I’ve only been there twice, but the ironically titled Ultra City Snack Bar is by far my favourite place to stop for a bite to eat and a toilet break anywhere in Southern Africa. It has a sort of Baghdad Caf feel to it and has built a reputation as the last clean(ish) toilet for hundreds of kilometres on the EN1 north, but that’s not the only reason you should stop. Unlike its namesake, where you’re only likely to find artery clogging fast food, this Ultra City offers wholesome, tasty snacks such as toasted sandwiches and really good fresh-cut chips and prego rolls. It’s well worth the pitstop.
Other great stops are for the cashew nut sellers and peri-peri sellers whose quirky makeshift stalls you’ll find on the road between Xai Xai and Inhambane. For some reason every cashew nut seller on the road has decorated their ‘stall’ with clear plastic bags that blow in the wind a la American Beauty, but the peri-peri sellers have wooden stalls packed with their spicy wares. We paid 100 MT (about R20) for a substantial bag of nuts and 80 MT for a bottle of peri peri.
