Mozambique, part one (beach and sea!)

 

A few weeks ago, I spent 10 brilliant days in Mozambique, exploring two beach areas in the south east of the country, the capital, Maputo and traveling via Johannesburg, spending a night at the beginning and end of the trip there.

A few facts about Mozambique:

 

• Located in Southern Africa and bordering Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Swaziland, it is the 135th largest country in the world with a population of 24.5m.
• Mozambique gained independence from the Portuguese in 1975, Portuguese is the official language (though there are also many local languages spoken) and there is a significant Portuguese influence, particularly on food (see below).
• Bob Dylan wrote a song about Mozambique just after independence, called, um, "Mozambique". We heard it played a few times whilst we were there. The idyllic lyrics don't quite reflect the state of the country at the time; Mozambique entered into a civil war in the late 1970s which lasted until 1992.  
• At the end of the civil war, Mozambique was one of the poorest countries in the world. However, though poverty is still very evident, it has one of the fastest growing economies in Africa. When my guide book was published in 2010, the average life expectancy was 41 years. It's now 52. Still very low obviously, but a massive improvement in just 4 years.
• Frelimo, the Mozambican liberation front, has been in power since independence. The first president was Samora Machel. He was killed in a plane crash in 1986. There are a lot of statues of him around (see my next blog, part 2!).
• All of the street names in Mozambique's towns and cities are named after significant dates or events in the country's history or prominent leaders in history (generally those seen as socialists, Marxists or freedom fighters). A couple of examples:

• The currency is Mozambican Metical and Mozambique's main exports are aluminium, prawns and cashew nuts.

And on the food - The local beer is "2M" -

Food and drink has a heavy Portuguese influence. Caipirinhas (one of my favourite cocktails; even though I can only handle about one!) were particularly popular:

Me enjoying a caipirinha in Maputo.

On the drinks front, I did also try out the local tequila (don't - it tastes like mouth wash) and a rather strange cocktail called a Frederick (a bit like a raspberry slush puppy with rum...I'm fairly convinced it wasn't a Mozambique special but rather something dreamt up by the South African guy who ran the bar we were in!).

The Portuguese dish Prego Roll (steak roll essentially) was also popular, as was piri piri sauce, which was very spicy and served with everything (including breakfast!).

I was particularly excited by the prevalence of tangerines on sale (I had not actually eaten an orange, satsuma etc since arriving in Africa).

Me buying some tangerines in Inhambane town


Seafood was the staple diet  (I'll write about the fish market in Maputo in my next blog post) and we had some amazing prawns, crab, clams etc. I quite enjoyed the local dish of Matapa curry, which consisted of cassava, tuna fish, coconut and spinach.

So enough about facts and food. After flying via Johannesburg, Becks and I arrived in Vilankulo, a beach area and the gateway for visiting the Bazaruto Archipelago. Here are a few pics:

The beach (with the boat we took on our trip  - see below)

A local fisherman
 

Each morning the tide went out by about 2 miles and local people would go out an fish.

 



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Our pool (though admittedly I only used it once as it rained quite a bit when we first arrived!)

Eating lunch with a couple of little friends I made - who were determined to help me out!

One of the main reasons people visit Vilankulo is to go to the Bazaruto Archipelago, a series of islands just off the coat. In the past these have been trading settlements and a penal colony, but they've now been protected as Bazuruto National Park. We went on a boat trip out to see them:

Some dolphins swam next to our boat.

We visited some amazing sand dunes -

Me on a sand dune!

Flamingos!

After a few days later we took a short flight down the coast to Inhambane. We were a bit confused, as we disembarked from the plane, as to why there was a big crowd of people waiting to greet us:

Eventually we realised that they were actually there to greet Mozambique's first lady, who was sitting a few rows in front of us on the plane!

We stayed at Barra, which had the most amazing beach I've ever seen; long, wide, white, empty and seemingly never ending:

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We went on an "Ocean Seafari" (see what they did there...) and saw humpback whales, dolphins and whale sharks.

A big truck thing was used to launch our boat. We had to run alongside the boat and, at a key moment, jump in head first (or, rather, in my case, be pushed in. All very undignified). Unfortunately, as one of the engines on our boat initially failed we had to quickly come back to shore and do the whole palava a second time....

Our boat being pulled out of the water.

But it was worth it. Seeing the humpback whales, who come near to the shore to give birth in August, up close was incredible:

The whale shark was also pretty impressive (though more difficult to photograph. There's one under there I promise...!)

As well as being famous for its beaches, the Mozambican coast is also notable for its extensive mangrove swamps. The swamps play a significant role in maintaining costal eco-systems and providing useful resources for local people, in particular wood that is resistant to insects. There was a large mangrove swamp in Barra, with easy walkways. Here's the swamp at sunset:

After 4 days or so on the beach we went on to explore Inhambane town and then on to the capital Maputo. I write more about these in my next blog post.