The End Is Near

---

Day 58 - Tofo - 25/9/09

Woke up a very sleepy Michelle at about 0430 to make sure she would be ready to catch the minibus. I, like always was up earlier then needed, I packed the final little bit into my rucksack and waited in the reception area for the shuttle bus to arrive.
The driver came into the reception and beckoned everybody onto the minibus; we all pilled in and set off. We stopped off at the bus stop, I actually use the term bus station very loosely; actually it should be described as a car park with 100's of buses all parked up looking for passengers. We took our seats, leaving our bags on the ground outside, we sat there never seeing our bags being loaded and as a result spending the whole journey wondering if they would turn up seven hours later at our destination.

The actual journey was long and for the most part boring; at one point it was so boring that I had Michelle sleeping on my right shoulder and an American girl called Natalie sleeping on my left shoulder, as a result I couldn’t actually move very much. For the most of it I sat there listening to my Ipod staring out of the window as the world passed me by when this got boring reading or talking and laughing at Michelle. The funniest moment of the whole journey was when Michelle needed the toilet and climbed up off the window to go and then struggled to get back in though the window as well.

It wasn’t until we reached Inhambrane, the nearest town to Tofo, that I really started to pay any proper attention to the scenery and what scenery it was; beautiful crystal clear sea and golden beaches. Eventually we arrived in Tofo, we stayed at Fatima's Nest located right on the beach. The first thing we did after we checked in was to go for a stroll along the beach to try and find somewhere to eat; there weren’t too many places to eat and generally they were all ridiculously priced, the last place was the most reasonable, this was Dino's located a stone throws away from the hostel. It was all right nothing more nothing less. After filling our bellies we walked down the beach to the dive centre and booked some snorkelling; we wanted to book it was the Saturday but we had to book it for the Sunday, there was one problem and that was that I was meant to be leaving Sunday morning back to Maputo. The rest of the day was spent relaxing, chilling out on the beach and drinking.

Day 59 - Tofo - 26/9/09

After getting up early and relaxing in the bar area, Michelle and French woke up and joined me, we wondered down into the market so that they could buy some provisions for the next couple of days seeing that they were planning on staying here longer than me. They walked back to the hostel with all the stuff they needed, bread, butter, eggs, cheese, oil and water. I walked back with my bottle of water; I didn’t need anything else seeing that I was leaving Sunday morning. The guys all cooked breakfast, an egg sandwich, whilst I sat there. Michelle was still on at me to stay Sunday leaving Monday but this wasn’t am option as I had to be in Maputo on Sunday evening to get the minibus back on Monday to Swaziland to get the bus to Jo'burg on Tuesday for my flight home back to London. We went to use the internet to do the normal stuff; email, Facebook blah blah and then I finally gave in and checked the flight from Maputo to Jo'burg with Mozambique Airlines; they were all really expensive apart from one, which happened to suit me down to the ground, I worked out that it would cost me just under £90, meaning that I could stay here another day.

After I had booked the ticket I joined Michelle and French and we just laid on the beach and relaxed in the blistering sun until about 4pm, when we all went and showered and got ready for dinner with a few people we had just met, we walked along the road until we reached a little shack, we walked inside the shack and sat down at the one table inside. We looked at the menu; chicken bunny chow, beef bunny chow, spicy bean bunny chow and vegetarian bunny chow, I asked the people we were with what bunny chow; I thought it included bunnies but was assured that it wasn’t Rabbits. The menu had all of them except for spicy bean crossed out so I guessed we were having the spicy bean bunny chow I laughed.

We ended up chatting about religion and politics, which is never a good start, the conversation started getting really heated to say the least and we were saved by the arrival of the food; bunny chow is a small loaf of bread with all the bread being pulled out leaving the crust, the crust was then filled up with a sauce or curry, this one was filled with a spicy mixed bean mix and was awesome, so tasty!

Night was falling in as we left the shack and we made our way back to the hostel by the market, the long way round as we needed to pick up some drink, we picked up the cheapest booze that we could find; 'Paradise' gin and rum. We found Ronnie, who was a Danish guy who was staying in our dorm and let the drinking game begin. Can't remember what game we played but the loser had to down a shot of either the gin or the rum and unfortunately Ronnie lost the majority and I can guarantee that the gin and rum didn’t take you to Paradise .. far from it! It was so rough it was unbelievable!!! Yesterday was Independence Day but the main party kicked off this evening, the plan we had was to party the night away but we had a few smokes on the beach and that plan soon disappeared. That night after suffocating on the
mosquito net and having a really bad sleep last night, I decided to sleep on the top bunk.

Day 60 - Tofo - 27/9/09

After a slightly better night sleep then the night before I woke up in a slightly ratty mood and was still a bit tired though the thought of snorkelling and seeing some whale sharks were getting me somewhat exiticed. After breakfast we walked down the beach to the dive centre, allowing us plenty of time to do the required paperwork and to pay. After the safety briefing, we all got fitted into our wet suits, mine being a little bit of the tight side and jumped into the back of a pickup truck for the short ride to the launch site. The boat was tiny compared to the boat in Zanzibar and it had no steps, great!!!

When all the waves came up the beach, we all pushed it out, the girls jumped in first and then it was they were followed by the rest of us. The boat was tiny, just big enough to fit all us in, in fact it was so small that we all sat on the edge of the boat with our feet in the foot straps on the floor.
To boat hopped, skipped and jumped over the waves sending spray covering everybody; the feel of wind though your hair and the feel of the spray hitting your face, nothing beats it! We stopped at our first site and got kitted up with a mask each and then we waited. One was eventually spotted and a=we all slid in quietly not to scare it off. In fact when I submerged my face under the water, I was immediately greeted with the sight of a huge grey body with a pattern of creamy spots and pale vertical lines, my first thought was Holy Fuck as this great big creature glided past me, I happened to be swimming the opposite way so tried to turn round and swim with it but before I could do this it had already dived deep underwater. I climbed back onboard and for the rest of the day the pattern was the spotter would spot a whale shark, we would get into the water and me not seeing anything. The best thing that we saw was on the way back to the beach when we saw some dolphins swimming on top of the water and a family of humpback whales came to the surface to blow some water out of their blowholes; if that’s the technical term for it. This is the reason I need a waterproof camera!!!

Climbing out of the wetsuits proved to be somewhat of a challenge; we had a look at the pictures and the videos that were taken by the cameraman, deciding not to purchase any of them. We left happy knowing that is was £16 well sent. We had a bite to eat next door in Dino and got taking to these South African people who joined us at our table. We got talking and they invited us to their holiday home up in the hills for a food, beers and to continue our conversations, they had built the house themselves and it was totally eco friendly overlooking the sea; a truly amazing view with the sun setting in the background. The beer was cold, food simple finger food and the conversation was good, we left at 8pm and they dropped us off at the market where Michelle and French brought some food to cook that night.
I met them in the bar later on, finishing packing and had a shower. We sat there and drank, played cards, we finished up at midnight; me in the knowledge that not only was this nearing the end of my time in Mozambique but also my time in Africa but the first thought would be that I needed to get up at 4am to get the shuttle
back to Maputo.

Day 61 - Maputo - 28/9/09

4am rolled around and there was no shuttle appearing; great no shuttle and no members of staff around to ask! I was getting a little worried. I had forgotten the first rule of being Africa; public transport is always late and this was no different. 4.30am, the bus pulls up and I jump on; I was the only backpacker on the bus, I was kind of expecting more backpackers but the only good thing this time was that I saw my bag being loaded onto the bus.

I dozed on and off during most of the journey, by 5.30 the bus was completely packed, everybody squeezed on like sardines. I had picked a window seat allowing myself the luxury of laying my head against the window and getting some sleep. The journey should have taken 7 hours but took near enough to 9 for a couple of reasons; firstly, the driver got stopped by the police 3 times, being the only English speaker on the bus I never found out why he got stopped, secondly, our driver had hit another minibus or probably as he claimed it the other driver had hit us. Whatever way we were treated to a fight with lots of shouting and punching. The rest of the bus where cheering our driver on but I just wanted to sleep.

Eventually, we reached the central bus station in Maputo; I got out, stretched my legs and found my bags. I asked the driver where the bus was to central Maputo; it seems that the central bus station isn’t very central! He looked at me and just shrugged his shoulders; I walked around and looked at all the buses with all the people trying to sell their tickets and just felt a big weight on my shoulders. A taxi driver came up to me and ask me in English if I needed a taxi, I asked him which of the buses went into the centre, he looked at me and said none, I knew it was a scam to get me in his taxi but I knew I had no chance of finding the bus so I got in.

He dropped me off at the hostel and charged me the same as the shuttle cost to get me from Tofo to Maputo; I paid, a little pissed off and checked back into the hostel. It was late morning when I arrived back and I had a couple of hours to kill before the start of my journey home.
I decided that in these couple of hours to go and see a few of the local sites that I had missed out on seeing so far. Firstly I walked down to the train station, it was an impressive domed building with parts of it having been painted a horrid pistachio green paint, I wondered round inside and saw a few old locomotives and a few potted plants, nothing to really write home about but wondering around killed a little bit of time. Following the station I wondered round the Municipal Market, just looking at everybody’s stall, my nose taking in the all the smells of the fruits, vegetables and spices.

Eventually I went back to the hostel and jumped into the taxi and made my way to the airport. I arrived very early and sat around waiting for my flight ....

---

Photos

Me And Michelle
On The Way To Tofo

First Sighting Of A Beach
After 7 Hours

Fatima's Nest
Our Backpackers

My Handy Work ...
It Took A Long Time

Sunstet From The Hill
At These Random South African's Hoilday Home