The long awaited Mozambique

It has been already 3,5 weeks since I last wrote an update.
So much has happened and all the adventures and experiences are too many to fit in a decent blog update. I promised last time that I would not bore you all with a new blog of ca. 6 pages so I will try and keep it as interesting and compact as I can, if not…. you are all dismissed and can just look at the pictures :-)

So after returning from a very short xmas break it was time to start heading towards Mozambique. This was (out of all countries) the country of which the least information was available. When I mean information I mean on road conditions, on accommodation, on safety on weather forecasts and also on the possibility and complexity of crossing the border. Over Christmas I had been having contact with Mike who owns a very good blog online (Mozguide.com) and he had assured me it should be possible but that I should be familiar with 4WD and also with difflock and be ready for a certain degree of corruption.

Before leaving Lilongwe I had made a big stop at the supermarket to stock up on some nice products to make sure Steph felt welcome and we would have some nice snacks and things for dinner as Supermarkets in Mozambique (and also in Tanzania we realized later) were not that great. The supermarket was flooded (due to

rains) so shopping took an hour longer than expected. From lilongwe my first stop would be Blantyre. Short drive (Ca 4 hours) and after realizing that the only campsite the city offered was deserted i ended up staying in a simple hotel for a really fair price and was allowed to use the kitchen to make my own meal. The next morning I got up early to enjoy what would be my last day in the oh so lovely, friendly, beautiful, warm and also african Malawi. I headed down towards the surroundings of Mt Mulanje. This is a mountainous area just before the border towards the north of Mozambique.
Mt Mulanje beautiful area, but yet again not extremely suited for camping and more for high end lodges. As my budget did not stretch that far I again slept in a place where I wondered, when had they cleaned last, who were the other guests? Was the guard a real guard and the mattress was for sure made of carton box. The pillows and sheets i took from my own car as I was scared to touch them. I can assure you all that 3 months traveling in Africa do not make you very fussy so this was really below standards but my only option (see pictures)

The long awaited (and also a bit feared) border crossing. Not many people take this route yet we were also told that the northern part of Moz is beautiful and this was our chance. I left at 06.00 am in the morning and was at the border of Milange (mozambique) at 07.15. I had arranged my Visa upfront so presumed it should be rather easy. Park the car, go to the office, show them my passport, they asks: „ Where is your letter of invitation? My letter of invitation? I did not need that for Mozambqiue only for Tanzania and also when applying for the Visa (and getting it) they did not mention anything.. Strange… Well we need it, full stop. The kindly return me my passport and sign me to leave…
Obviously that was not an option, I had to enter, I HAD to pick up Steph and… I HAD a visa so what was the problem? I went back to

the counter and actually stood there for about 20 min just starring at the officials and the other people they were allowing into the country. I said i could not show them a letter but I could type one of my iPhone if that was enough.. it was not. Then i said i made some Portuguese friends in Malawi and that i was spending New Years Eve with them (true actually) but i did not have a letter. Was a proof of being friends on Facebook also enough? They first said no, then wanted to see my passport again, then some other scary and more senior looking official also had to look at my passport… and then i got a stamp!!! YES!!! I was in! After about another hour of getting third party insurance for the car and talking to officials I was allowed to drive.
I had been warned the road could be in bad state due to rains and that it was not tarmac. I was also advised to take the longer route via Mocuba to Nampula because there would be more people.. Well the road was bad, but after all warnings and scary dreams not as bad as I expected, it had not rained too much and actually i managed to get to Mocuba in about 3 hours. Then another 5-6 hours would follow to Nampula where the next day I was going to pick up Steph. Because I was so focused on the road and also on getting this piece of the journey done I actually forgot to put some decent food and drinks in the front of the car with me and also did not want to stop because of corrupted police and weird traffic. I ended up driving 11 hours straight with 0,5L of water and 4 rice crackers and got to the campsite in Nampula at 17.30. But I made it!! :-) One of the reasons why the journey took an hour longer as well was that half way to Nampula my left back tyre Exploded!.. What a lucky day that this needed to happen just this day on my own and on the way to Nampula. But… got some local strength from a nice guy, knew how to do it myself and all in all it was done in 45 min.
In Nampula I stayed at Montes de Nairucco beautiful campsite just outside the city with super friendly owners. They served me what

must have been the best pork-chops ever.., but maybe a long day and little food and happy to be alive influenced my judgment of the dish :-)

The next morning I wanted to get some shopping done to stock up on food and liquids, needed to fill up the tank, try and get some money out of an ATM and now also needed to buy a new tyre to make sure that if this happened again we would be fully equipped. That took the whole morning (it is still Africa and things never go as you expect) and at 13.30 Steph walked through the airport doors of Nampula.. jippie!!!
After a big huge, some loud smiles and giggles and the weird realization of meeting on the other side of the world, we hit the road towards Ilha de Mozambique. Earlier in my trip (in Malawi) I had met a group of Portuguese guys and girls

with Tess and they lived in Ilha de Mozambique they said it would be nice if we visited them for New Years. So that was our plan! We spend Steph’s first night camping at a lovely campsite next to the sea and with full views of Ilha. The place was called Cassuarina and run by a lovely lady. We set up all our camping gear for the first time together, cooked a nice pasta, drank some cold beer and opened a bottle of wine.. had some olives and Dutch cheese (Steph had brought a great piece of Reypenear cheese) … A perfect evening!

The next day we headed towards the Ilha. you get there by crossing a 2KM long bridge with mostly only one lane driving. You have t pay 50ct to cross and then you are there. The guys showed us a safe place to park the car and Steph and I spent the afternoon doing some micro tourism on the Island. Went to a museum (that we could only walk bare footed to not damaged the floor…. yuk! a bit disgusting) and also visited the fort. Beautiful and a lot more history and culture than in

most African places i had been until then. We had a blast of a night, at a private house owned by a spanish lady, slept at the house of the portuguese guys and got our own room and bathroom and I nearly burned down the local beach bar when I was trying to get out of having to drink a shot of Absyinth that was on fire (Instead of drinking it I threw it against the bar… when no one was looking .. BUT did not realize it was made of wood) Oeps!!!

The 1st of January our adventure continued towards the northern undiscovered parts of Mozambique. The road was much better than expected and our first stop after Ihla would be Nacala also a place along the coast. Over the past few years oil and gas have been discovered in the northern part of Mozambique that together with the gain of Limestone make that the industry is growing and therefore also the trucks, the villages the amount of factories… but also the quality of the road :-) we were happy. In Nacala we got to what should have been our campsite „ Libelula” But they had stopped doing that as the offer of business/industry people was growing and normal rooms raised them more income. They gave us a few places that we could also try around Nacala.. After another 2 hours of driving around Nacala without any luck and some really dodgy places…we went back to Libelula to beg is they could make an exception for two ladies and if we would camp 1 night in the garden. It was getting dark, we had no other options… They agreed! :-) IT turned out to be a beautiful spot. the owners PJ and Ian were lovely and PJs mum was Dutch and staying with them for 1 week. We got invited for the ”borrel” at their house that night, we swam in de indian Ocean and all in all again a special and surprising day in Mozambique again.

A short intermezzo on the police and the corruption, up until this point I had been stopped by myself twice by the police and with Steph i think once.. All the times they wanted to know where we were coming from, what we were doing in Mozambique and more than anything were so astonished of two western ladies in the car that they let us through. Zero cold drinks to bribe them, no Meticals to pay them just a smile and friendliness. Better than expected so far!

After Nacala our journey went on to Pemba. It was a good drive and the toughest part was the drive down to the campsite.. It had been raining and it was extremely muddy and slippery but some steel nerves, together with Steph’s driving skills and a good car made us arrive safe and well at Pemba Bush and Dive camp. Lovely campsite next to the coast, with a nice vibe a nicely sheltered campsite. It is a pity they will be disappearing because also here the industry is gaining territory and the campsite was bought by the local harbor and would be closed 4 days after we left.
We spent to lovely days here, living the typical camping life:-) had washing, cooking, reading about our next destination, doing the necessary shopping and chilling. We wanted to take a nice dip in the sea but after numerous encounters with Sea cucumbers (yes they exist and are extremely sticky) and various jelly fish it was a short swim. We had bought some extremely nice meat and had a good braai for dinner with sirloin steak and corn. It was good we stayed two days, by the time we left again all the mud had sort of dried up and the road back up was doable.

I forgot to mention that the day after Steph arrived, she did an experiment to see if her phone could also swim.. result: he went on a permanent holiday too :-( After a lot of smaller places we attempted in Pemba (and also in Nacala) if some phone doctor could fix it or buy a cheap local phone. We bought one, it never got to work and sold it again 6 days later at the border. On the one had a bit of tricky not to have a phone and be in touch with the outside world, on the

other hand maybe it was Karma as Steph needed these weeks off more than anyone and being cut off the outside world (or more than anything work) was a good thing. Luckily there was my phone and also her iPad so whenever we accidentally had internet or network we could update our closest.

Even though the weather was not at it best, cloudy and sometimes rain (that is often a result of having Steph with you :-)) the coastline of Mozambique is still magic and the waters are indeed crystal clear with palm trees and driving along all these smaller coastal villages and places felt like a whole different world. Also was it nice to be in a country where I felt I could make myself understood. Aside from my sometimes very direct approach to people (something I have been working on to flatten out a bit) it has surprised me how well I can manage to make myself clear in something that sounds like portuguese and also how well i can follow them. Makes life easier a lot of the time.

When in Pemba we had met a South African - German guy called Christian. He grew up in south Africa in a sort of German small community and was now (aged 22) traveling for a few months with the old Family Toyota hillux before starting work in Germany at a agricultural company who want to invest more in african farming and agriculture. Had had told us about a small, unknown park in the north of Mozambique that really would be worth visiting. Very little written about in books, there would be a wild campsite available and he had received the phone nr from the guy running it to check if we could come by for a night. Steph and i joined him to what would become an amazing day and night in the pure nature of Mozambique. All green. some beautiful mountains, great camping a completely untouched place clearly not yet discovered by tourism, The park/campsite was called Taratibu and located within the Quirimbas

NP is seemed.

The next day, encouraged by Chris I have to admit, we did a beautiful morning hike in the mountains to get a better view of the area, it was beautiful and also my first exercise in a while :-). After that our roads split from Chris’s and we drove towards Mocimbao de Praia to get a little bit closer to the border crossing with Tanzania. It was again a day with enough kilometers and we arrived in Mocimbao around 15.00, We had received (via blogs because even the Lonely Planet writes very little about this region) a name on where to stay, Chez Nathalie campsite.We drove there and both felt awkward, it was dirty, there were dogs walking around that had blood all over them, the french owner was a shabby lady that did not smell fresh and did not make us feel very welcome and neither could be identify the guard on duty.. we left. We drove past another lodge on the road, we parked walked in and found a local Mozambique place that did not even have a shower for us to use and also no other guest… did not feel good again. Then we had read about a place that had been built just for industry workers in oil and gas and that had really good food. Most rooms were built in containers. We decided to drive there and see if we could ask to camp in the garden or parking lot….. To our surprise we got offered a room for FREE for one night at Ilha Vumba! There is still nice people around in this world. We were so happy, by this time it was also already around 17.00, getting dark and our need for a safe place to sleep had grown, but we had found it! This was a good last night in Mozambique. That night we enjoyed some local dinner at the bar, we slept in the container without touching the floor without flip-flops and sleeping in our own sleeping bags.. cleaning standards were also here doubtful :-) (See pictures of the container)

The next day, not the 6th of January we had to cross the border. I had received plenty of detailed information from Mozguide on what

would be the best way to go around this crossing. I had initially planned to cross via the unity bridge towards Tanzania, but Mike said the bridge would probably be in a bad state due to floorings and was no always open. He had given us another option that was not yet in the books and luckily we knew about now. He recommended us to drive from Mocimbao to Palma, op up on fuel in Palma (last possible place) and drive on towards Quionga, The boats would leave from a place next to the river bank from river Rovuma about 20 km via a bush road from Quionga. This had no name, there were no road signs and the boats only ran with high tide and not during dark hours…

We got to Palma and decided to ask someone to see if they could give us more updated information on the boat times and whether they were running that day and what times. When in Palma (where I obviously felt at home because of the name :-) we stopped along the road when we saw a white guy unloading some materials from a truck. We asked him if he could help us and as soon as he started answering I immediately recognized he was Spanish, that made things a lot easier. His name was Javi, he was from Madrid and had moved here about 2-3 years ago. There was more work here, he earned a european salary and also received housing and 1 flight home a year. This was his way to make good money the coming years and then come back to Spain and enjoy life. He worked in the construction business and was expecting a child in the coming weeks. He seemed happy and was our lottery ticket for that day with detailed information He knew have the village and within 30 min we had received detailed information on the boat (it was only leaving once that day and it would be around 17.00), and we had also managed to get rid (sell) the mobile Steph had bought in Pemba and was not working for us and made a local guy very happy. We got Javi’s phone number in case we ran into problems on our way to the boat and were off again.

Javi had warned us about the road conditions and also told us that is was kind of like no-man’s land with suddenly an immigration office to sign out of Mozambique. It is good he warned us, the coming 30-40 km would be the worst we encountered, steep slopes, very muddy, no people, big holes. About mid way there was an immigration office and after some small talk and a bit of friendly smiling we got that done within 20 min. What was it that everyone had been warning us about for (northern) Mozambique, and especially the police? We have only had good experiences in the 8 days we spend in the north, we were out of Moz now! on our way to the ferry. We had been told it would leave around 17.00, but this is still Africa so you never know. We surely this time did hope it was true because if not we would be forced to spend the night next to the river in no-mans land as you are not allowed back into the same country within 24 hours.

For more info on the road and the place where we arrived next to the river see pictures.. We got there at 11.30 and the boat would come at 1700. When we arrived there there we also already 2 trucks and 3 other cars, that was also to our information about the maximum amount of cars that would fit, so we were lucky. During the 6 hours to come, we made friends with locals, they all were very interested in us and our reasons to be there, and why two girls? and what were our plans in Tanzania? etc.. We also fought some local kids that lived next to the river how to play 3-in line on the sand. Fun!
The Kilambo boat (or what looked like it) arrived, we got on, it took about an hour, we arrive on the Tanzania side around 18.15… That was not fully our plan that morning, because we had sort of made a rule for ourselves no to drive in dark… but really at this time and for this border crossing we did not have an option. Customs to get us into the country was done fairly quickly, but then around 18.45 we had to get the paperwork done for the car (third party insurance, car and road taxes). The gentleman at the office was dresses in a (fake) Armani suit and had surely not gotten this job thanx to his quick and efficient working style. About 45 min later it was our turn and he said the border was actually closed and his working hours were until 18.00. At that point Steph and I split up, I went to the local Insurance company to get the insurance for the car (they had to get the guy out of his bed, he had already gone home) and Steph used her patience skills and friendliness to make sure the official would still give out the certificates and let us into the country (I would probably not have been so efficient at arranging that in a friendly manner anymore :-))

It worked! we had all papers and were allowed in, by that time it was 19.30. We also had to put some extra air in our rear tyre as it seemed that for some reason it was very slowly losing some air. We did that (at a very dark, badly illuminated and quite border post) and got

driving on a dark, non-tarmac road towards Mtwara.
We made it safely to Msemo hotel in Mtwara, where we took a room after this long journey! We were safe, happy, ready for some beers and food in the restaurant and ready for more adventures in Tanzania!

Everyone Tanzania will follow soon!

Hope you all enjoy this update again.