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…………….?