22 AUGUST 2010 - Leaving Malawi
Much transpired.
After a final few days in Malawi at Cape Maclear, we made for the Mozambique border. Suddenly, road blocks were everywhere. Just as suddenly, we were very aware that we had forgotten to buy compulsory third party vehicle insurance at the border when we entered Malawi. Oops.
Roadblock 5: "show me your insurance documents". Despite our best efforts, this cop was resolutely un-bamboozled: "I have to fine you 5,000 Malawian kwacha". Massive fail.
We only had US dollars, which he could not accept as payment. The prospect of leaving the car by the roadside, hitching to the border, buying insurance, hitching back, and retrieving the car loomed. But surprisingly, after 30 minutes of fast talking, blaming the omission on Malawian Customs officers, Banda, colonials, stray dogs, and anything else we could think of, we got waved through that one too. GREAT SUCCESS!
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22 AUGUST 2010 - the triangle odyssey
Mozambique's cops are notoriously corrupt. So much so that they are famous for attempting to fine you for not displaying a silly blue and yellow triangle-shaped reflector, which is actually only required if you are towing.
We wanted to avoid the issue altogether, but could not find this reflector anywhere in Malawi. We got told we'd need to paint it on.
Instead, we made some up on the laptop, had them printed onto photo paper in Lilongwe, and taped the finished product to the front of the car using kid's sticky tape. Don't they almost look real? We think so. Evidently, so do Mozamibique's police force.
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Much transpired.
After a final few days in Malawi at Cape Maclear, we made for the Mozambique border. Suddenly, road blocks were everywhere. Just as suddenly, we were very aware that we had forgotten to buy compulsory third party vehicle insurance at the border when we entered Malawi. Oops.
Roadblock 5: "show me your insurance documents". Despite our best efforts, this cop was resolutely un-bamboozled: "I have to fine you 5,000 Malawian kwacha". Massive fail.
We only had US dollars, which he could not accept as payment. The prospect of leaving the car by the roadside, hitching to the border, buying insurance, hitching back, and retrieving the car loomed. But surprisingly, after 30 minutes of fast talking, blaming the omission on Malawian Customs officers, Banda, colonials, stray dogs, and anything else we could think of, we got waved through that one too. GREAT SUCCESS!
SC
22 AUGUST 2010 - the triangle odyssey
Mozambique's cops are notoriously corrupt. So much so that they are famous for attempting to fine you for not displaying a silly blue and yellow triangle-shaped reflector, which is actually only required if you are towing.
We wanted to avoid the issue altogether, but could not find this reflector anywhere in Malawi. We got told we'd need to paint it on.
Instead, we made some up on the laptop, had them printed onto photo paper in Lilongwe, and taped the finished product to the front of the car using kid's sticky tape. Don't they almost look real? We think so. Evidently, so do Mozamibique's police force.
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23 AUGUST 2010: Amsa and a hellhole
Cuamba, border town of western Mozambique. One of my most despised towns of all time, not for the town itself but for what it represented. May I never return.
On the upside, we found Amsa. We first met her in Nkhata Bay a few weeks ago. She was sitting in the dinghy bar of the only 'guesthouse' in town (we were camped in the driveway), facing a 2-day wait before the next suicidal minibus left for the coast.
We crammed her in to the front seat - 3 across - and set out for the coast, 9 long hours away.
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25 AUGUST 2010: Choccas
Choccas couldn't have been more different from Cuamba. Glorious white sand, a great beachside bungalow, and a deserted beach. Don't be jealous, we really need this!
Cuamba, border town of western Mozambique. One of my most despised towns of all time, not for the town itself but for what it represented. May I never return.
On the upside, we found Amsa. We first met her in Nkhata Bay a few weeks ago. She was sitting in the dinghy bar of the only 'guesthouse' in town (we were camped in the driveway), facing a 2-day wait before the next suicidal minibus left for the coast.
We crammed her in to the front seat - 3 across - and set out for the coast, 9 long hours away.
SC
25 AUGUST 2010: Choccas
Choccas couldn't have been more different from Cuamba. Glorious white sand, a great beachside bungalow, and a deserted beach. Don't be jealous, we really need this!
29 AUGUST 2010: Isla Mozambique
Isla Mozambique has been inhabited by local people, Arabs or the Portuguese for centuries, and it feels like it too. Portuguese buildings are crumbling. Arab dhows are everywhere. Locals shelter from the searing heat (this is winter) wherever they can. Hawkers squat next to their wares on the cobblestones. It's like an older, more dilapidated Cuba, with a Muslim-ised Bantu culture.
We visit the Portugese fort, a church built in 1522 (the oldest European building) in the Southern Hemisphere, some cafes, and walk the streets til well after dark.
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Isla Mozambique has been inhabited by local people, Arabs or the Portuguese for centuries, and it feels like it too. Portuguese buildings are crumbling. Arab dhows are everywhere. Locals shelter from the searing heat (this is winter) wherever they can. Hawkers squat next to their wares on the cobblestones. It's like an older, more dilapidated Cuba, with a Muslim-ised Bantu culture.
We visit the Portugese fort, a church built in 1522 (the oldest European building) in the Southern Hemisphere, some cafes, and walk the streets til well after dark.
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5 SEPTEMBER 2010 - Goodbye Amsa, hello Yanks
In Pemba, further up the Mozambique coast, Amsa booked in for a PADI open water course. She will turn south from here, while we head north, but it's been fantastic having her along for the better part of a week.
The night before leaving Pemba, we met the most influential figures of our trip to date: Glenn & Corrin. They're American, but we still like them lots and lots. Little did we know that we would travel with them for over 3 weeks. Fellow members of the tribe of overlanding mechanized gypsies, they are getting through Africa with a mix of Landcruiser brawn, humour, and vegetarian delicacies.
A complete smart-arse, Glenn likes nothing better than screaming into town, dust cloud cloaking the locals, yelling "Hello from America!! Obama!!! Obama!!!!". Corrin just shakes her head, lights up another cigarette (Corrin, am I allowed to say that or not?), and goes back to writing food columns about vegetarian cooking, horticulture and local food movements.
Oh the adventures that have followed.
We found El Kapitan, a 16-ish year old boy who was willing to sail us out to Ibo Island in the Quirimbas Archipelago, through the mangrove swamps, at night, when no other fisherman was game. Below left, El Kapital (under his shirt) sparks up to prepare for the night crossing.
In Pemba, further up the Mozambique coast, Amsa booked in for a PADI open water course. She will turn south from here, while we head north, but it's been fantastic having her along for the better part of a week.
The night before leaving Pemba, we met the most influential figures of our trip to date: Glenn & Corrin. They're American, but we still like them lots and lots. Little did we know that we would travel with them for over 3 weeks. Fellow members of the tribe of overlanding mechanized gypsies, they are getting through Africa with a mix of Landcruiser brawn, humour, and vegetarian delicacies.
A complete smart-arse, Glenn likes nothing better than screaming into town, dust cloud cloaking the locals, yelling "Hello from America!! Obama!!! Obama!!!!". Corrin just shakes her head, lights up another cigarette (Corrin, am I allowed to say that or not?), and goes back to writing food columns about vegetarian cooking, horticulture and local food movements.
Oh the adventures that have followed.
We found El Kapitan, a 16-ish year old boy who was willing to sail us out to Ibo Island in the Quirimbas Archipelago, through the mangrove swamps, at night, when no other fisherman was game. Below left, El Kapital (under his shirt) sparks up to prepare for the night crossing.
We rode mountain bikes through mangrove swamps, shin-deep ocean, across a tidal flat, and then had the handlebars pull free of Mark's bike in the middle of nowhere. That was fun.
From our beach-side camp at gorgeous Pangane, we chartered a dhow to take us out to an island, where Steve gracefully fell out of the boat, drowning his video camera. He doesn't like to talk about it.
We chatted all night with a compulsive liar who claimed he circumnavigated the world by yacht 4 times, was a master mariner, former commercial diver, owns a road train in Australia, an 80,000 hectare cattle farm in Namibia, wrote a book, is a doctor, made the chilli sauce and baked the bread in the restaurant, owned the lodge we were at in tandem with the world-wide owner of Credit Suisse, and has 7 properties in Mozambique.
Then there was the Dutch life coach (he called himself an "authenticity coach") who told Glenn: "I can't offer you cold beer from a fridge like you can, but I can offer you a trip to freedom". Vomit.
We used the brand new Unity Bridge to cross into Tanzania. It's a spectacularly good bridge across the Rovuma River (gone is the old "ferry" which used to sink at regular intervals), which would be great, IF the superhighway-style road extended more than 1 km on either side. Unfortunately, it doesn't. It peters out into badly rutted bush-dirt.
Here are some more random Mozambique photos although, as always, you'll find the best of the best over in the Gallery page.
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Then there was the Dutch life coach (he called himself an "authenticity coach") who told Glenn: "I can't offer you cold beer from a fridge like you can, but I can offer you a trip to freedom". Vomit.
We used the brand new Unity Bridge to cross into Tanzania. It's a spectacularly good bridge across the Rovuma River (gone is the old "ferry" which used to sink at regular intervals), which would be great, IF the superhighway-style road extended more than 1 km on either side. Unfortunately, it doesn't. It peters out into badly rutted bush-dirt.
Here are some more random Mozambique photos although, as always, you'll find the best of the best over in the Gallery page.
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