Mozambique

We crossed into Mozambique through an obscure border post in the center of the country. Almost immediately we found ourselves in a different world, a place that is more reminiscent of those quintessential African images that are stirred up by National Geographic documentaries. Red dirt tracks zigzagging around mud huts, women precariously balancing big buckets of water, or loads of wood on their head, little kids everywhere. It is also the first time that we were completely relying on our GPS to navigate from one little village to another.

After two hot, dusty days of driving we finally reach the coastline, at the small town of Xai-Xai. It was nice to see the ocean again, except this time the water was probably 10 degrees warmer. I wasted no time and head straight to the fish market to scope out the legendary Mozambican seafood. I return to our beach campsite with 4 kilos of fish and 2 kilos of prawns - all for 15 bucks. We barbeque and stuff our faces with delicious goodness and share it with 3 locals that we befriended. This process was to be repeated almost every other day as traveled north along 2900 km of pristine coastline.

I knew that the 3 weeks that I planned for this country was a gross underestimate -- it has taken us twice as long. We swing by Maputo for a couple of days, where I pop into the local MCC office, and find it in a flurry of activities. I am pleased to talk the MCC speak of “rescoping compacts”, “investment memos“ and “reorgs”. It was good to run into the old colleagues. We then head north, which will be our bearing for the next 2 months, or so. We arrive to Tofu, a place well renowned in diving circles for its manta rays and whale sharks.

I began my PADI open water certification right away and pretty soon began to discover a whole new world. Diving definitely takes one out of their comfort zone and transports into a new environment. Being weightless and breathing under water is pretty strange, but to swim with school hundreds of fish, or hang-out with an enormous potato bass is an unbelievable experience. This is partly why we hung around Tofu for way too long.

We pushed north and continued to dive, marvel at amazing beaches and eat the freshest seafood. We had a our first major breakdown, as we burnt out our clutch and halted to a complete stop in the middle of nowhere on a Sunday afternoon, but luckily along the only major road. We were towed by a nice Pakistani family to the nearest town, where to our surprise we found a mechanic within 5 minutes. Without saying a word to us he climbed under the truck and confirmed what we already suspected - our clutch needed to be replaced. Richard, the 24 year old, charismatic mechanic happened to be from the neighboring Zimbabwe, the country that lost majority of its skilled labor as a result of president Mugabe’s devastating economic reforms. Luckily for us Richard chose this small town in Mozambique where we broke down. With a beaming smile he and his crew pushed our “Barbie” to their auto shop, aka a big tree on the side of a road. With a tarp under the chassis, the guys got to work and worked continuously for the next 7 hours, as we sat around watching the life go by in this little town in the middle of Mozambique. This little adventure was well worth the $180 bucks we paid for labor and parts (something that would cost us thousands back in US).

Another highlight was Ilha de Mozambique, a beautiful island that played an enormous role in the history of Mozambique, as it was the capital of Portuguese East Africa until the 19th century. This is where the eminent explorer Vasco de Gama landed in 1498. It was the hub of Indian Ocean trade. Today it feels like walking in a museum on a tropical island, most of it buildings are dilapidated and badly need to be restored… yet it retained that magical feel of an old colonial port and a melting pot of local Makua culture and Muslim influences.

A special shout out goes to the people of this wonderful country. Despite a very turbulent history of bloody civil war and abject poverty, I rarely met folks who laugh and smile more than these people. It is inspiring.

We are almost done with our Mozambiquen adventures, currently in Pemba preparing to explore Archipelago das Quirimbas -- as close to a tropical paradise as one can get… think idyllic island strewn amidst azure seas… We will then cross into Tanzania and make our way to Zanzibar for New Years festivities.

We concluded our love affair with Mozambique with some serious (mis)adventures. First up was Archipelago das Quirimbas -- a series of tropical islands with crumbling remnants of Portuguese colonial times amidst the pristine natural beauty. Getting there was half the fun. As we weaved our way through dusty rural roads we were unpleasantly surprised by an unmarked rain drainage canal. Coming into this gentle indent in the road at 40 km/h served as a launching pad for ‘Barbie’, catapulting us into the air to much amusements of the locals. Landing 10 meters later I was half expecting to wrap up our overlanding adventure. Surprisingly, aside from getting a bit winded, neither ’Barbie’ nor us sustained any apparent damages. Thank you “Iron Man” suspension system!!!

We cautiously continue to a local port and after much negotiating hope into a dhow, a kind of rudimentary sailboat that has been plowing these ocean waters for hundreds of years. We spend some time on Ibo island, roaming its eerie streets in the moonlight (the island has no electricity), snorkeling around nearby islands and just marveling at this little piece of paradise a thousand miles from home.We leave Ibo in high spirits, excited and ready to cross into Tanzania. Little did we know that northern Mozambique had a few more surprises in store. Expecting to reach the border that day we did not set foot onto Tanzanian soil for another 2 days. It all started rather innocent… Amidst exciting chatter and a complete lack of any road signage we miss a turn and begin heading in the wrong direction… for a couple of hours. No big deal, we think. It’s only 200 km to the border, it’s noon and according to the map there is another road that should link us to the border road.

We decide not to turn around and push on -- a decision we regretted just a few hours later. Lesson learned - don’t trust maps of northern Mozambique (the most underdeveloped and impoverished region of the country). The road that was suppose to bring us to the Tanzanian border had us cutting through a massive swath of jungle. It might have existed many years ago, but today the tracks are barely visible and mother nature has reclaimed most of it. We were averaging 10 miles an hour and getting progressively lost. The mood inside the car turned from exhilarating to tense. All of us quickly realized that even a slight drizzle would get us hopelessly stuck and the last vehicle we saw was a logging truck 4 hours ago. At that point we had no other choice but to press on, to keep moving north. At one point, while checking a dried out river bed of yet another river crossing I notice fresh paw prints and elephant foot prints. Northern Mozambique is known for its wild animals roaming around freely, unlike their S. African or Tanzanian counterparts.

It’s 6:30pm and getting dark. We have no choice but to break camp in the middle of the jungle. As soon as the sun goes down the jungle residents greet us with the most spooky sounds. I tried to sleep, but the noises around me keep me alert. We are up with the sun at 5am. I mentally do an inventory of our water, food supplies and fuel. We should be ok for at least 2 days… good thing, because that’s about how long we were wondering around. It took us one day and a half to cover 129 km. Ironically, when we finally did emerge out of the jungle and out onto a ’good’ road we get properly bogged down in a deep muddy rut and have to be pulled out by another LandCruiser. We arrived at the border caked in mud, exhausted but thrilled to have made it. This was an unforgettable adventure.