Nampula – Cuamba – Blantyre – Cape Maclear.

We knew that we had a long and difficult drive ahead of us, so left Nampula early. We arrived in Cuamba at 4.00pm to discover that our tow-hitch wiring that connects to the batteries and rear lights on the trailer had, at some point during the day, come adrift and was totally destroyed!!! While Lionel was chasing around the village to see if we could buy the part that we needed, I established that the best place to stay (US$75) was not an option, everything about it was dodgy……………so, where to lay our head for the night with no other place to make for? Lionel was stressed and, dare I say it, grumpy, after a hellish drive and with no electrical parts to be found. It was Friday night and the music? that goes on all night long, had already started thumping,(this is to rouse the locals into party fervour,) We decided, in the gathering dusk, to get onto the road to the Malawi border and to find a local in one of the many huts along the way, and ask if we could park our rig and bed down for the night. ……..we felt that they could use the money more than those sharks in town!

This we did, and in no time at all we had a crowd of fascinated villagers gathered around us (5 feet away). We had planned to warm up a curry that we had frozen, but realised that in the dark, and with the bystanders, the best we could do would be to have tea and go to bed with a pkt of biscuits. That was not to be……..We were given two chairs, which we obligingly sat in, and then brought some monkey nuts to have with our tea. The next thing we knew we had two plates of food, one with putu, and another with a lentil & spinach-like mush! Lionel whispered that there was no way he could stomach the mush, so I manfully chewed my way into their good books. We then retired with lots of ‘bon nuits’ and ‘goodnights’, and the crowd took the hint and melted into the night!!!!
We were up before sunrise ,……….. and so were our hosts ! We handed out books and pencils to the youngsters, and a wind-up lantern to our hostess, along with some financial reward, and took our leave.

Our border crossing went without incident, except that Lionel refused to buy insurance for the trailer, and the minute we were in Malawi, the roads improved, there were English signboards, and we were able to travel a little faster. We made for ‘Doogles’, in Blantyre, as it is the only place that one can camp. ‘Doogles’ has seen better days, but it served its purpose and enabled us to buy the necessary spares, get them fitted, buy some provisions, (there is a Game and a Shoprite) and to move on, but not before going to Joyce, who informed me that she is the only one in the salon who does ‘caucasian’ hair!

We drove to the Zombo Plateau, which is an amazing road to a trout farm, lodges and cottages, up on a high and beautiful mountain where the Malawians sell any type of berry that one desires, even gooseberries.



We had a run-in with the law………..about 4 times in about 2 hours!!!! We were stopped for speeding through a village, Lionel argued, and got off………..We were stopped for not having insurance for the trailer, twice, Lionel argued, and got off …… ……..We were stopped for not having a Temp Import Permit, Lionel argued,……………and got fined! It was almost a relief, but I have convinced him to buy some insurance for the trailer when we can (R125)………. It will save so much time!!!!!!

We then drove through to Chembe Eagles Nest, at Cape Maclear, and even in the dark and with the wind howling, we knew that we had struck gold! Our campsite is on the grass, about ten metres from Lake Malawi itself. We are the only guests, and so we have this completely up-market, lodge and its staff, to ourselves. We decided that this is the place for us to stop and really relax for a week. (At US$10pp per night, it won’t break the bank!) We have been here 3 days now and I am typing this while watching DSTV. We sailed out on the lodge catamaran, to a nearby island for a spot of amazing snorkelling this morning.
In our camp we have a family of monitor lizards that reside on the rocks next to our caravan. I think that they are as inquisitive about us, as we are about them, and I must admit to giving our campsite a jolly good look–over, before doing anything there. Just in case!!

Yes, Christine, Lionel, with a moustache and beard, is on the road to becoming a Kingsley Holgate look-a-like………. I don’t know what it is about men, but they seem to thrive on roughing it a bit, and he has lost weight and is looking good, whereas I, I feel as if I could do with a jolly good scrub and am probably looking a bit ‘faded’ and have not lost weight!!!

Chris and Sue, we bumped into friends of yours at the Mlembe Golf club yesterday, Bev and Peter Bekker, They say how about an e mail with your news!!!! Their e mail address is infotropex@africa-online.net and cel +265888723195. We had gone into Mangochi town to buy trailer insurance (at last) and decided to check out the golf club and maybe have a drink there. It looked so interesting we wanted to walk the par 3 course, got onto the 1st tee and then decided to play. We bumped into Bev and Peter as we were finishing!

Ilha De Mozambique – Nampula - Nacala – Nampula 15th – 20th Aug.

We had a long run from just before Caia to Nampula where we arrived in Nampula after dark and just collapsed into bed!1 The long POTHOLED section was just as we had been told by other travellers, (we, in our innocence, thought that they had been exaggerating about both the depth and the extent of them.) We were amazed and disgusted, that this was the main road north, and that no attempt had been made to fix the craters!!!!!

Then we realised what the thinking behind not fixing them must be…………………

First and foremost, it must be that it boosts the economy, as the vehicles that break down, and break up, all need fixing, hence the surfeit of street mechanics that set up shop, all ready to hammer and bend the vehicles back into shape.

Second and of extreme importance, is that it becomes a means of entertainment for all the locals that sit and watch the unsuspecting drivers careening and braking across the roads in order to miss the worst of the pesky potholes!! This relieves the boredom, you understand, and a nation that is bored, is a nation looking to cause trouble. Can’t have that, next thing you know, they’ll be asking for electricity and water and then it will be TV and all sorts of other questionable things!

Thirdly, the self appointed ‘helpers’ of the hapless travellers, spring into action with great gusto, to shove, lift or do whatever is necessary, and a lot that isn’t), in order to earn a few bucks, and the bystanders who have now swelled into a crowd, will try and sell you anything, even live chickens and goats, and if they have nothing to sell then they think that they are due a ‘watching’ fee as well. (The economy thing again.).

So, there you have it……I think that you will find that a policy against fixing potholes, has been tabled in Parliament, and it really makes perfect sense, if you just think about it.

Ilha da Mozambique is a tiny island that is joined to the mainland by a 2km bridge. Within 100m of driving onto the island I had asked Lionel to stop 3 times, so that I could get out and take some pics. We ended up parking and walking……… It is a photographic paradise.

An island with a heaving mass of colourful people, children playing soccer, fisherman mending nets, people dancing, people selling all sorts of lentils, flour, grain, you name it and thy sell it!! People being called to prayer………….. It is Africa condensed, and there is just too much action to take it all in in one go. It is smelly and dirty, as there is no sanitation and no fresh water, but somehow there is so much going on, and it is so different, that it doesn’t matter. (As long as I don’t have to live there, I think Leisure Isle will do me nicely, thank you very much.)

We weren’t going to go to Nacala, which is just north of Ilha, but were told that we had to see it, and we are so glad that we did. We stayed at a place called ‘Libelula’ just outside of Nacala. A missionary couple, Kotie and Rina, referred by the Van Zyls, at Gorongosa showed us where to stay. It is a most beautiful place with a great little beach in a marine reserve, where I snorkelled to my heart’s content. Warm, turquoise water, a swimming pool, a little restaurant for the odd meal, and totally away from the madding crowd, it became my favourite chill harbour -out spot in Mozambique. Nacala is a town that is growing at a tremendous rate due to the fact that it is the deepest natural in Africa, and the second deepest in the world, at a mile deep! They are building a railway line from Tete in Moz , where they have discovered the biggest coal mine in the world. There is expansion everywhere you look ……..they even have a Pep store, which, in our 1^st world, deprived state, has become a very exciting store indeed!!!! We spent 4 days there (not in Pep stores but in Nacala) and then started to make our way towards Malawi. We stayed just outside Nampula at a beautiful campsite in amongst the Inselbergs, which are granite mountains that seem to have shot up out of the ground like mushrooms, and they are everywhere that you look in this area. (The Paarl Rock in Paarl, obviously, looks like these Inselbergs).

My hair is long and unstyled, and the need to find a hairdresser is becoming of utmost importance,………one has to maintain standards, you know. Maybe in Malawi…………….?

Vilanculos –Inhassora – Beira – Gorongosa, and onwards…..6th -13th Aug

Back on the road and wondering what’s in store.
Each day has presented us with so many different sights, sounds and experiences, most of them positive. The women are very colourful with their different patterns on their sarongs, which they use for everything…..it ties on their babies, wraps up their wares, they are used for groundsheets and are also the very latest in adorning their bodies. I love seeing them walking on the side of the road or in the markets and I have found many uses for the sarongs in the camp as well. (tablecloths, a screen for privacy in front of our door, a hanging for keeping out the sun in the kitchen.

We arrived at Inhassoro, and drove around a bit to find the one and only campsite , which had a very tired and unkempt look about it……yours truly, suddenly came over all fussy and demanded to see the ablutions before booking in…they weren’t bad at all and so we stayed there for 2 nights in order to get a spot of washing done. (Oh, how I miss my washing machine!) Once again met some great people who had just done what we were about to do and so gave us some tips on where to stay………more about that later…..

The next night saw us in the Rio Save Game Reserve at Papagaia camp (named because of the green parrots flying around there) a beautiful place with two huge baobab trees. The concessionaire of the camp is an Italian Journalist, Jon Carlos Caccio (complete with scarf and handlebar moustache). He had covered the civil war in Moz. and is still doing the odd article for the Italian newspapers. He was chuffed to hear that we had found his campsite on the ‘Tracks for Africa’ Maps on our Garmin. Lionel fixed his fridge for him and we received an invitation to dine with him that evening. A very charming host he turned out to be……if a tad heavy-handed with the gin in our obligatory G& T’s (The tonic is for the prevention of malaria and the gin is to make it more palatable!!!.) We introduced him to Colin Mathiesen’s medicinal gin-soaked sultana’s, (for the prevention of arthritis, you understand,) and he was most impressed, and became very heavy handed with that as well, insisting that we had teaspoon for teaspoon with him. We weaved our way back to our caravan that night all 50 meters of it, and just managed to miss the baobabs!!

Beira was a bit of a grubby shock to the system and once again no camping to speak of…we ended up in the three star? Tivoli hotel, which was okay and we even had a view of the sea, if you could just get your eyes away from the squalid and almost derelict, high rises that formed a corridor to the view! I was enchanted by the scores of children playing on the roof tops of buildings, some of which didn’t even have sides. They played skip-a-rope games, and there was a game for the older ones, and one for the youngsters as well. Others were playing on a tricycle or just running around. The laughter that rose up did my heart good and I realised that even in the most desperate places there is happiness and good to be found. (We only went to Beira because Lionel wanted the car’s idling to be adjusted at Nissan).

On the way to Gorongosa, we drove past a couple walking with backpacks. This was the second time that we had seen them and we just had to hear what their story was, so we stopped and waited for them to catch up. It turns out that they had been on the road for 4 months and they were walking from Cape Town to ……wait for it………………………………PARIS!!!!!!! We were gob-smacked!!! A young, French couple, they walk between 40 and 45 Kms a day and just sleep where they find a place on the side of the road. We asked whether they had felt threatened at all, and they said, only in the Transkei. Their biggest problem has been fresh water and loads of gawking spectators making it difficult to wash. We asked them if there was anything we could give them as we had lots of provisions. They only wanted drinking water!!!! And you think that we ware crazy!!!!!

We had been told (from our friends at Inhassora) about an eco campsite, (Owned by Piet Van Zyl, and run by his very enthusiastic and helpful son Sakkie.) just 3km from the entrance to the Gorongosa that works on a donation basis, as they are not yet registered – a long and arduous process) They said that the water was drinkable, the ablutions were great, and the owners were good people and that the campsite in the Gorongosa itself was a bit desperate, …………they told no lies . We loved staying there. For those that are interested….take the turnoff off the EN1 to the Gorongosa Nat Park, and then drive 8 km to a turnoff to the R. (It has a sky-blue sign and a disused little brick building on the corner) Follow the signs to Enviro-trade and enquire there. The whole family are delightful.
Gorongosa Nat. Park is in beautiful ever-changing countryside with Miombo bush making way for palm forests, thorn tree forests and fever tree forests and, just when you get sick of that you enter grassland and then beautiful plains. People come from all over the world for the birds….there are birds in this area that you get nowhere else on earth!! The animals are slowly coming back, (during the civil war most of them were poached by both Frelimo and Renamo forces!! In fact, where the campsite is situated in the Park was taken over by Frelimo for their Headquarters!!) We were lucky to see Elephants, loads of different species of magnificent buck and warthog for Africa, and lots of birds that we had never seen before. We had a wonderful day! Another plus, was that the car’s idling just came right on its own while we were touring.

We are spending tonight at James Whites Camp about 30km before Caia, which is the town at the crossing of the ENI with the Zambezi River. We thought that we could camp but the campsite has made way for charming rustic chalets and good communal ablutions. It is costing us about R200 for the night and there is a restaurant where we about have dinner so we aren’t complaining. James White owns a Sawmill here and makes furniture (a lot like Fechters in Knysna) from the local hardwood timber. His mission is to plant 3 trees for every one that he cuts down for his sawmill! This area is also a fantastic birding area.

It is getting more and more difficult to find campsites here in the north and because the ferry sunk we will be unable to cross into Tanzania via the coastal route. We are thinking that once we have been to \Ile De Mozambique and some of the beaches around there, that we will cut across to Malawi and work our way up the lake to Tanzania instead.

Internet access is also pretty rare on the ground here but will try to keep the blogs going whenever possible

The Pathfinder

Hi Guys. It’s Lionel this time. Just thought I’d pass on a bit of the ‘view’ from the driver’s side of this safari.

Before leaving, everyone we spoke to (save those at Knysna Nissan of course) hinted, implied, suggested or said outright that we should probably have chosen a Toyota for this adventure. Well as you all know, it was a ‘family deal’ that landed us in our Nissan, and, despite my own reservations at the time, what a deal it has turned out to be! Having now driven the vehicle in off-road conditions (not mud yet) I have to tell you that I’m pleased to be driving a Nissan, or at least this Nissan. And Nissan seems to have a greater presence in Mozambique than Toyota.

Consumption has been good, and its all-round ability off-road has been most impressive. We have cruised sand tracks, up and down hill, at about 1200 to 1500 rpm. Way under the optimum 2000 rpm for maximum torque, and very little stops us. On tar, up hill, it climbs easily at 2000 rpm.

Having said all that, we have had to ‘make a draai’ to Beira because, for some reason, the trusty Nissan won’t idle. Nothing wrong with performance, but it keeps stalling at idle speed (maybe it just doesn’t want to go that slow). So, Beira has a large Nissan agency and they can take a look tomorrow. I suspect (and hope) that it is something as simple as changing the fuel filter, and, if diesel’s have such a thing as an idle adjustment screw, a small adjustment there.

Despite the hiccup, I’m still a very firm Nissan fan.

Must go. Running out of power to post this blog.

Paindane Beach (Inhambane area) toVilanculos via Morrungulo 31st July – 6th August

It didn’t take us long to pack up and we were soon happily on our way. Everybody talks about bent cops that pull you over and make any excuse to ‘fine’ you………well we have been pulled over about seven times and each time Lionel sticks on his indicators and gently pulls off to stop exactly where indicated by officials with guns and uniforms. Here we go, I think, how much is this going to cost? Huh, the minute we get to snails pace, they take one look at us, and wave us through!!!!! It must be Lionel’s grey hair that they see,…… of course the beautiful blonde in the seat next to him, must also soften their hearts! I must confess to feeling a bit ‘knarked’,………. do they think that we are too OLD to cause any trouble!?

We arrived at Morrungulo campsite and were pleased to see grassed, shady sites right on a beautiful beach,…… flushing loos and hot water, what more could a body want? We had asked for 2 nights but ended up there for four. Lionel caught his first fish off the beach, (a kingfish) and cooked it for lunch. This is the first place that, while we were camping, we didn’t have people trying to sell us their wares or produce. We have met some amazing and friendly people while camping. A couple from Germany, in Bilene, who introduced, and bought us the freshly baked rolls that are available anywhere you go…….. The Britz’s (from Hillcrest, Natal) in Morrungulo even greased the break system of our van for us, and then, when we left today, presented us with the grease gun and grease. They reckoned that our need of it was greater than theirs……..what a fabulous gesture!!!

While in Morrungulo we took a 60km day drive (on 4x4 track) to Pomene, we left at 8am and had breakfast at Pomene Lodge at 10am. What a beautiful and isolated spot it is in ……the azure lagoon on the one side of the Lodge and the turquoise sea on the other.

Lionel had been told about pothole’s the size of craters, on the first 60km of our 200km drive to Vilanculos, so no problem, we would take another route! We understood that it would be a sand road but no pesky potholes. We set off and before we knew it we were on a track where, at times, I had to close windows so that my face wouldn’t get scratched from the bushes. We gave goats and chickens the fright of their lives……….they had definitely never seen a car in their lifetime before. The locals all gazed at us with a knowing look on their faces…they, and I, knew we were lost!!!! (Lionel maintained that he knew exactly where we were. (Yeah, right). At one point I had to get out of the car to lift a tree branch to allow us to pass underneath……… Bounce, bounce, bump, bump, through mealie fields, bush et al, there where no stalls and begging children along this road……..it would have been a waste of their time. I was making mental notes on how many days worth of food that we had, but, fortunately, 2 hours later we arrived on the EN1 and the rest of the trip passed by without incident. Thank heavens for the GPS.. Talk about the road less travelled!!! Now that we are safe and sound, don’t tell Li. but I quite enjoyed it.

I must admit to preferring the small villages to the towns, there is less hustling, filth and the people seem happier. It is also difficult to find camping spots that are secure. So, oh darn, we will just have to settle for a lodge. I have had my eye on the ‘Casa Rex Lodge’, it just sounded like my cup of tea, (and it is, they even have Earl Grey in the rooms) and guess what….I am just going to have to get used to sleeping in a king-size bed for one night, and a bath, what bliss!!! All this, and it is situated on a hill above the beach, just off the side of the harbour where all the boats and dhows leave and arrive for the islands. (Benguerra, Bazaruto etc.) A magic little spot. Wet had a delicious dinner where Lionel pointed out that I could have as much to drink, as late as I liked because I wouldn’t have to worry about dashing across to the ablutions in the middle of the night! What a bonus, ……the only challenge will be extricating myself out of metres and metres of mosquito net and I think I’ll manage that okay.. Of course there is also wireless internet, hence this blog now, while I have the chance.

There are some really confusing laws in Moz, and the one that puzzles me most is that there is a paint tax. If you paint your house then you apply for a permit and pay according to which colour you choose. Not too many painted homes about!!! The other is that the powers that be, are not encouraging people to develop camping sites, and are putting all sorts of stumbling blocks in the way to discourage it..

Ren, thanks for the tip about putting vanilla essence in the tank to improve the taste of the water. Guess what will be on our next shopping list.

I love getting the feedback through your comments, it makes me feel like I am not wasting my time.

I know that we will be going into wilder and less travelled territory soon and that the camping will be a lot rougher, but our car is going like a trouper and Lionel is very chuffed with the way it handles the off road sections, it has been really great in the sand, and the fuel consumption has been a lot better than expected. The trailer is also very comfortable and works really well ………we seem to have got into a routine where it doesn’t take long to set up and pack up. I guess we are as ready as we will ever be……………..