Blogs from Inhambane, Southern, Mozambique, Africa - page 4

March 1999: In Beira I had staved off Malaria with a dose of Larium (a nasty cocktail in itself) and rested my aching sweaty body enough to continue on to the beach side town of Inhambane for more rest. I sat in a nice cool little cafe across from the bus stop waiting for my afternoon connection. I had convinced the porters to let me carry my backpack onto the bus with after it was thrown on the roof with chickens and fish baskets the trip before and still stunk. I sat in a single seat towards the back and took my book out for the voyage ahead. I noticed that the two young guys in front of me were nicely dressed so maybe business men or government staff. One of them soon turned around and ... read more

If it’s one dive trip to be without my cameras, it had to be this one. The one where humpback whales swim up to your boat with their calves in tow. The one where bottleneck dolphins escort you through the waves to your dive sites. The one where loggerhead turtles and 8m long whale sharks laze on the water next to you during surface times. Diving in Mozambique is something special. On my first dive to Manta Reef we saw humpbacks, whale sharks, dolphins, turtles, mantas, and 2-meter long white-tip sharks. By the end of the day our boat no longer stops when we see another unmistakable tail waving to us from the waters. The deep dives in Inhambane off Praia do Tofo are far out and the transport out in the small boats are not ... read more

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 increasingly "African" and somehow also "latino" landscape, we looked at each other puzzled every time the driver would put on a new CD: Brian Adams, hard techno music, Dire Straits...? After 8 hours of an ... read more

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 language they speak, especially away from touristy areas. Will and I also have the unfortunate habit of entering countries without any money, and it was a habit we didnt break this time around. After paying for the chapas (minibus) to the nearest city of Tete, we had 30 meticas to spare (approx $1). We spent that on Fantas, confident that in Tete it would ... read more

They say you should save the best for last, and that was the intention with Mozambique. The promise of beautiful sandy beaches, warm water, great seafood, and even better diving. Well, I can gladly say, we weren't disappointed! We started in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. The change from being in South Africa was huge, and it felt like the real Africa again, only with another small hurdle... they speak Portuguise! Luckily Anto's Spanish helped us out. So after setting up our tent at the hostel, we found out about the 'must do' fish market that everyone raves about, and we took our empty stomaches straight down there for a feed. The place was amazing! You bought whatever seafood you wanted, Prawns, Calamari, Lobster, Oysters, Fish, Fish, Fish, then took it to one of many restaurants ... read more