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Published: June 17th 2017
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01 Cycling
Two men cycling by the canal. Geo: -25.0519, 33.6442
The Mozambique side of the border was also very quick which surprised me as we were so isolated in the middle of a huge game reserve, hours away from civilisation. In less than 5 minutes I had a visa with a coloured photo in my passport and they had a fingerprint reader. This was very hi-tech and efficient. Paul, Barney and Brett didn't need a visa, so while I was getting my visa they were dealing with the guys who were checking our car. The guy did consider searching the car, he said 'It is a very hot day, I am thirsty, and do you have a cold drink for me?'. He could not be bothered looking through our car and was more than happy with a 2 litre bottle of Coke. The guys were very happy as they had meat hidden in the car and more booze than what was allowed. So we entered Mozambique at 11am.
We were now in the Greater Limpopo National Park. It was a very boring drive. The only sign of any animal life was a few impalas and some elephant dung. We arrived at the Campismo Albufeira at 1pm. There was not
02 Vegetables
Lots of tomatoes, onions and cabbages being sold by the road. much enthusiasm about staying here as there were no animals around. We asked the reception desk a few questions - Is there a pool? Are there many animals around? How far to Xai Xai? Etc, his answers helped us make up our mind – we were off to Xai Xai. Bring on the beach!
So now we were on our way to Xai Xai for a night, which was apparently a 3 to 4 hour drive. About an hour after leaving the campsite we left the national park through Massingir Gate. We were now driving through the rural countryside. The scenery consisted of many banana trees, lush, green vegetation, terrible roads that were full of huge potholes, thatch huts, ladies with babies at the wells filling up containers, many people selling piles of firewood by the road, diesel was also sold by the road in clear plastic bottles, simple roadside stores and nuts being sold in clear plastic bags tied onto dead branches.
We arrived in Xai Xai at about 5pm. This is one of the larger tourist coastal towns. We were hoping that accommodation would be easy to find. We followed the signs. Many of the resorts seem
03 Bananas
A couple of banana trees. to be abandoned. One place that we inquired at had a great bar on a hill looking out over the beach, but unfortunately they did not have any space for us. We could not be bothered camping for one night, so we continued on along the sandy track that was parallel to the beach. Further along the way we tried another place, fortunately they had space for us and at a bargain price too of only R250 per person per night.
Here we stayed in a four bedroom chalet. As we unpacked the car, we enjoyed a gorgeous sunset. The view of the beach was amazing. We sat on the deck, having a few cold ones as we waited for the fire to be ready for barbecuing on. This evening we fell asleep to the sound of the ocean and the feeling of the cool ocean breeze. Later that night Paul and I woke up to a swarm of mosquitoes that were immune to our repellent. We should have slept in the room that had mosquito nets.... luckily we were taking malaria pills.
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