What a better way to spend Easter right? Yep, it was a spontaneous trip inspired by hearing rumours of having some of the best diving in Africa and a four day weekend. Wenli, a fellow m2m’r and friend, joined me.

Mozambique is situated on the east coast of Southern Africa, north of South Africa, east of Zimbabwe, south of Tanzania and west of the island of Madagascar (a little geography for ya). The country faced twenty years of relentless gorilla war followed by a massive flood in 2001 and drought in 2002 killing over 25% of the population and destroying much of its infrastructure. Poverty is still widespread with more than 50% of people living on less than $1 per day. In recent years given its improved stability, investors are becoming interested in untapped oil reserves and coastline.

So...I thought, hey I can invest and untap part of the coastline myself....by eating locally caught Mozi prawns, sipping on some locally brewed Manica Beers, buying a hand sewn bag from some kids on the beach and snorkelling and diving with the local dive operators!

Our trip started in the Capital of Maputo, after a two hour flight to Johannesburg and another 1.5 hour flight to Maputo (not an easy commute). We spent less than 24 hours here, as we were scheduled to board a bus at 5am headed to Tofo (our intended destination, which is a tiny coastal beach with white sandy beaches, sand dunes, palm trees and home of some amazing diving. Did I mention an 8 hour bus ride on unpaved roads? Like I said, this was spontaneous....

Although we didn’t spend too much time in Maputo, we did explore the streets observing that many street names were of famous dictators (weird??), such as Vladimir Lenin, Mao Tse Tung, Karl Marx and many more but were relieved that Hitler didn’t get any credi, to our knowledge. We also walked along the beach which dotted with colorful fishing boats, young boys selling us handmade bracelets, sarongs and attempting to sell plastic bags full of prawns and squid. We stopped off at a restaurant for dinner and ate fresh Mozambique Prawns grilled in lemon, garlic and chili flakes (yum).

The next morning, we embarked on our never ending bus ride up to Tofo. When booking this adventure, I was imaging a nice greyhound right? Nope. This was the local town public bus, more like old shuttle on its last leg. Think 90 degree temperatures, 90% humidity, rickety seats, people standing in aisles and sitting on the mud soaked floors, mothers and feeding babies, unpaved roads pot holes and dust and of course surrounded by body odor. Despite the conditions, it was fascinating. We would stop on the side of the road to drop people off or pick them up, when all you could see for miles in both directions was bush. We would also stop and pick up money from people and drop goods off for others (e.g. fruit, water, milk)...so I made the assumption that the bus is also the country’s delivery system. The bus stopped one time in eight hours for five minutes for a gas refuel and bathroom break (luckily we were warned to not drink anything because the bus won’t stop....can’t be healthy). I paid the equivalent of $20 for the ride.



We finally arrived safe and sound in Tofo. We stayed in a little bungalow on the beach...when I say bungalow, I mean bamboo hut with sand as our floor and a huge crab and mosquitoes as pets. This beach town is centered around a vibrant market with small cafes and beach bungalows. The town is an interesting mix of local Mozambicans and hippies, many whom have quit their corporate jobs, became nomads in Africa, and have turned a week into months, seeking jobs at cafes and scuba shops to make a little money. In fact, I met one name Henk, who started his journey in Netherlands where he was a marketing guy. He and two of his friends quit their jobs, and drove from the Netherlands to Mozambique...I’m not kidding!! They’ve been on the road for 19 months, living on what little saving s they have and money they earn town to town. A few highlights include getting chased by corrupt police in Egypt, getting arrested in Malawi, getting their passports stolen, almost getting eaten by crocodiles in Botswana. Check out his website at www.threelefthands.com.



The next three days we spent in the water more or less diving and swimming with Mozambique’s finest...Manta Rays and Whale Sharks (incredible!!). The island was surrounded by reefs and dive sites, but I was bound and determined to get to the best one “Manta Reef” where giant mantas congregate around a huge reef. In order to get there, you need to be advanced so I did what any other determined girl would do, get my advanced diver license. It takes a series of five advanced dives and tests to pass, but they let me go to the reef after just one course. I’m in the process of completing the others in South Africa now (will write more about this in later posts).

On the way to my first dive, we spotted whale sharks swimming on the surface. Before you get scared, yes these are real sharks but they are filter feeding harmless giants. We saw three in total, each about 18 feet in length. The driver told us if we wanted to jump out and swim with them we could, so I jumped!! I was the first in the water and I was less than 2 feet away (I think closer, in fact I was trying to swim away because I thought one was going to run into me). They are fine with people swimming around them but once they sense someone doing anything aggressive, they dive and disappear into the ocean depths. During my two dives, I saw 5 Giant Manta Rays spanning 18 – 20 feet in length. They are majestic creatures and swam gracefully all around us. A guy diving with me had an underwater camera and took some really amazing shots (see link to Picasa photos). We also saw sting rays, rock lobsters, a variety of angel fish, moray eels and other cute little things. My expectations were certainly exceeded!

One bit of tragedy to share during our trip. As we were walking along the beach in attempts to buy a sarong, we spotted people from the local vendor huts running to shore. I looked to my left and a little boy’s lifeless body washed to shore. We did not want to become yet another spectator, so we continued walking. About thirty feet later, we spotted a man’s body crashing in the waves. About the same time I spotted him, two men next to us did as well and dove into to bring him out of the water. We learned later that these people went out fishing, when their boat capsized. They were weak swimmers and unfortunately were killed. The mother and wife also on board survived. Incredibly shocking and sad event we witnessed.

All in all, it was an incredible trip and worth the chaotic transit there! PS, the commute on the way home was even more eventful from the trip up. The bus broke down half way home and we were stuck in a very remote village for over an hour. The bus was immediately swarmed by locals selling us plantains, cashews and bread. I paid less than 10 cents for a bunch of bananas (i tried to buy one but they threw the whole bunch at me). Meanwhile, the bus driver and other locals try to fix the bus. I saw them looking on the side of the road for something they could use as a tool to fix the bus. Yikes. Needless to say, I made it home safe and sound...and exhausted. Until my next adventure....

For all my pictures, see...http://picasaweb.google.com/nicolenys/Mozambique#