Neils' place in Quissico

---

Next leg of the journey was Tofo to Maputo, which involved a couple of days staying with one of Kek's friends who lives a couple of hours south of Tofo in a really beautiful place called Quissico.
We hitched a ride in town with all our stuff and then Neils came and picked us up in his very cool retro beetle. I wasn't sure what to expect from Neils' place, but I wasn't quite prepared for what was in store. After staying in what was basically a summer house on the beach I was quite looking forward to a bit of luxury, and it wasn't until I arrived, that I realsied I wasn't going to get it! Neils has moved to Quissico to create a rather cool backpackers/wellness/hippy commune for people to come and stay at/live at. Only, it is still in the early stages of being built, and running water and electricity have not yet reached the area! So we arrived in the dark and cooked our dinner over a campfire and Kek and I pitched the tent for us! Next morning (5ish am) we had a bath - in the lake - and then spent the day exploring the area, being driven around these very sandy rough tracks in Neils' poor beetle! He lives in such a cool place and the following morning (this time getting up at 4am) we were taken by Leonard, his helper guy, in a rowing boat, to a piece of land that he owns across the lake, where he is going to build the rest of the reed huts for the backpacker place. Had an amazing breakfast cooked up on the campfire before checking the place out and then being rowed back to Neils place.

After a couple of days we had to head off in the direction of Maputo so we stood on the side of the road hitching, and a guy from South Africa picked us up. He turned out to be quite a useful man to hitch a ride with, as he worked for a gas company that sends him across Mozambique, armed with a company credit card. So he decided to pay for Kek and I to stay in our own room in a hotel in Maputo and then paid for a big slap up meal for us too!! Just what was required after the last few weeks! Next morning we made the most of the free breakfast and then he drove us all the way to Swaziland! Not bad going we thought! Oh yes, forgot to mention that I overstayed my Mozambique visa, since I had only planned to be there for a maximum of about 10 days, and ended up being there 3 weeks! I was fully prepared to have to pay them some sort of bribe, as that's the general way of getting out of these things, but somehow they didn't even mention it!

So that's it for Mozambique! Very cool place to go, I'd recommend it to anyone, just make sure you wear something on your feet if you're planning on going to Tofo at mango time!!

---