Mozambique: Bob Dylan was right on the money

"i'd like to spend some time in Mozambique, the sunny sky is aqua blue, and all the couples dancing cheek to cheek, it's very nice to stay a week or two..."

...or three, or four.

But let's start at the journey TO Mozambique. We left Dar and headed South towards our destination, Kilwa Masako, about 300km's from Dar. We'd been warned that 60km's of the journey would be bad, real bad. It had been raining ALOT while we'd been in Dar and we were told; "Expect the worst", and "the road will be hell on earth". So, off we went.

We whizzed along smooth tar for about 120km's and almost believed that the infamous 60km's had been tarred since our informers had last attempted it. Alas, this was not the case. Smooth tar disappeared and a 'road' made of brownish red mud and mud pools appeared before our eyes. To prove a point, it started to rain as we hit the mud.

Mud puddle number 1 of 500!

The five hours it took us to drive that 60km's were adventurous to say the least. Michael performed like a prize amphibeous tank, taking us through long, deep mud pools and slushy, porridge-like mud sections. Until his brakes decided that they'd had enough and stopped working. Eish. After some brake pumping, they started working again, albeit sluggishly. We shared the road with a number of trucks, buses and other 4X4's. Observing these vehicles negotiate themselves through the mud proved entertaining. Over the three years that this stretch of road has been a mud bath, a bull-dozer is permanently tasked at pushing or pulling stuck trucks/buses/cars out of the mud and we were priveledged to observe this on a number of occassions before we braved the dodgy sections.

At one stage, we were driving behind a bus and a rather impatient Land Rover Discovery (in middle pic above) was behind us. The bus got stuck in the mud, and the cowboy behind us decided that he would be able to drive through the extra thick mud next to the bus. Off he went at speed, only to get horribly stuck and in the process managed to damage the under-carriage of his car. It was like a fast-speed comedy.

We arrived at Kilwa feeling tired and anxious about the brakes. While we were in Zanzibar, we'd met a Swiss/German couple at the hotel we stayed at in Stone Town. As they were leaving the hotel one morning, they mentioned that they lived at the Benedictine Fathers compound in a small town along the journey into Moz and that it was a good place to stay if we needed clean water/German food and any work done on the car. So, after a team meeting we decided to leave the next day and head to said spot (Ndanda is the name of the town) and pray that the brakes held out.

The brakes held out and we arrived in Ndanda and followed the signs to the Benedictine fathers. Along the road, we spotted our friends, Bernice and her daughter, Emma. They hopped in the car and directed us to the garage, and arranged a room for us at the guest house.

We ended up staying in Ndanda for four nights. All of Michael's brake pads were replaced, as was the master cylinder and oil of different types. We were invited for delicious lemon cake at Bernice and Elias's home, watched a soccer match at a nearby pub, were shown around the area and walked to the clean nearby lake for a swim.

Our 'un-planned' stay in Ndanda turned out to be a trip high-light and we made some great friends. We left Ndanda in an embarrassingly clean car (the work of a high-pressure hose...Germans!), fresh water in our water tank, a tupperware filled with delicious leb-koechen (not sure about spelling) and some heavenly Swiss chocolate. Thank-you Elias, Bernice, Emma, Fransesca and Agnus!!

We lost our number plate in one of the mud puddles

Before the high-pressure hose

After the high-pressure hose



We entered Mozambique at the Unity bridge feeling quite overwhelmed and emotional that we were entering the last country of our trip. The scenery was rugged, beautiful and mostly untouched. We spent the night at Hotel Chez Natalie in the small town of Mocimba Da Praia. After swapping our books and becoming acquainted with a new currency, we headed south to Pemba. Which is where we find ourselves as I type this. Yesterday, we spent the day updating our anti-virus programme and various other laptop-related tasks. Today we plan to head into town and explore a bit and will then head further south to Nacala/Mozambique Island.

Things Ange has learnt:
1. Nothing beats being able to drink water straight out of the tap (Ndanda is the only place in Tanzania where you are able to do this).
2. Cormac McCarthy's THE ROAD is a phenomenal book.
3. German cake is delicious.

Things Grant has learnt:

1. Brakes are important and not having them feels like playing tennis without a racket....not so much fun.

2. Germans are incredibly efficient, organised and thorough......I love them!

3. A tar road on the map is only that. It does not, however,  guarantee that in real life you will find a nice smooth road covered in black stuff.