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Mozambique Travel Blogs

Background: Almost five centuries as a Portuguese colony came to a close with independence in 1975. Large-scale emigration by whites, economic dependence on South Africa, a severe drought, and a prolonged civil war hindered the country's development. The ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO) party formally abandoned Marxism in 1989, and a new constitution the following year provided for multiparty elections and a free market economy. A UN-negotiated peace agreement between FRELIMO and rebel Mozambique National Resistance (RENAMO) forces ended the fighting in 1992. In December 2004, Mozambique underwent a delicate transition as Joaquim CHISSANO stepped down after 18 years in office. His newly elected successor, Armando Emilio GUEBUZA, has promised to continue the sound economic policies that have encouraged foreign investment.

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By BradDenton
July 19th 2008

How to Build a Community Center in Mozambique Africa » Mozambique » Central » Beira

Working on the machessa

Today was interesting again. Maybe not as good as yesterday, but good. The first thing we did in the morning was go to work at the village where we had the long discussion I told you about before. We went out to work on the machessa, which is a community center that will serve as a place for community meetings, health stuff, and whatnot. It’s about 20 feet by 50 feet. I worked mostly on the roof, nailing bamboo pieces to the wood frame. I’ve decided that one way to gauge the difference in development between countries is to compare [View Full Entry]

By BradDenton
July 18th 2008

July 18 Africa » Mozambique » Central » Beira

mmm, gruel

First, I’ll answer questions I’ve received. The food here (for us, as opposed to the natives) is about what you’d get in a freshman college dorm, because the people doing the cooking are usually 18 year-olds. And they’re using somewhat weird Mozambican food, too, which doesn’t help much. But it’s not terrible. We have PB&J every day for lunch (yum!). And tonight we had tacos that actually weren’t too bad. Tomorrow night I guess we’re going out to dinner, which entails certain risks of puking afterward. I’m looking forward to som [View Full Entry]

By Tash01
July 18th 2008

Bom Dia Maputo! Africa » Mozambique » Southern » Maputo

I decided to get to the Intercape Mainliner to Mozambique. It's about an 8hr bus ride depending on how long the border crossing takes. I was at Park Station, the main bus station in Joburg very early in the morning and I will just say it's perhaps not the friendliest place in the world. I met some Spanish and Portugese people who were also waiting for the bus, they could speak English but not that well. For the first time it occurred to me Mozambique was going to present different challenges to the rest of my travels. It was the first [View Full Entry]

By BradDenton
July 17th 2008

Getting to work Africa » Mozambique » Central » Beira

Everybody loves a photo

The first thing we did today was go out to a farm owned by Care for Life to work. We basically did manual labor on the farm for the morning. It was a reasonably good experience but a few hours of it was plenty. Tucker remarked repeatedly how it was a good thing that he’d been swinging a pick in the back yard, so that he’d know how to swing a Mozambican hoe here. (They’re ubiquitous and, as far as I can see, the only tool most people own.) One thing I noticed as we drove out to the farm was [View Full Entry]

By Ralph2006
July 12th 2008

Ihla de Moçambique Africa » Mozambique » Northern » Island of Mozambique

Governors palace and very Portuguese looking placa

Ihla de Mozambique played a huge role in the history of eastern Africa, the slave trade and the Portuguese dominance over Mozambique. Before the Portuguese took over the island was used by Arab traders. Unfortunately for them and fortunately for the Portuguese their weapons weren’t that great and the Portuguese took over in the early 1500. They were quick to build the Chapel of Nossa Senhora de Baluarte, in 1522 which is considered to be the oldest European building in the southern hemisphere. Shortly after they realize that they cannot defend the Island with a bible and build the impres [View Full Entry]

Women’s soccer... on concrete.. without shoes.. Tough

By Ralph2006
July 10th 2008

one bloody long road trip Africa » Mozambique » Northern » Nampula

The coat of arms of Mozambique

This blog entry could also be called two idiots on a road trip... Jens the German guy I’m traveling with at the moment and I decided that we wanted to go up north as quickly as possible. I wanted to save time in Mozambique to be able to visit Malawi and he wanted to go from north to south. All said and done we decided that we will try to cover as much distance in as short as time as possible. We did … 4 days, over 30 hours in busses and over 1500km later we arrived. This is our story [View Full Entry]

Four seats, five people, where is the problem

By Ralph2006
July 8th 2008

Tofo and Inhambane Africa » Mozambique » Southern » Tofo

Tofo

Tofo is your typical backpacker’s beach paradise. The beach is ok and the beer cold, plentiful and cheap. Just the thing I needed after doing nothing for three weeks. Not much more to say apart from that my headache is getting better by the minute and I left the place without any permanent damage to my liver. It would have been the place to see whale sharks and manta rays but with my knee still not in great shape that wasn’t an option. A short but worthwhile stopover was Inhambane from which we intended to get a bus further up north. [View Full Entry]

By Ralph2006
July 2nd 2008

Maputo Africa » Mozambique » Southern » Maputo

Maputo

Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, is what Lonely Planet describes as one of the most agreeable capital cities in Africa. Don’t get me wrong I liked Maputo but I fear for the worst in the other countries. The Portuguese knew how to build a city, stuff as many trees in as possible and then build some attractive building. The city is at the moment a wild mix of recently renovated building, buildings, which haven’t seen a new coat of paint in years and some, which clearly haven’t been inhabited for a long time. Not really surprising as the so-called civil war [View Full Entry]

By kyley
June 29th 2008

Most interesting week... ever? Africa » Mozambique » Southern » Maputo

Swazi

I started writing this all out, and then the power went off in the internet cafe. So I'll just write until I run out of time, I might not get all the way up to today. After getting our visas, we hopped on a mini taxi to get to the craft market. I talked to this little girl who was 12 and sooo smart and spoke such good english. I gave her some Canadian pennies. Anyway, after the market, I thought we got on the right bus to get back to the hostel. We didn't. Thankfully, the driver and one of [View Full Entry]

By DELFIN
June 23rd 2008

Germany - Canada - France: 101% YEBO! Africa » Mozambique » Southern » Inhambane

101% YEBO!

EN FRANCAIS PLUS BAS MORE PHOTOS HERE Understandably, Jen and I didn't sleep much that night. Caro took care of her nervousness with gin so she was fine, but still, waking up at 4.15am so we would be ready to be picked up at 5.00am was a challenge for the 3 of us. Unsurprisingly, the bus was about an hour late, but we were lucky not to be the last in being picked up and to have real seats, with head rest and all, what a luxury! As the sun was rising and we were driving away from the city into [View Full Entry]

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