Its been a long stretch up the southern coast of Mozambique, and a long rest awaits us at Tofinho.
The Mozambique leg has so far been full of stunning sights and sounds, topped of with unbeatable advice and hospitality.
In this blog we want to personally thank all the kind people who have helped us through our Mozambique leg thus far and give them a mention in cyberspace, so if by any chance an inquiring mind has stumbled across this blog, it might help them out.
Our good fortune in Manhica came after almost being ripped off of 500MTS each to camp in the backyard of a lodge. Thank goodness our stubbornness pushed us to go to the local hotel in Manhica, which was fully booked. We explained to the owner that we were prepared to camp. His wife fed us a huge meal of chicken and rice, then escorted us to a building site just out of town.
They were just short of completing their new lodgings. They explained we would be safe here and could set up our tents in any room. It was far better than sleeping in the dodgy yard of the other lodge and getting scammed. Luck cast its rays once again in Chindenguele. We happened to bump into old friends from the Eastern Cape. Roger and Louise Higham used to own the Palm Inn Hotel in Humansdorp and I have many a fond memory of Sunday lunches there with my parents. I even had my first legal beer on my eighteenth birthday there with my old man.
Roger insisted we stay at their place and just as well, the lodge we were to be staying at had no water or electricity and was 12 kilometers further on a hellish sand road.
They organised us a night at Parisio de Chindenguele,a beautiful lodge on the beach with an indescribably crystal clear pool and entertainment area.
Jeff and Natalie pampered us and we found that it is a well situated stop over for weary travellers on their way to Inhambane and Vilanculos.
One quick fact of Chindenguele is that it is the birthplace of Graca Machel Mandela. Madiba’s beautiful wife.
Then we were blessed to have met Jaji Stam in Quisicco. Not only did she accommodate us,but also showed us a few tricks for survival in Mozambique, including the most important one of interaction.
Gert Jan and Dina are our last but definitely not least to thank so far.
They are all working for a project called “Doctors for life”. We met them in a coffee shop in Macia and they said we must stop over for the night near Zavorra. The intriguing fact is that they are volunteers building a clinic and church for the Zavorra community. Gert Jan is from Holland and Dina is a missionary from South Africa, and have been working on the project for three years now. There are plans of expanding the project once the clinic opens later in May.
So now its back to the pedals till Inhambane.
