Rio Azul

Rainbow

Mark

Steve

Sunset at "The Point"

Boats on the estuary

Andy

Fishing in the waves

Andy coming home in the sunset

Steve motoring in the estuary

Locals smoking fish

Silhouettes

Luxury

Rio Azul is a South African owned and run lodge on the Govuro River Estuary, about 30km north of Inhassoro. It is marketed primarily as fishing lodge, although its pristine natural surroundings and luxurious facilities make it ideal for anyone looking to get away from it all.

There is a small local population living around the estuary who subsists mainly by fishing. They seem to use a combination of traditional fish traps and fishing from dhows (simple elegant wooden boats) and dug-out canoes using nets or handlines. Fortunately, pressure on the fisheries is limited at this stage and the angling is still excellent.

We arrived in late afternoon and went down to “The Point” with our fly rods. There was a slight on shore breeze, and although the surf was small it was not easy to get the line out more than a couple of meters. Off to my right a spray of minnows broke the surface and then a few seconds later came the hit. It wasn’t a very heavy take at first, just a dead weight at the end of the line. Then he ran… and I really experienced need for backing (excess line to allow fish to run) for the first time in my fly-fishing career. I managed to land it on the beach after a few minutes: a small Kingfish about 30cm long more specifically known as a GT (Giant Travally). I removed my fly from this powerful broad bodied predator and returned him to the waves. I didn’t know it yet, but the excitement I had just experienced, and would be looking for again over the next few days, was to become known as “GT Fever” by everyone at the lodge.

Pretty soon we all had it. There were many other species caught over the next few days: rock cod, Kingfish and Queenfish of different varieties, Snappers, Garfish.

Much of our time was spent exploring the many mangrove lines channels of the estuary in the “Tinnies”, small powered aluminium boats. We also took a trip out to BD Island, about half an hour out of the estuary to fish some deeper water.

Mark and Andy flew out on Christmas Eve back to Joburg and we stayed to enjoy a wonderful Christmas dinner (yes, ham and turkey) and to soak up the luxury for one more day before we headed north up towards Gorongosa.

Many thanks to Pam, Craig, Innocent, Nick and Mat and everyone else at the lodge for a really fantastic stay!

Their website is http://www.rioazul-lodge.com/

Beyond the Tropic of Capricorn

Today is our last day at Vilanculos. We have been there for four days with Steve’s dad, Andy, and his brother, Mark . They flew in from Johannesburg to spend a week with us sampling the local beers between fishing outings.

Andy & Mark enjoying a 2M (Mac-Mahon… One of the local beers)

In Tofo we camped under some palm trees. Hearing the coconuts fall loudly at night made us realise that it would be better for Scarlet (and us) to avoid camping in the firing zone in the future. We opted for a big Flamboyant tree (Vlamboom) at our next camp, which provided a good shade on the rare occasion that it wasn’t raining. We were very pleased to have the awning shelter our dining room from the frequent showers.

Camping under the Vlamboom at Josef and Tina’s

Our days here have been relaxing. It has been good to stay in the same place for a while, and we enjoyed our first real interactions with local people. We are pleasantly surprised to feel so accepted by the Mozambicans. We are foreigners, tourists, Mlungu (white-men)… so wealthy in comparison to many of the locals. Prices are sometimes raised for us but we do not feel ripped-off or harassed. The people are polite, self-confident, gentle and full of good humour.

“Welcome to the land of smiles”, says the Mozambican Tourism Board at the border. We agree.

Smiles

We played cards, dice, petanque, and frisbee (or rather, Mark’s incredible flying ring – the aerobie) on the beach with local kids. We walked the streets and beaches, some badly damaged by a hurricane two years ago. We bought fish at the market, cooked potjies, played soccer and took a dhow trip to the island. Steve even had a haircut.

Steve gets a haircut
Cleaning the fish at the market

Playing soccer Hands game

Sales on the beach Boy and dhow Dhows on the beach

Vilanculos beach street

Vilanculos main street

On route from Tofo we stopped to buy mangos in a village. It’s mango season and mangoes seem to mature faster than people can eat them. We ended up with a sack of mangos for next to nothing. The whole experience was very colourful. I wish I could have taken a picture, but the women didn’t want me to. Maybe next time... I would like to share their smiles, and the beautiful variety of their sarongs.

I am amazed at what the women carry on their heads. I have started a list. C’est un inventaire a la Prevert. I’ll have to write a post on it sometime soon…

In Vilanculos, we had our first brief encounter with other travellers: two French couples on motorbikes and sidecars. They left France (Bouche-du-Rhone) in April 2008 and had driven across Russia then down the Americas. They were now starting their trip back up though Africa. Their website is http://www.passagers-du-monde.fr/

Magaruque Island

Magaruque is a small island, just 11km off the coast of Vilanculos. It is part of the Bazaruto Archipelago National Park and has a nice long reef just off the beach. It’s the perfect place to spend a day snorkelling and fishing.

We sign up with one of the two or three dhow companies in town. Dolphin Dhow, treat us to a wonderful day on the island. It is not cheap, but we agree that its worth it. They provide a good lunch of crab and calamari curry, fresh fruit, salads and drinks. The snorkelling equipment is included and their dhows are equipped with motors and life jackets.

Below are a few pictures we took at Magaruque.

Andy & Mark on the dhow

Dhow and grey sky The boys getting ready for the first fish of the holiday

Andy fly-fishing at Magaruque

Andy caught a Kingfish

Crabs in the rain
Snorkelling Star fish and Sea cucumber

1st impressions of Mozambique - from Maputo to Tofo

Our first contact with Mozambique is physical - literally. After a few kms of smooth sandy tracks we hit a hard bumpy road. I am thankful I have packed sports bras.

Bumpy road to Boane

There is so much to learn when one enters a new country.
It’s a new language: “Bons Dias”, “Boa Tarde”, “ Obrigado/a”, “Fas favor”, “Es tu a pedir”…
It’s also a new currency. The toll gate exchanged our rands at 1 rand (ZAR) = 2.23 meticales (Mt) but the backpacker’s in Maputo gave us ZAR 1 = Mt 2.4

And it’s a new cell phone network. But this one isn’t hard to find about! MCell’s blue and yellow adorns most buildings in the rural areas and is advertised on most billboards (when it’s not Vodacom’s blue and white). They also sent us a roaming message just a few kms after we crossed the border (so did MTN: welcoming us to Swaziland!). We easily find a simcard. Unfortunately our 3G modem doesn’t seem to work on it. We will have to rely on internet cafes to get connected.

Yellow MCel-sponsored buildings everywhere

The local beers are the Laurentina, the Manica, and the 2M (Mac-Mahon). They are good!

A beer costs between Mt 25 and Mt 40 depending on the place. We find the cost of life very high in general; higher than in Cape Town. We pick our friends brains’ for tips on the cost of things as we are a bit worried that people noticing us as newcomers will overcharge us. But so it is: Mt 50 for 5 l of water, Mt 25 for a kilo of tomatoes, Mt 5 to Mt 10 for the car guards…

We also need to get used to washing fruits and veggies in clean water before we eat them, as well as to wearing long pants and long sleeves shirts together with anti-mosquitoes spray in the evening… we don’t want to get malaria.

It is really great is to be getting slowly acquainted with a new culture:

Sandrine and Ronny have welcomed us into their home. Thank you! It’s great to see them again after three years. Julian and Siphiso have changed a lot. I am sorry I didn’t think of taking pictures. Their sister, Violette, is now six months old. She arrived home when she was just six weeks old and is totally adorable.

Violette

We have a diner of fresh crabs and they tell us about their life here. It’s so different from South Africa. We can feel it already. It is difficult to describe, but basically there seems to be much more social mixity, and the Mozambicans are self-confident and seem happy with themselves.

The culture is a rich mix of African, Portuguese and Arabic. For example, Sandrine and Ronny’s house is right next to much poorer looking buildings. They have a guard but don’t seem too concerned about security. They say there is no violent crime.

After dinner they take us to a club where we listen to cool local jazzy music. We seem to be the only foreigners (and whites) but no one pays special attention to us. There is a great atmosphere, almost Latin. I imagine Brazil to be quite similar.
It’s chilled out yet elegant, urban and modern yet it feels like a well-established culture.

We know too little of the country’s history to make much comment. The communist influence is visible in the avenue’s names: Vladimir Lenin, Karl Marx, Mao Tse Tung… So is the liberation struggle: 24 de Julhio, Eduardo Mondlane…

These are early days and we are still feeling a huge distance with the people. I am reluctant to take photos: I don’t feel quite safe enough to take the camera out in the streets yet, and in any case it doesn’t seem right to point it into people’s faces. I prefer just to enjoy their huge smiles and friendliness.

Below are just a few first images:

Mon 15/12 – Tofo. Unfortunately and, despite our great expectations, there is again no surf to be had her. Instead, we do some maintenance and relaxation at the Turtle Cove, a stylish and very nice campsite with swimming pool and yoga lounge.

Steve doing some daily maintenance on Scarlet.

The Turtle Cove’s campsite’s yoga lounge.

Our first baobab, near Inhambane

Sun 14/12 - On the road between Maputo and Xai Xai

Sat 13/12 – Maputo Costa do Sol

Our 1st border crossing: Ponta do Ouro, into Mozambique

We woke up early: our noisy neighbours were getting ready to go fishing on the Kosi Bay estuary. The day is overcast and a welcome respite after the last few days. At 8am we are ready to head to the border post a few kms away.

At 9am the border is already very busy. Cars are queuing for over a km of road at least. It is Saturday, the first day of the Christmas holidays. Hundreds of South Africans are going to the coast. It looks like the great trek: a migration of fully kitted 4x4 with trailers, tents, boats, jet-skis, quad bikes… In front of us a group of students in a fancy Land Cruiser with a trailer have cracked open the beers. They are not the only ones...


We eventually get to the border (2hrs) and everything goes smoothly. The staff are friendly and helpful and it is well organised. We don’t take photos around the border as it probably isn’t allowed.

Steve gets a 1 month visa for ZAR 17 on his South African passport. Mine (French)costs ZAR 172. It is less than what I was expecting from the information I had gathered from the Embassy. It’s a pleasant surprise. The compulsory car insurance costs ZAR 150, and we don’t have to pay for a temporary import permit for our vehicle thanks to the Carnet de Passage (CDP).

The border post officials didn’t know about the CDP, and it took them quite some time to figure it out with them. but eventually they were very happy that we had such an official document with us. Steve was very patient, and I walked around, observing with amusement the “great summer migration” and looking for a discreet spot without snakes or mines to go to the loo.

We have done about 3,000km since we left Cape Town 2 weeks ago.

Once in Mozambique we have the choice between 3 sandy tracks. They are all 4x4 only. We are told that the one on the left will take us to Maputo. The GPS confirms: keep left all the way to Boane and you will be fine.

From the Transkei to Kwazulu Natal: our last week in South Africa

Our last night in South Africa is at the Kosi Bay rest camp. Once again, and despite the fact that the holiday season has started and we haven’t made any bookings, we have been lucky to find a campsite.
Tomorrow we will cross the nearby border post of Ponta do Ouro into Mozambique. I have just had a hot shower and Steve is preparing a potjie - the last of our farewell party chicken (let’s hope it wont make us sick). We are wearing long pants and long sleeved shirts as we have entered a malaria endemic area.
It is hard to believe that we were in South Africa over the past few days. It has been hot, humid, and overcast. It feels very tropical. We are slowly getting used to being constantly damp.
The roads have been good and very scenic; tarred roads wandering through the Transkei’s green hills, the national road bordered by sugar cane or eucalyptus plantations, or the sandy coastal 4x4 tracks we have been following since Mabibi Beach.

Fri 12/12 – From Mabibi to Kosi Bay along the coastal 4x4 sandy tracks:

Thur 11/12 – From St Lucia to Mabibi Beach is our first real trip off the main roads. We pass Muzi Pan and its amazingly rich bird life and then onto Lake Sibaya, the largest fresh water lake in Southern Africa. Our camp is in the coastal forest on top of the dunes at Mabibi.
It is a full moon night, the beach is remote. That night we are fortunate to witness a 1,2m long loggerhead turtle lay her hundred eggs.

In the morning Steve does a bit of DIY blacksmithing to fix our tent’s poles. They need to be bent more sharply so the flysheet won’t blow away in the wind.


Wed 10/12 – It was a peaceful drive St Lucia. We arrived at dusk and found the False Bay Caravan Park totally empty, except for a herd of zebra, a warthog and her baby, a lone male nyala and a pelican. It was only when we went to the office to pay the next morning that we discovered that the campsite was actually closed because of a severe draught and insufficient drinking water for campers.

Tues 9 and Wed 10/12 - Kristi, Jason, and baby Hudson welcome us at their home in Durban. We are invited to a fantastic braai at Jason’s parents. Thank you! Congratulations to Jason on his 30th and to Hudson for his first rollover.

Our hopes for a surf in Durban were high… But the ocean was flat…


Never the less, we had a great time visiting the Ushaka Marine World!

Mon 8/12 - “Nature” woke us up at dawn so we could pay him for the campsite. We helped three young boys collect rubbish around the camp. We drop it at Lusikisiki on our way North:


We left Mpande Bay and took the scenic route to Durban, passing by the Transkei’s turquoise round huts on the hills, and through a few small but busy towns with a strong African feel:


On the road to Durban we stop to visit Oribi Gorge: