Mozambique the Land of Sand

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Geo: -25.7704, 32.6864

to panic.. it went on like this for some time. Low range was engaged and the tyres let down. All the time there was still no signs indicating we were going the correct way. (we have taken some video). Thankfully the GPS indicated we were still generally heading north which in this case this was good. The map we had loaded on the GPS indicated a road would start somewhere up ahead.. I was slightly sceptical and we stopped to ask some cattle Sheppard (yes I know a Sheppard is for sheep what do you call a cattle herder!!) After some time of repeating the name of the capital Mapito with various different inflections (trying to make it sound Portuguese) the chaps pointed straight ahead.. so off we went.. after 500mts on a crest of a sand hill the dam road split again.. so I elected to break with tradition and torn onto the right hand track and finally we popped out onto supposedly the correct road. It was a wider dirt track that placed us on the little red line on the GPS map.. Success.. we were on the road we were now hoping to make good time of it and get into Mapito.

We found out after you can take any sand track as they all lead north and finally on to the large dirt track nothing like a good tip after you need it!!.. Man this was strange a major road from the border to the main town stayed as a track/road until the outskirts of town, rough with corrugations that put the Australian ones to shame!!. The road ended with a ferry, well I did not expect this so we gave the chap some money and go on the vessel and bugger me if it did not take us to the capital of Mozambique on the other side of the inlet.

I have not mentioned that they speak Portuguese, now this seem very romantic and nice however our Portuguese is not good. Lisa came through with only word that made sense on the menu from her South American trip and we ordered an egg (Ovo) sandwich for lunch.. not too exciting however it was vegetarian and filled the hole. We collectively said bugger this lets get some supplies and head out..off to the bank. Got some funny money.. off to the shop.. got some stuff and then headed for the National Highway No2. Easy!!

No street signs thus I figured if we head towards the airport we should come across the main drag.. sounds logical I thought and Lisa concurred.. We found ourselves on a nice paved road and thought it was good.. checking the GPS it indicated we were on track to hit the main road.. Then the road stopped.. yep it stopped and landed smack into a sand quarry.. I think I said well bugger me where to now!! Lisa hopped out and approached a stall seller.. after much patience on both parties we figured out we turn right until the flats then left and go straight.. easy.. I engaged 4WD again and we headed down the sandy lane ways into the heart of Mapito outskirt, found the flats and turned left. Once again we felt we were on track heading north towards the red line on the GPS some 20 kms away… we passed a nice looking Lodge and thought somebody may speak English so we could confirm our direction… The lady at the desk indicated the shortest time we could hire a room was for 2 hours… Humm!!!.. not the info we were looking for..Thus into the Shorty and off Northward we go.. Success final we approached the red line on the GPS and it was good and it felt good to be back on the tarmac.. The time was now approaching 4:00pm and we had some way to go to get to the next camp site.. Suddenly we passed a Car with a ZA sticker on the back.. This means South Africans.. this also means English so I screech to a halt jump out and run towards the cars before they do a U turn.. I think they were more frightened of me than the locals… after some laughter between us I found out there was some traditional lodges just back a bit thus we went to have a look.

Driving through one part we came across a white chap who looked out of place, very clean and chipper..we stopped for a chat (I am happy to talk to anyone) Ralph was his name and he had been living here for one year, having retired form SAfrica. He indicated a friend of his had a Lodge that we could hire for the whole night!! And the best part was that only 4WD could get there.. Thankfully we headed down and found the place, chatted with Warren who nearly sent us off when he found out we were Australian (something about the rugby!!) We parked between cabin 5 & 6 and set up camp.. Another great day in the saddle and a safe place to camp, dam mosquitoes are big here!!.

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