Mocambique - Africa's Hidden Treasure Thu 21/11/2002   Said my good byes to terry, jo, chris, james, james who left on Bazbus from Swaziland Backpackers to Jo'burg, and whilst checking out met Janine who asked wether she could join in on the trip to come to Mocambique, to which I agreed. Got a taxi into town as the Swaziland Backpackers had just moved into a house on the outskirts of Manzini. Once in the city we waited at the minibus rank for an hour to get a lift to Maputo. (6 EUR incl. Backpack) Despite some confustion about VISA requirements for Mocambique we had no problems obtaining one at the border crossing to Swaziland, costing 170 Rand (17 EUR) including the entry fee which everyone has to pay. We arrived in Maputo in afternoon and took a taxi to "the Base" backpackers being ripped us off in the process and being charged double the going rate, which we shortly afterwards found out from the owner of the backpackers. The owner Louis had more bad news for us shortly afterwards - the hostel was completely full. In the end we managed to get Louis to let us stay in a tent in the backyard, after which we quickly made our way into town to explore the local markets and pubs, and to withdraw some money. This turned out to be slightly more complicated as none of the banks we found in maputo took Maestro cards (EC) and I had to withdraw money on the Visa card for the first time during this trip. The crafts market in town had a huge selection of very nice and cheap wooden crafts, probably the nicest I have seen in Africa so far. We had dinner at a restaurant close by, which was quite funny as the menu differed significantly from the food that was actually available - so ended up having the mocambiquan standard - fish. Headed back to the backpackers after dinner, which we had relatively late by african standards, where we had some wine and a doobie on the terrace overlooking Maputo bay. Life is good. Happens to be Janine's birthday now - congratulations. The Maputo City Tour Fri 22/11/2002   As the sun rises at around 4:15 in Mocambique we woke and got up fairly early and made our way into town, buying some crafts as presents. We proceeded to the nucleus - an arts centre where some of the local artist exhibit and paint their works. The most unique and interesting items on display were chairs, figures and sculptures made from decommissioned gun parts. (The best works that come out of the nucleus go on exhibition in the national gallery we were told.) During our explorations around town we stopped off at the French Cultural Centre which had a concert that night (for which we bought tickets) and looked at the "tin house" next door which was designed by Eiffel. (you know the tower in Paris ...) He also served as the architect for the station which we would visit later on in the day. In the afternoon we visited the National Gallery where I found myself taking lots of pictures (illegally of course), of the very interesting and appealing works of modern art. On our return to the French Cultural Centre for the jazz concert in the evening we got slightly sidetracked and spent some hours in a live music pub just up the road from our intended destination. Time flew as we were talking to a local blues and jazz singer and his mates who all seemed to work for the radio or newspapers. In the end finally made it for the last few songs of the concert and then proceeded to our final stop of the evening - the "Africa Bar". The venue had been recommended to us for it's excellent live music and mixed crowd (and a hefty cover charge).	The Base Backpackers Maputo - +258 (1) 302723
House Maputo Centre Nucleus Art Gallery Art with Recycled Guns from the Civil War Natural History Museum Town Hall National Art Gallery National Art Gallery National Art Gallery Ministry of Culture (Tin House) Main Station Inside Station House Opposite Station Statue Opposite Station Cathedral at Dusk
From Maputo to Tofo Sat 23/11/2002   Rise and shine at 4:45 to catch a taxi to the bus station at 5:15, which prooved to be just in time to get tickets for the 6 o'clock bus to Inhambane. As we were taking a "regular" bus we experienced the african magic once again first hand, the seemingly chaotic situation at the bus station somehow resulted in us getting tickets for the bus, our luggage being put on the bus, all other passengers with tickets making it onto the bus and the bus leaving on time towards Inhambane - truly amazing. The smallish seats on the bus were a bit of a pain on the 8 hour journey but made it all right since we were stopping once in a while for food, toilet etc, during which I could stretch my legs. On arrival in Inhambane we managed to get a lift to Tofo by Dave an employee at Fatima's Backpackers (right on the beach) for the "regular" rate of 5000 Meds. After discarding both the camping option at Fatima's and the Bamboozi Backpackers which is located about 15 out of town towards Barra, we stopped at the largest dive centre in town called "Diversity" and got some excellent advice from the expat owner Garry. He managed to organise a private house right on the beach for an incredibly reasonable rate and we teamed up with Max and Tom, whome we had met whilst waiting in Inhambane for our lift, to share the house which actually slept six. Headed out to Alberto's for dinner round 8pm where I had the most delicious fish dish in my life, a gorgeously spiced Barracuda filet with rice and salad - Portuguese/Mocambiquan cuisine at it's best! Had a bit of a run in with Janine that evening and was on no speaking terms for a while. Tofo DiveMagic Sun 24/11/2002   In the morning got a ride with Garry to the dive shop and after some theory I went on my first "Deep Dive" to Manta Reef which only worked out because of a no-show on the original booking. (Book ahead if you want to dive in Tofo during December and January). The dive was incredible and I saw lots of fish I had previously not seen (many Spanish Dancers, Whale Sharks and a huge Manta Ray). Went for lunch at the internet cafe next door and helped the owner out with a software conflict he was experiencing. In the afternoon went back for a second dive in the bay doing the second advanced dive "Underwater Navigation", which due to the increased wind and surf and the strong current was quite difficult. When I returned to our house which had changed from the one we had spent the first night in, I had a quick shower before heading back to Alberto's for dinner only to find out that the Barracuda was already sold out (and would be for the remainder of our stay). I ended up having the grilled red fish which was also delicious but nowhere near the Barracuda. Our dinner party that evening saw a new guest named Michael, a German who had been looking for a place to stay and had been offered to share the house with us, as we still had one spare room. It rained all night and cleared up in the morning yet still very windy and high surf. more DiveMagic Mon 25/11/2002   I walked into town and got onto the first dive of the day, a drift dive at "the Galleria" which went down to a depth of 27m and turned out to not be a drift dive after all. The wind was blowing quite strong and the surf was huge, but the wind direction offset the normal current in the area so we ended up paddling along the side of the reef seeing a manta ray, sting ray and lots of other interesting sea life. Got back onto the boat and in to shore to spend the afternoon hanging around the dive shop to see if there would be an afternoon dive, which in the end was cancelled due to the high wind and waves. After having had a walk on the beach with Janine to sort out our dispute we returned to Alberto's for dinner, sharing a delicious seafood platter - but again no Barracuda. Beachday Tue 26/11/2002   The morning visit to the dive school did not yield any positive results, as the surf had not died down and consequently the dives for the morning were cancelled. So we first wandered around town buying food for a BBQ which we had decided to have that evening and then lied in a sheltered spot on the beach near Dino's Bar. The latter had been the place to be on the previous night, so good that one of the dive instructors was still dancing at 8 in the morning and everyone who had been there had only good things to say about the place. Was quite annoyed that I had had an early night but am enjoying Tofo so much that I will have to return to check out Dino's on Monday. In the afternoon went back to our house and started preparing dinner for the evening BBQ which turned out to be Squid the only fish we could find as well as a chicken we had purchased deep frozen from the town shop. All in all a yummy and welcome variation, but obviously not in the same league as Alberto's.	Private House in Tofo
Child on Bus to Inhambane Diversity Scuba - Garry Galleria - Fellow Diver Honeycomb Moray Honeycomb Moray Boxfish Manta Ray Different Manta Ray View from House at Sunrise View of Beach Group Photo Last Day
Tofo to Vilankulo by Rikki, Boat and Minibus Wed 27/11/2002   We all got up quite early as there was supposed to be a minibus taxi to Inhambane at 8 in the morning. I however could not identify the minibus taxi or is didn't leave at 8am, so had some breakfast at the beachfront hotel and walked over to Fatima's to find out if there were any lifts to Inhambane and to get the Photos of the dive at the Galleria off Eddie an American who had taken a watertight housing for his digital camera (Sony). Apparently there were no rides but good dive pictures, so headed to the Rikki-stand and got a lift with about 18 other people on a tiny pickup truck to Inhambane. From there took the small "ferry", almost in a league with the small motor dhows, across to Maxixe from where I then got onto a minibus to Vilankulo (probably sounds more complicated than it acutally is). I had chosen the minibus because of it's earlier departure date than the scheduled mainline busses, which all ended up overtaking us, as the minibus stopped at every little corner to load or unload some more passengers. Despite the slower (and cheaper) ride the minibus trip turned out to be more eventful! After about an hours driving we stopped for a pee brake (at least that is what I presumed when some of the women wandered off into the bush, but can't say for sure as my Portuguese is based solely on the little Spanish I had learned in the summer) One of the guys must have tried to touch/harass/steal from a woman also travelling on the minibus and was promptly beaten by three or four of the men on board (including the "conductor"). The punishment was carried out with hands and branches which had quickly been removed from a nearby tree. After some more shuffles and shouting everyone got back onto the minibus, and the journey continued. At this point I tried to find out what had actually happened but did not understand the Portuguese explanation. Stopped again some time later at a small police station where the perpetrator was handed over to the policeman who had been explained the situation in the shade of on of the trees nearby the station, under which he had been resting. In the end the whole case was put into writing and the offender recieved 10, from the sounds of it, quite painful beatings with the policeman's rubber baton. During the long procedure took a photo of our minibus with one of my fellow travellers in front. In the end the culprit was left in police station and journey continued on towards Vilankulo. Only to be halted another time due to a large bird (probably a hornbill) not making it off the road in time and being ripped apart by the bus. The remains of which were quickly washed off the front of the car and the "juicy bits" were swiftly recovered by a woman passenger who put the them into a plastic bag with the intent of having whatever may have been left on the thing for supper. Finally made it to Vilankulo and before even reaching the final stop the bus was surrounded by children offering to guide me to a good hostel on the beach. I had initially intended to stay at Baobab's Backpackers but ended up sleeping in my private hut next door to Baobabs on a "Hostel" owned or managed by Alfonso, who by the time I arrived was already quite merry. During the course of the evening I met a group of friendly South Africans there with whom I was going to spend quite some time in the coming days. Talked to Steve and Laurie a couple who had just graduated from University of Capetown. (Also turned out that they had been on the same bus from Maputo to Inhambane and had been staying in Tofo at the same time as me). We had decided to cook dinner together so we headed off to the market and bought some fresh Barracuda which we would barbecue over the open fire later on. Exploring Vilankulo Thu 28/11/2002   The next morning I wandered around the rather large town market and bought some food for dinner and lunch at the supermarket. My market excursion was followed by a look around the community centre which had been sponsored by SaSol and was being used as a gym, a school for adult education and an internet cafe. The afternoon started off with some phonecalls to South Africa, trying to get the right paperwork which would allow me to jump during the eclipse in Messina on the 4th of December, after which I went back to the community centre where I wrote some emails pertaining to the same subject, in an attempt to get the proper documentation from Germany. Later that afternoon I got a lift to Sailaway a small company in the North of Vilankulo which organises dhow Safaris to the Bazaruto Archipelago. Dave the owner had gone off to join his wife in South Africa where she was about to have their second child. Jackie a friend had taken over the operational duties for the time being and helped me sort out a three day dhow safari starting the following day and two scuba dives on Saturday. part 2 of Mocambique	Alfonso's Beach Huts (next door but one to Baoboab's)
Minibus with Fellow Passenger Vilankulo Evening Braai Steve Laurie Inside Beach Hut at Alfonsos'