D&D in Africa

Mozambique 2: Inhambane – Palms in Paradise

October 17, 2008

Our second longer stay in Moz was on the beaches in Inhambane where we finally found the tropical paradise we were looking for. We drove down from Vilankulo and headed first to Tofo, which is supposedly the main backpacker drag in the area and offers the best surfing. At first we didn’t find Bamboozi Backpackers because it’s a long way off, but some other people showed us the way in return to getting a ride on our back bumper . The accomodation didn’t impress upon first sight. The whole place is located behind a huge dune that separates it from the beach. We got a very basic reed-hut with two beds because we didn’t feel like camping. The hut was ok but the beds were a disaster – my back still hurts when I think about it. The weather had turned foul again and it was very windy and c o l d… I was not impressed… Luckily we met two american girls on the second day and they had one of the nice Chalets up on the hill .

The weather did not improve on the second day, quite to the contrary a thunderstorm swept across the beach. We spent the day playing Settlers with the americans. They had two extra beds in their Chalet and in return to cooking a nice prawn curry that night we were invited to stay. On the next day the weather had completely changed and all was set to go on a Ocean Safari with the local Dive-Shack a bunch of South African ‘cougars’, the american girls and us set of in a pontoon boat to find the famous whale sharks. Launching the boat through the surf was quite a challenge. The swell was still high from the storms and it was a bumpy start. At first the expedition did not look fruitful – no whale shark anywhere only a few dolphins jumping near the rocks. We drove far to the south until our spotter suddenly called out that he had seen a large shadow. The skipper maneuvered in front of it and everyone jumped in. I was disoriented for a second but then I saw the huge animal, the largest fish in the world, swimming straight toward me! I waited until it was passing under me and paddled with my fins like mad to keep up. The whale shark moved his tail veeery slowly from side to side but it took quite some effort for me to keep up! I swam on the side of the shark for some time and got to study every part of it. Suddenly I realized that there was almost noone around me anymore! Above the water I could see some snorklers of another boat getting out of the water but my own boat was nowhere to be seen. I looked back the way I came from and was relieved to find our boat popping up behind the waves every few seconds. As soon as I started waving my arms they saw me as well and raced over. Apparently I was the only one still in the water and they nearly forgot about me… Cheers to Martin for reminding them!

I spent the rest of the day laying in the hammock or lazing on the beach. For dinner we decided to head to town and give a place called ‘Casa de Comer’ a shot. It turned out to be a fantastic place and we had some of the very best food on the trip sofar. It was so good we decided to come again tomorrow and booked four of the freshly caught tuna steaks that were the next days special. On the way back to Bamboozi we quickly joined into the party at another Backpacker and moved to the vibes of the local band. It has been a while since we had a proper party!
The next morning brought another fine day and we slept in for a change. Today we wanted to head over to Barra, which is another beach in the area. After having another one of the gorgeous pancakes in the restaurant, we left Bamboozi for good and made our way over to the Barra Lodge. The beach there is much more secluded and not as windy and wavy as at Tofo. Palmtrees line the beach and I finally got the feeling of being in a tropical paradise. I arranged two dives for the next day and spent the rest of the afternoon reading and walking along the beach.

The diving on the next day was fantastic! I can strongly recommend the dive center of Barra Lodge – they were by far the most professional I have seen so far. Because I did not have sufficient training for deeper divesn I got to go to a more shallow reef (Serengeti) just 1km off the beach only together with one instructor. Shortly after having descended to the reef I already saw a Blue Spotted Ray and some baby Lionfishes. Further along we also saw the rare Frogfish, a swarm of about 50 Squids (!), an Octopus, a Zebra Morray, a Stingray and loads of other more common fishes. It was an awesome dive! Unfortunately I don’t have an underwater case for my cam so there are no pictures . We returned just in time to make the breakfast buffet. For the second dive I joined another group of divers going out to a reef called ‘Mike’s Cubbard’ which is a little deeper and further out. It’s always a bit more stressful to dive in a large group because you keep looking for your buddy and you need to take care not to bump into anyone, so it was not as enjoyable as the first dive. But I still saw some interesting sealife, including Cleanershrimp and a colorful Nudibranch. The rest of the afternoon went by quickly with a few of the 1.50$ Gin Tonics and a long walk along the beach. On the walk I noticed many small blue jellyfishes that were washed onto the sand. I later found out that these were a variant of the very poisonous Portugese Man-o-war whose tentacles can get up to 10m long – good that we stayed well clear of the little beasts!

Blue Bottle Jellyfish

Unfortunately our time under the palms of Inhambane came to an end and we carried on with our journey to Maputo, the capital of Mozambique and a bustling african city with lots of character. Driving into the city is a bit of a nightmare with dense traffic and markets sprawling far out into the street all along the inbound main artery. We didn’t feel like hostelling or camping and went for a ‘real’ hotel for a change. But before we got to try the nice comfy bed we went for a little stroll through the ‘Beixa’ (read Beischa), the oldest part of the city and the one immediatetly around our hotel. We visited the famous train station (a very quiet place i must say..), saw the oldest building, the Fort built by the Portugese and the lively municipal market with its many colorful foodstands. I liked the place! It’s a nice change after the rather bleak cities of Lusaka and Lilongwe, full of life, colour and sound. Of course the contrasts of rich and poor are extreme and the city is not particularly safe (always take a taxi at night!) but we found a lively artists scene and beautiful colonial architecture, mobile phone operators invest in large new officebuildings and you can see development here and there. Unfortunately we did not get to taste the nightlife very much but I hear it is excellent.
Because I did not want to miss out on the world famous Kruger National Park we left Maputo the following day already and headed to the border of South Africa.

Downtown Maputo

Trainstation

Natural History Museum

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