Adventures in Mozambique

Our Mozambiquean adventure was a hard-to-get experience. On the day of our departure we still had no idea of how to get to our destination, which we only 12 hours before had decided would be Quelimane by the coast of Central Mozambique.

Lesson no 1: The tourism industry in Mozambique is not very reliable.

Getting over the border was easy, but time consuming. The next part was a bit more tricky. The only means of transportation to get into the nearest city, was bicycle taxi's (another appropriate name could have been "Desperate Conn Men on Wheels"). Not really comfortable (which we later realized was some kind of slogan for Moz. transport), and already sick of quarreling, we finally reached Milange and an agreement which was, - not satisfying, but one both parties could live with.

Lesson no 2: Money does not equal good service...

We got to the bus station only to realize that all the public transportation had left for the day. Surrounded by drunkards and criminals (we were later informed that the same men worked a scam driving tourists into a trap, stealing all their belongings and leaving them in the bush), we carefully examined our options to continue our trip, -which really was not many! Fortunately we eventually found to trustworthy individuals who was recommended by the guards at the place, and half an hour later we hit the road in a rusten minibus: 2 drivers, 4 girls, a lot of luggage and 3 hens wandering around, pecking our feet. The road was nothing but potholes for 7 hours (mostly mud roads) and its amazing how fast it is possible to go on without hitting a single pedestrian.

Lesson no 3: Roads in Mozambique are terrible and the drivers even worse!

What we first noticed about Mozambique (other than potholes and quarreling speed addicts) was the number of children with "inflated bellies" (due to under nutrition), the second was the number of ruins along the road. Even though the civil war ended in 1992, the signs of it was clearly visible from the road. The reconstruction did not start before year 2000, and I suspect that the southern part, with the capital Maputo, is prioritized. Nevertheless, I do believe that Mozambique is a beautiful country, and in some years, when it might have gotten rid of more of its scars, I'll go back.

We got to Quelimane late in the evening and after looking at several hotels (just to discover that they all were fully booked) we settled for a very nice and cosey place near the town center (but a bit over our price range..). We only spend one day in the city, looking around and enjoying urbanity (way above our home town in Malawi). We even got a glance of the old Portuguese cathedral, before we headed for Zalala Beach. It was a tourist heaven in the making, - which basically means the facilities was not exactly finished when we got there. On the plus side there was A LOT of space on the wide sandy beach and very few sellers to bother us. On the other hand there were no shops at all and only two local, extremely slow-going restaurants, which provided the only food we had access to and had the great variety of 3 courses all together. We were lucky enough to rent the only housing available (except tents) through a contact of the bank of Mozambique, and it was clean, cheap, nice and safe. We even enjoyed cable-TV, which is quite a luxury after three months without any TV at all.

Lesson no 4: Everything can be carried on a bicycle; there is room for at least 3 goats at the back of your bike.

Going home again turned out to be a whole lot more difficult than we planned for. On Sunday morning we had arranged to be picked up at 7 am. That did not happen. Actually, we waited for 7 hours to get out of Quelimane, and finally we gave up due to (what we were told was) a fuel shortage in the city (In Zomba shortage of salt is quite common, I don't think the shops have had it the last month). Frustrated by the various lies told by our driver in order to keep us as costumers, we decided to go for a nice hotel and hope for better luck the next day.

Lesson no 5: This is Africa, 5 minutes can easily turn into 7 hours. - Patience is more than a virtue...

The following day we were able to continue our long journey home (without the hens (I don't know what happened to them..) but a duzin dusty men in the back of the lorry of our new car). The driver was going even faster in this car, and Hanna was determinately praying in the back seat, while I was trying to defy my fear in the front. Fortunately everything went well, with only minor setbacks like the clutch breaking down, and we were relieved to get home to Zomba safe and sound the same night. The mood suddenly changed.

Lesson no 6: Malawi really is "the Warm Heart of Africa":)
(Eventuelt: "Borte bra, men hjemme best!")