Mozambique 2006

Although I was a bit younger, travelling through Zimbabwe to Mozambique left a lasting impression on me. It was the first time I realised that I needed to be involved in making a difference.

Crossing from SA into Zim at Beit Bridge was an experience of note-masses of people, queues of overloaded cars, noise and smell! Driving into this country at sun set was nerve racking as we had nowhere to stay, but the rule is to remain calm and thanks to maps and the GPS we found a campsite.

Zimbabwe is a truly beautiful country with stunning lakes and scenery. It is the first time that I have experienced utter despair in people and I struggled with that emotionally...they have nothing, but were not hostile. The only hostile people were the road officials who gave us a hard time and wanted to arrest my dad....scary, but in this case a bribe works!

 Mozambique is a country that was at civil war. It is full of land mines and you see plenty marked with danger poles. A problem when you need a loo stop-just stay on the road side. Sadly you see a lot of children that are missing limbs! The roads are terrible and anything goes, just choose a bit that looks okay and drive. The people are mainly subsistence farmers and fishermen. It is fascinating to see the trade, there is little money, people just barter goods (cashew nuts, paw paw, mangoes, coco nuts, pineapples, fish and cane rats) with passing trucks. A branch lying across the road means caution as a truck has broken down...an African take on road signs! The buildings, built by the Portuguese are deserted by the locals and are going to ruin and filled with bullet and mortar holes. Education is very important and every child carries book bags and goes to school. They are desperate for writing tools up north and we were prepared for this and gave pens and books to the local schools.

 We spent time at Gorongoza National Park which was severely poached during the war. We were actually involved and observed how they deal with poachers....beatings and labor...But these guys were some of the lucky ones, as some countries shoot to kill poachers!  There is no infra structure so you are on your own in the wild. If you sit on your roof rack you can just feel and hear the animals around you. We got to see a lion kill...not great, especially not for the baby warthog left without its mom!

 We headed towards the coast, Beira and then Vilancolous. Paradise!! We snorkeled off the Bazaruto islands and my 5 year old sister could not believe that she was swimming with Nemo and Dory. She almost choked on her snorkel! This was the most incredible tropical experience...an island all to our selves, turquoise warm sea, palm trees amazing sea life...I will be doing this again!!! Morrongulo was just millions of palm trees and Imhambane and old Arab trade port with a dhow harbor.

 Tourism has destroyed some parts of the country (in my eyes, that is ) as the further south you go, the more you see the influences of civilization and the destroying of natural environment. The people become more demanding and aggressive too.My highlight of the trip was joining an ocean research group, observing and swimming with a pod of about 60 wild dolphins. What an awesome day! I also got to snorkel with turtles....wish I could observe turtle hatching on the beaches. I did find turtle egg shells though. We are in the process of planning our next trip for 2010...Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique....can't wait!