You buy everything on the street in Mozambique

All the car spare parts shops are painted egg yolk yellow. The plastic bags contain cashew nuts. The white liquor is palm wine, the orange bottles contain peri-peri. There is charcoal in the blue and white sacks. I missed the best shots: A lady carrying an axe on her head, sideways, with the blade over…

Adventure to Ihla de Inhambane

The double sea kayak just didn’t want to go in a straight line. Robin was the powerhouse in the rear, I was up front, trying to establish a nice gentle rhythm with some steady, regular strokes. The rudder’s wiring had been disconnected, so it should have been Robin’s responsibility to steer. But he was more…

Moving in Mozambique

The most common form of transportation in Mozambique is the pickup truck. The idea is to pack in as many paying customers as you can. It doesn’t matter if they are going to market or church. Perhaps it is safer if they are all crammed in like cattle. To be fair, when they do transport…

Inhambane – Terra de Boa Gente

Over 500 years ago, the Portuguese explorer, Vasco da Gama, sailed through a gap in the sandbanks protecting Inhambane Bay from the breakers of the Indian Ocean. He took on provisions and was so impressed by the friendliness of the locals that he called it “Land of the Good People”. Five hundred years before him, ocean-going…

Tofo Beach

When I booked the trip, I decided to pay extra for a single room, rather than sharing a dormitory at Fatima’s Backpacker Hostel. I was disappointed. The single room was dark and dingy, smelling of stale marijuana, with bare concrete brick walls and one energy saving light bulb. Suddenly, the unisex dorm seemed more attractive,…

Strictly Come Dancing Mozambique Champions

After a very ambitious set of moves, the man loses his footing and starts to fall, but his strong partner helps him regain his balance.

Mercado do Peixe, Maputo

The Maputo Fish Market is supposed to be a tourist trap, but visiting it early on a Saturday morning, there was not a tourist to be seen. The attraction is to choose your fresh seafood from one of the stalls, have it prepared and then cooked at a restaurant on the northern side of the…

Praia de Peixe

This is some of the wonderful decor on the walls of the beach resort Praia de Peixe, on the island of Macaneta, 40 km north of Maputo, Mozambique. I had breakfast there on Sunday with some new friends. Sheila would have loved this display. She was a keen mosaic-er and was skilled at putting together…