Blogs from Northern, Mozambique, Africa - page 2

The road out of Cape Maclear was supposed to be a rough track and we understood it took an hour to get to Monkey Bay. From there it was another hour and a half to Mangochi and then another hour and a half to the Mozambique border at Chiponde/Mandimba. From there, it was another two hours to Cuamba. We were prepared for a tough day of travel. To make it easier, we hired a taxi at Cape Maclear to the border at Chiponde. The taxi driver really wanted the business, and underbid the "established" cartel prices listed on all the backpacker guest houses. We arranged to leave at 07:30, but the taxi driver finally showed up around 08:00. Then came the good news. The track out of Cape Maclear had been graded, and was being prepared ... read more

I was talking about, in our last blog, how we helped prepare 3 ½ tonnes of beans into 10kg sacks ready to be distributed; well maize and rice had also been sacked up in 5kg bags (before we had arrive) and were already to be given to the widows and disabled in the community. On Monday 9th of January, hundreds of men and women came to the Iris base, collected a ticket and queued up ready to collect their free food for the next 2 weeks. We had 4 stations ready to receive 1 person at a time, to load them up with food to take home to their families. They laid down their multipurpose material flat on the floor and we would poor rice in and then put a bag of beans and a bag ... read more

It's rumoured - between travellers, in the guidebooks, and on websites -to be full of pickpockets, hustlers and con-men, and I'd hoped to bypass it by catching a dhow from Tanzania to Mozambique. But with the dhow non-existent, my only option was to cross the border via the somewhat notorious Rovuma River crossing. And it turned out to be everything it was rumoured to be - a beautiful place to be fleeced, but fleeced I was. The crossing began with a bent Tanzanian border official who demanded 2000 shillings (80p) to leave the country. I refused and bluffed, at which point he let me pass, only to point out, behind my back, my rucksack on the truck to one of his cronies outside. I took it as a signal to leave as quickly as possible, and ... read more

The transport arrived 20 minutes early. It was a big truck - one you would put animals on, I climbed over the wheel and into the back. My big bag got moved to the front and I sat on the floor on a piece of plastic (the truck base was wet). I noticed almost immediately that my knees showed (as did the men)when I sat on the floor, so I put my bag on my lap and tried to cover as much as possible. I spent the 4 hour trip to Metangula trying to learn some Portuguese. No-one on the transport could speak English. I listened to them speak Portuguese just to try get used to the language. I couldn't pick up much. This was definitely going to be a challenge. What truly amazed me, was ... 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