Blogs from Mozambique, Africa - page 14

1st – 2nd November 2010 Kampala – Nairobi - Pemba Leaving Kampala.......Well most of the goodbyes had been said and the promises made to return to Kampala one day. Our last night in Lions Motel was heralded by the firing up of the generator outside my room which was left on for most of the night which meant that when the alarm went off early in the morning I’d had very little sleep. Our bus left at 7.15am so after managing to get a takeaway coffee from Café Javas we boarded our Queens Coach and actually left ON TIME!!! After getting over the shock Kath and I settled in for our 12 hour drive to Nairobi. The trip itself was only memorable for the fact that nothing happened and the drive was relatively smooth except for ... read more

From Tofo to Maputo, there is a door to door shuttle run by an independent company to Fatima's, leaving at 4am. It loads the bus with backpackers first, jamming the backpacks under the seats and most likely charging a premium. Then is rams in as many locals as physically possible. I get a seat with leg room, not on the wheel arch for once so can actually get some sleep. The journey is estimated at 5-10hours depending on what occurs on the journey, many new arrivals to Tofo took 9 hours so I have low expectations and am shocked when we get to Maputo Fatima's at 10am, only 6 hours! I try to fly to Nampula that day but the flight is full so I book one for 8am the next morning. I wander Maputo the ... read more

Weather spoiled my Mozambique experience. The idea was to visit all these various beaches along the Indian Ocean but when cloud blocked out the sun for most of my stay I decided to just stick to Viliankulo and Tofo. Both known for its diving. Viliankulo is close to the Bazaruto island which is the more ideal place to stay but since its about $300 a night I stayed in Zombie Cucumber in Viliankulo which despite having mattresses on the floor it was the best hostel and sleep that I have had in a while. There are many islands to choose from but Bazaruto is the best one where diving or snorkelling is combined as a tour. Diving costs an expensive 100-euro to get 2 dives with some poor quality equipment. Easily the worst so far in ... read more

Maputo to Inhambane is only 1 hour by plane, the LAM staff are as unhelpful as ever and have no ideas as to where to fit my bag. I find room under someone else's seat with the help of many passengers and not the staff. Inhambane is about 20mins from Tofo, so I get a taxi. Staying at Fatima's Nest, luckily this is much better than the Maputo Fatima's which has rude staff. The accommodation is beach huts or dorms, the dorm is also a thatched hut just much bigger and all have mossie nets so no probs there. Luckily after 30mins, up walk Nik and Liz from the beach, my truck buddies! They acquaint me with the facilities, then we're off to a local hut for dinner. Black and White is a tiny shack of ... read more

The joys of Africa Yes it's been a while between drinks, but I'm finally in Botswana and have a semi reliable internet connection. Something I haven't really had much of since I left South Africa. The overnight bus from Johannesburg to Maputo was fairly good, all things considered. We arrived at the Mozambique border around 3am and had to walk between check points while a million people were trying to exchange money at a bad rate, or sell us sim card's for about 33cents each, or steal foreign passports. I passed on these and got across the border without any hassles. After a day in the capital, a bunch of us caught a bus to Tofo, on the coast. This was not such a comfortable bus ride but after 8 hours of dust and bumps and ... read more