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Published: November 27th 2009
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Greetings from Africa
Here is our blog for Mozambique, which has been one of our favourite countries so far. The first thing that hits you about the country is the size of it! And north of the Zambezi river how un-touched by tourism it is. The country is very different between north and south with the south being close to South Africa and much more setup for tourism. Mozambique is the only country that the British did not at one time rule or have as a protectorate so it had a much different feel to it because of the Portuguese influence and old colonial Portuguese architecture. The other impression you get is that there is so little produce here. There were no real shops or supermarkets and all the veg had to be bought from stalls at the side of the road. Also if you don’t like rice and fish then you are in trouble as that is what they locals eat it had a very 3rd world feel to it all and definitely the culture shock we were looking for!
We had originally decided to head north upto Ilha de Mozambique but once we hit the EN1 which
is the main (and only ) road up the coast but we ran Into a few problems. The first problem we hit was that there was no real road, In Mozambique the roads are so bad that they are basically just a pot holed mess, so the Chinese are building them a new one that will travel the length of the country. Problem is they are doing it in sections, so the road has been ripped up ready for this to happen (but they are still 1000k’s south of here working there way north) We travelled down the side of the ripped up road but the going was slow and rough after about 40km we flagged down and passing UN aid worker (from Denmark) and he confirmed our suspicions that the road had been ripped up for the next 150km then after that it was still the old potholed mess right upto Pemba so we decided to cut our losses and head south. As we would have to of travelled up then back on this road.
We still had 700km to cover before we got anywhere we wanted to stop. It took us three days of driving for 8
hours to reach Inhassoro. We stayed at Mocuba and Inchope they were just a place to crash for the night. After the long days of driving to reach Inhassoro the road did get a lot better but the issue is that you would have 20km’s of good road then round the next bend the road would be washed out for a section so you would have to be very careful with the driving.
We had a night at Inhassoro which is a nice beach resort but really just setup for South African fishermen before heading for our first real destination which was Vilankulo.
Vilankulo is an old fishing village and very picturesque we stayed at a chilled backpackers on the beach that had camping for a few nights and ate local seafood and drank the local beers it was a nice spot to chill for a few days. The area is really famous for the Bazaruto Archipelago National Park which lies 20km of shore and is the quintessential tropical paradise with 5 main islands that have beautiful beaches, turquoise waters and amazing diving. It is only possible to visit the islands on a day trip if you don’t
want to stay at the $500 a night resort.
We booked a day trip out to the islands with a local dive school that gave us a snorkling and double dive on 2 mile reef, as well as lunch on the islands and a chance to have a look around. It was a really beautiful place and on our second dive we could hear humpback whales calling to each other.
Our next stop was Inhambane 3 hours down the coast which is one of Mozambique’s most pretty towns with lots of old colonial buildings. The area is famous for its beaches and its diving and its local population of manta ray and whale sharks. We headed for Tofo beach which is famous for its long arc of beach and part town atmosphere. Its was a beautiful place which we were only going to stay for a few days but we ended spending 8 days in the area checking out other beaches and relaxing. One of the nicest things about it was that it had a small town that you could wander into and eat at the local restaurants at night. The seafood would be fresh caught that morning
and we ended up eating out most nights in a local shack called black and white that served amazingly cheap local seafood for £1 for fish and rice and £2 for prawns and rice. This was the only place we have been to that had a decent beach scene that you could have a few beers and wander around after dark.
Tofo is famous for its diving so we booked a double tank dive to Manta reef (world famous for its Manta ray cleaning stations) and also went diving at Giants playground which had amazing fish life. The diving was spectacular with loads of fish and turtles and small devil rays but sadly no manta or whale sharks. We didn’t want to leave the area without seeing whale sharks so we booked onto a ocean safari with the whale shark research team and went out to try and find and photo the local whale sharks. We were lucky enough to see 2 whale sharks that were swimming near the surface they were around 6 meters long which is small for a whales shark (they grow to 20m) but still pretty massive when you are snorkelling next to them!!
After 8 days of chilling out on the beaches we decided to head down to the Capital Maputo 5 hours down the coast. Maputo is a real mixed bag, on one side it’s a pretty city that had a shabby chic feel to it with its crumbling buildings and beautiful tree lined avenues that reminded me a bit of Havana. But the poverty was everywhere and there was a shanty town that circle it and it had a busy hectic feel to it, it was my favourite African city so far and had a real buzz about it. But not really a place that you could stay to long.
Next stop is South Africa and the world famous Kruger National Park
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Lol and Mum
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Glad you got some good diving in and eventually got some pics of the whale sharks. Pity about the detour but better to be safe than sorry, although it sounds as thought the it had its compensations. Pic 18 is how I remember you but looking good in Pic 22. See Adam as debonair as always. Lots of love xxxxxx