Blogs from Mozambique, Africa - page 32

The fish eagle's cry. A peregrine falcon meticulously plucking and eating his breakfast of what appears to be a wader of some description, given the length of avian legs hanging off the branch. The self-important chattering of a giant kingfisher as it takes up its perch on the dead tree near the Lake shore... but only once the falcon has vacated the premises. A bearded scrub-robin hammering the local ant population, with our vocal encouragement. A slender mongoose with his reptilian breakfast hanging out either side of his mouth. The dassies among the rocks, playing peek-a-boo with the visiting humans. Iridescent-coloured skinks scuttling around the paths and rocks, their progress suddenly frozen when a human appears. A briefly-glimpsed otter. The ever-entertaining antics of a troop of vervet monkeys playing in the trees and bushes, their ... read more

Where's the toilets then? Waited three hours at the border for our visas, so we ventured down to the local village and braved a bar that was blaring out mega loud music. It was fun trying to order because we don't speak Portugeuse and it was deafening in there. We sat on the steps outside, next to some young lads that were playing draughts made with cardboard and bottle tops. Journeyed into Mozambique until dusk and set up camp just off the road. The ground was very sandy and dotted with vicious little acacias. Had a huge camp fire and made damper, which is a simple dough mix that you roll into sausage shapes and wrap around a stick, to toast over the fire. With no light pollution, the stars were stunning and Ed pointed out ... read more

Another exciting day... For some reason people like to plan meetings and then cancel them at the last minute. It leaves me (and S.) sort of roaming around the Ministry for Health with not a whole lot to do, but wait until the next meeting. However, today, we had to go and pick up my tickets for Malawi. Because the whole e-ticket fad hasn't caught on here in Mozambique. So, we've been to the travel agency 5 times now, and finally today I am supposed to get my tickets (to leave tomorrow at 6am). However, it seems that I am missing one of my tickets. Did I leave it with the travel agent, like I had the others? Was it in my hotel room? No matter. The travel agent just said to walk across the street ... read more

My last day in Mozambique turned into one of those rare, unique days that you could never plan. I awoke early, with the sun, as you do camping in Africa. That was ok; it is a beautiful view from my tent. Today I had a very “busy” day. Actually I had no idea how I was going to fill the 24 hours until the ferry arrived. After all, I was the only mazungo in Metangula and as far as I knew in the whole of Niassa province. I thought I might wander the 8ks into town and shop at the market or maybe just walk around the countryside, who knows. I wasn’t in any particular hurry in the morning. After breakfast I washed my clothes and then sat and watched the guys play cards in the ... read more

Sorry for the delay in providing a proper update... Let me see what I can think of about Mozambique, or, just "the Beak" as I like to call it. This is a long email, best read in parts, if you're in a hurry. The 16 hour flight After a long, direct flight from Dulles, where a passenger was prevented from boarding our flight because they attempted to carry on a chain saw, my colleague S. and I took off for Johannesburg. I passed the time watching Bollywood films and shuffling papers around. It was great to not have to worry about dual paying work and school work at the same time for a change. Once we landed in Johannesburg, we wanted to have a look around the airport because people say the airport is great there... ... read more