http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/Southern/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Africa , Mozambique , Southern en-us Sat, 06 Sep 2008 22:40:58 BST Sat, 06 Sep 2008 22:40:58 BST Southern MozambiqueAll hostel recommendations etc are at the end of this blogSo this was our final stint in Africa and it certainly didn't disappoint. After a very brief stay in Maputo we were wedged onto a bus at 4.30 am until it was full and then they crammed on about ten more locals and we all headed in one coalesced lump for Tofu about eight hours North along the coast.TofuTofu has become s http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/Southern/blog-316948.html After spending two days in Maputo I headed up north to Tofo to do what I went to Mozambique for diving. The busride to Tofo was utterly uncomfortable. A small minibus takes you to Praia do Tofo in 7 or so hours cramped in a very small space with only two breaks during the journey. Definitely not comparable to an average long distance coach trip. But I arrived there safe and sound nevertheless http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/Southern/Tofo/blog-313527.html My journey from Jozi to Maputo didn't start as smooth as I had wanted it to be. Intercape the bus company which I booked my ride with didn't let me get on board without a Moz visa. I assured them that I have checked with at least 3 sources and they all said I could get a visa at the border but to no avail no visa no go. I suppose Intercape doesn't want to wait for all passengers to sort out the http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/Southern/Maputo/blog-313504.html Time was rapidly running out so we made a beeline for Tofo in Mozambique intending to have a couple of weeks diving and relaxing on the beach to recover a tan which had slowly disappeared in the South African winterWe arrived and pitched our tent in fatimas nest only to find a cloudy sky and news that all the Manta Rays and whale sharks the 2 things Tofo diving is famous for have gone AWO http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/Southern/blog-308236.html Mozambique was an absolute blast as expected. Our trip had three purposes firstly to relax a bit secondly to serve as a week of saying farewell to our friends and family and lastly as a place to do our commitment ceremony. Unfortunately as a result of logistics and circumstances we could not get everyone that we wanted to be present to be there. There was a shortage of space and flights. We had http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/Southern/Vilanculos/blog-307254.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/Southern/Maputo/blog-303665.html Tofo is your typical backpackerrsquos 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 sti http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/Southern/Tofo/blog-296945.html EN FRANCAIS PLUS BASMORE PHOTOS HEREUnderstandably 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/Southern/Inhambane/blog-294040.html 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 g http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/Southern/Maputo/blog-293145.html Maputo the capital of Mozambique is what Lonely Planet describes as one of the most agreeable capital cities in Africa. Don8217t 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 buil http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/Southern/Maputo/blog-292922.html EN FRANCAIS PLUS BASMORE PHOTOS HEREThe Bus Odyssey from Manzini to MaputoEven before 7am the bus terminal in Manzini Swaziland's second main city is swarming with activity shouting drivers trying to fill up their buses. I ask Maputo and get thrown into a bus that says Lomahashah or something like that. Seized by doubt I ask around Does this bus go to Maputo to other passengers. Answe http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/Southern/Maputo/blog-292758.html After celebrating the best day of our lives with the best people in the world it was time to head out to celebrate or wedding on our own. The whole wedding along with all its picking wines music and stressing about the weather was now behind us and it seemed like all of a sudden we were back at the airport with our backpacks on our backs again. When it came time for us to board our plane we hudd http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/Southern/Inhambane/blog-288869.html i've driven like a fiend straight down across through and around and now out my hotel window is shining strange maputo. it's a city that is still learning how to be a city the way that africans in general seem to be learning how to be people people from the television. if there was never a television imported to africa these africans would not know about wearing their hats backwards or low http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/Southern/Maputo/blog-285815.html the motorcycle is seeing no end of problems. yesterday it stranded me in the forest alone for three hours in the heat. i have half a mind to sell it here in vilankulo. if i can repair it today and leave tomorrow i should be ok to get to cape town by june 16 but we will see. my mind is spinning i am so busy with this hard type of travelling that there is never time to write or draw or take photo http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/Southern/Vilanculos/blog-285811.html Waiting in the car park that doubles up as a bus stop in Manzini Swaziland I passed an entertaining hour watching a master class in packing with the luggage destined for Mozambique slowly and seemingly quite precariously being piled higher and higher. We'd left the hostel around 6.30am catching a minibus that took us as far as the next main minibus stop and from there we'd squeezed into ano http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/Southern/Tofo/blog-272791.html Hi It's been quite some time since my last post. I've been wanting to add more pictures from Nambiia to the site but the uploading has failed everytime. So I can only hope that when I try to add my new pictures from Mozambique they'll load properly. But now I'd like to fill you in on what I've been up to.This past week I've been in Mozambique. We had a few days off school for public holidays http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/Southern/Tofo/blog-272463.html Happy Easter everybody. We are currently in the beach town of Tofo still on the southern coast of Mozambique. I appreciate all the messages people send me and emails and facebook posts etc. In other words I like the attention. We have spent 8 nights here and are leaving for the capital city of Maputo tomorrow. Tofo is a popular travel destination for South Africans and right now is spr http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/Southern/Tofo/blog-260312.html Bom Dia Quite a crazy last week or so and I thought I would let everyone at home know about it. After a night in Blantyre Malawi we took off for the country of Mozambique. After a 3 hour minibus ride we had a reasonably problem free border crossing. The main difference with Mozambique is that we were leaving an English speaking country and entering a country where Portuguese is the ONLY l http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/Southern/Inhambane/blog-256961.html Greetings from Africa Irsquom alive and doing well. Although I did accidentally swallow about a liter of a muddy African river a few days ago but more on that later. Starting out on this trip I honestly thought Irsquod find wifi hotspots in the hostels we would be staying at and maybe even at the bush camps which are pretty substantial. But guess what I discovered Africa is not like http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/Southern/Maputo/blog-255493.html No falo portuguesCrossing into Mozambique we left behind empty shops and multimillion dollar bus tickets and returned to a country where English is not the first or even the second language. After the ease of English speaking Zambia Botswana and Zimbabwe it was a bit of a rude awakening to encounter customs officials who could not speak English. Portuguese is the mother tongue here but with her http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/Southern/Tofo/blog-239019.html So we've spent the best part of four days over Christmas in the Mozambican capital Maputo. Maputo comes closer than anywhere else we've visited to the lazy Western stereotype of the African city dusty litterstrewn potholed streets choked with black clouds of pollution from cars that should have been consigned to the scrapheap years ago the better older buildings quietly decaying while th http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/Southern/Maputo/blog-230532.html Hmm... for the first time I have spent the last week with one of my subscribers hello Becky hope you got back OK so I had better make sure I tell the whole truth and nothing but...As most of the people who are reading this probably know the genesis of this whole trip was an invitation to the wedding of the lovely Dan and Katherin at Katherin's parents' family estate near Harare in Zimbabwe. http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/Southern/Maputo/blog-229799.html 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 eticket fad hasn't caught on here in Mozambique. So we've been to the travel http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/Southern/Maputo/blog-229308.html eigentlich wollten wir am montag 3.12.2007 den bus von johannesburg nach maputo nehmen aber da uns diverse leute erzaehlt haben dass die busse an der grenze nicht warten um ein visum zu erhalten haben wir uns entschieden am montag in johannesburg das visum fuer jennifer zu organisieren und dann am dientag den bus zu nehmen... der letzte abend in johannesburg war lang und intensiv. wir waren in m http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/Southern/Tofo/blog-226082.html 00 12. The sound of a dentistrsquos drill penetrating my temple wakes me up. Covered in sweat I sigh it's just a dream. Itrsquos not a dentistrsquos drill there are mosquitoes in the tent. A wild hunt begins and ends in handclapping then silence.02 23. Something has awoken the dogs. Loud barking ricochet in the distance as every dog in the village joins the cacophony. A dog yelps as his http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/Southern/Inhambane/blog-225921.html Is it a whale Is it a shark No it's a whale shark Despite its name it is neither a whale nor a shark but in fact the largest fish in the world and we FINALLY got to swim alongside oneThere are only a few places in the world where whale sharks hang out and Mozambique is one of them. We spent the majority of our time in the seaside town of Tofo Mazombique's main backpacker haunt. Our littl http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/Southern/Tofo/blog-225851.html So I don't have any time to make an entry today but here are a bunch of photos. I got my site assignment and I am going to be living in the Zambezia province close to the capital city. Although I cannot say the exact city on this blog I'm sure that my mother or father could tell anyone interested enough to call them. We are done with training a week from tomorrow and I just passed my final lan http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/Southern/Maputo/blog-223703.html Let me begin with a word of warning never ever have anything to do with the Mozambican police if at all possible. They are bent corrupt rude xenophobic and vindictive and that's just the nice ones. They are without a doubt the worst officials I have had anything to do with in the whole of Africa most of the continent's border guards and cops have been surprisingly friendly and not bri http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/Southern/Maputo/blog-221490.html Nothing too exciting to report yet... I had two meetings today then came back and did some work at the hotel. Actually I feel crummy and I'll tell you why. Native Mozambicans can't afford to eat in restaurants or things like that so I feel like a big heel eating in restaurants. Today ate in a room full of expats for breakfast lunch and dinner served by the people whose country that we're in http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/Southern/Maputo/blog-219870.html