Blogs from Mozambique, Africa - page 10

Day 8 – a Sad day in history. We are starting our trip back and the weather turns from the previous delight fully two sunny days to an overcast and rainy day. We manage to pack our tents and most of the other stuff before the rain starts, but by the time the bikes are packed and we had our oats and coffee we are soaked. The previous evening there was another couple with kids in the camp close to us as well. They watched our packing saga and when we met them at reception when checking out, in good spirit but wet. There comment to us was” you guys must be hardened campers” and this made us realise how adaptable the human being can be. When we left home we were not hardened campers at ... read more

We were very slow to start on day 7 on the trip from Guinjata Bay to Inhassoro because the weather looked like rain again, and we had lots of the wet stuff so far. We woke up early after a good night’s sleep and at 07:00 the first candidate for washing one of the bikes arrived. The second guy arrived at 07:45 and tried to convince me that the time on my watch, GPS and Cellphone was wrong. Interesting, the different types of people there are on earth. This guy was the same one who Tommie bought the prawns from. After we were beyond the discussion of what time it was and he got the go-ahead to start washing, he quickly had two or three other people there who started cleaning our boots with coconut hair ... read more

We started our trip to Xai-Xai early in the morning, greeting Keith, Annette and Deon who looked after us in Maputo, but only after having coffee and rusks again. It felt like leaving family after a visit. Because of all the rain and me not covering the open connector after removing the GPS, the wiring got wet and caused a short circiut. After filling up with expensive fuel (49 Meticals @ 3.48 / SA Rand per liter) we did some alterations to the wiring and got it working again. Now we were on our way through Maputo which varied from Massive and well-kept houses to narrow streets with shacks, the biggest African market I have ever seen and many interesting things along the road. While driving past the market a loud bang gave me a fright. ... read more

Day 2 We left early the morning with a couple of raindrops. This time we decided not do make the same mistake again and had our full rain gear on. This was not problem in the beginning, but we were pushed for time because we had to meet a friend (Dankie Gert ou maat) at the Mozambique border at 15:00. Because motorbike clothing takes some time to put on or take off, we kind of overheated before reaching the border post. Gert sent an SMS that the sand was very loose in certain places and this scred me even more. We have not had any real deep sand experience before. All well and we were at the Kosi Bay border post in time. The border crossing were the best I have ever experienced into Mozambique and ... read more

On my first night in Zim we went to Mez and Gary’s for supper and whilst we were there Gary offered us the chance to go with him to Mozambique that coming weekend so we thought why not! We had been staying on the farm and were meeting Gary in Harare so first we had to get back into town. This involved a 2 hour ride in the back of Clive’s pickup truck (me Carly and Oscar) in the pouring rain! We were all soaked, tired and a bit battered but I thought it was a fantastic way to travel, like having a convertible but more exciting. Travelling in the back of pickup trucks is completely legal in Zim, it is how most people get around (though I don’t think people are too used to seeing ... read more