo island in the Querimbas Archipalago, really cool little island, as yet untouched by tourism, full of crumbling Colonial buildings and bags of character, we found the local disco, complete with mirror ball and neon lights but unfortunately they missed a delivery so the saturday night disco was cancelled... booo!





On the island we tracked down a couple of French ex-pats who agreed to take us diving and let us join them when they sail back to Pemba the following day... which was a nice journey (if a little choppy in parts) in itself.

After a brief stop in Pemba we headed to Ilha de Mozambique, which is a cross between the winding streets of stone town in Zanzibar and the colonial charm of Ibo... spent a very pleasant few days here, buying food from the local market to cook and exploring (also getting very drunk on cheap beer and gin!)



We also stocked up on some fine Makonde art work in Nampula bought from the carvers themselves after a fair bit of haggling!

Northern Mozambique is fantastic and I think we have come at the right time (for a change) before tourism takes off, because i´m sure that will happen very soon...

Photos can be found at the following address:

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