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Published: April 14th 2012
If there would be only one day which we will never forget from our trip, it will be this one. The GPS showed "Deep Sand" to a certain point where the road split, and after that it showed "Off-road". I am not an experienced T4A person, but the difference in description led me to the assumption that off-road is not deep sand. Hahahaha.
Anyhow, Gert and Ruben took our luggage on the Bakkie to the split in the road and we had a joll up to this point. We loaded the bikes and said our good byes to our support team. This was now my first experience with the bike fully loaded in the sand, and it was clear from the start that I had trouble coming.
Tommie faithfully came to my rescue each time I dropped the bike, but it was extremely hot and humid. With us not being used to this climate and the belief that we should keep our protective jackets and pants on, we overheated very soon. I analysed the story and soon realised that I never had a rough and tumble fall, but actually only fell and very slow or no speed. The
Pak die fietse
Tot hier het Gert die bagasie op sy bakkie gehad, maar hier neem ons afskeid and moet die goed self verder rondry. Die begin van moeilikheid, groot moeilikheid.protective jacket was now a thing of the past to protect my body from dying of heat.
At some stage we both agreed that we have to rest and took the closest tree as our refuge. Only once we laid down in the grass did I realise how tired I actually was.
Looking at the GPS info, we realised that we should take this thing a little more serious and plan our next steps better. We did something like 5 km's in more than an hour, consumed half our water and the "off-road" road on the GPS was another 28 km's. Our options were to either drive to a place shown on the GPS not far from where we were (Zitundo Radio Tower) and see what it offered in terms of water and camping opportunities, or wait till later the day when the temperatures would drop before going further.
We took the first choice and were pleasantly surprised by a women who filled our water bottles and gave us a 1Liter, sealed , ice cold bottle of water without expecting anything from us. We could not even communicate with her because of the language barrier, but I
Afdraai van "Deep Sand"
Man, was dit nou 'n verrassing, en elke oomblik dink ons die pad verander net om die draai. Man, was dit nou die hoop wat beskaam:-) think we were almost on our knees thanking her.
Just after the radio tower we drove through the town Zitundo, and then suddenly the road turned to a wide hard road which at the time felt like the best road I have ever driven on. Fantastic!!!
I wanted a challenge and I got one. After many years of being very comfortable and having very little physical exercise it was the best thing which could happen to me. Although this was not a life threatening experience it reminded me of what the real important things are w.r.t. staying alive. I can write a lot more about this experience, but in short, it gave a lot of much needed perspective again.
From here we got used to the "comfortable" road and soon found it to be bumpy and uncomfortable. This shows you adaptable we are.
We decided to take the shortcut with the ferry to Maputo, also because we wanted to have the ferry experience. Here Tommie had his first lesson in the need for negotiations when paying for something in Africa.
Later during our trip I met a French couple who complained about the prices in
Mozambique. This made me realise that there are probably many tourists who come from countries where the quoted price is the real price and they are not aware that they are expected to negotiate, or even worse, that they are being had.
While waiting for the ferry, we had a well-deserved and fantastic tasting Dos M. Maputo, on the other side of the water was a big surprise for us. It is a real big city. (Now all you well-travelled and research types may have a good laugh)
Getting on the ferry is a real Africa experience and now, for the first time we are actually experiencing Africa in the way I intended.
We arrive in Maputo with some opportunist trying to stop me as we drove off the ferry with the excuse that I have to pay something again. I only write this to make new travellers to Africa aware of the type of behaviour you can and should expect. Do not see this as a problem, rather as part of your African experience. If you fall into such a situation where they tell you that you did something wrong or have to pay something, I suggest the following. Put your patients’ hat on, ask them to show you evidence and give you a receipt if you end up paying for something, but do not rush you negotiations. Always take your time, especially if some of the locals offer to help you to buy a ticket or something. They do not do it for free and often their reward is included in the price of whatever you buy.
From my personal experience the best is not to stop unless it is an official like a police officer in uniform giving you the order. I look in a different direction pretending not to see them, but this is my way. Do not do it and write to me when you got into trouble. Remember that the rules are not that different than in other countries and you will normally know if you are in situation where you have to stop or did something wrong.
We were standing on the "waterfront" planning what our next steps are when Tommie met with two SA people. We had a beer with them at the yacht club and they offered us accommodation and a meal. Keith and Annette
were so good to us and we stayed another unplanned day in Maputo. They showed us the fishing village, organised a motorised Dow and took us to Xefina Island.
Keith is well connected to the locals and so much so that we had to go and put flowers on someone’s grave. We had offerings of different interesting stuff to buy and did a tour of this island which was used as the DB for the Portuguese army. The Island was also used as a fort guarding the harbour entrance to Maputo. Many of the Bunkers with massive cannons have fallen into the sea after the beach has moved back over the years.
Annette is one of those gifted people when it comes to food and from morning to evening she had a tasty meal prepared in an effortless manner.
Keith is 70 years old and I am glad I only got to know him at this age. He is so active and full of life. I cannot imagine what he was like 40 years ago.
The next day we left early, but not before we had coffee and rusks with our hosts. It is amazing how
Te bang geval
Na soveel keer neerslaan is ek te versigtig toe ek oor die wal wil ry, en daar sit ek vas. South Africans help each other when in other countries and it is so good to know that there are still people like Keith and Annette.
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