The road from Montepues to Lichinga

We left the Mozambican coast at Ibo and ventured inland to the west. Our goal was to drive across Northern Mozambique to Lago Niassa (Lake Malawi) before the rains make the road impracticable. There we could rest there before heading North to Sanga and across the new bridge to Tanzania.

But first we had to get to Marrupa! It was to be quite an adventure: two full days to do 500km, a slow difficult road, dodgy wooden bridges, two breakdowns, and two nights in the bush in very isolated areas.

General view of the main road

Detail of the main road Dodgy bridges (Caro scouting one of them)

Curious villagers (Scarlet is an attraction)

Warning: elephants crossing Cooking in the bush

Caro shot some videos en route:

One to give you an idea of what the main road across northern Mozambique is like (approx 300km between Montepues and Marrupa) …and we were lucky that it was relatively dry!

VIDEO of the road
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NY7bqOVYYXU


… And one about what happens when a branch jumps up of the road and lodges itself under the car.
Fortunately there was no serious damage to the brakes or fuel lines, tanks etc.

VIDEO of the breakdown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQgvDMVfJ9M



Fortunately, once we got out of the forest at Marrupa, we found the best tarred road yet in Mozambique! It took us straight to Lichinga across stunning landscapes of high plateaux.

Images from the high plateaux