Manta and Salon

Dive 2: Manta Reef


Dive Site Details:
Distance to Travel: 22 km (50 minutes boat ride)

Depth: 21 - 26 meters

Max: 26 meters

Bottom Time: 32 minutes

General: Tofo's showcase dive. World famous for the two Manta cleaning stations, first discovered by Carlos do Rocha in the 1960's. Since then this site has attracted marine biologists, cameramen and divers from around the world.

A gentle drift dive from North to South, your dive begins with a negative entry into 26m into the middle of a small amphitheatre teeming with life. The dive progresses through a series of pinnacles before the first cleaning station is reached, a shallower (21m) sandy area. At this cleaning station Mantas circle overhead to be cleaned by Goldies, Cleaner Wrasse and Butterfly fish. In good visibility this dive is amazing with upwards of ten Mantas circling overhead. Even in poor vis the sight of Mantas appearing from the mist above you is haunting and a moment to be cherished. At the end of the dive your ascent is often accompanied by groups of inquisitive Devil Rays wheeling about your safety stop.

This dive is a must do in Tofo. Because of the depth this is only suitable for advanced divers but is a favourite for people completing their advanced course or deep adventure dive.


The walk along to Tofo Scuba

So, the famous Manta Reef! Ty, our Divemaster, tells us it will be about a 25 minute drive out to the site. This was slightly optimistic, as we have to smash our way directly against the enormous swell, it must be at least 45 minutes journey, and there’s so much spray battering the boat that I put on my scuba mask, and at one point get bashed off the edge into the boat by what I would describe as a wall of water rather than “spray”.

After the usual negative entry, at the bottom I realise my SPG, the gauge which tells you how much air you have left, and your depth, is leaking bubbles. Not confidence inspiring! I signal to Ty, who I am buddied up with, but he says it will be fine. Suit very tight too. Damn rented equipment. Anyway, this site is a cleaning station for the Manta Rays which, along with the Whale Sharks, are what makes diving here. Unfortunately we see none during this dive! Otherwise though it’s a nice dive, with lots of interesting smaller stuff, including radial lionfish, scorpionfish, and an enormous orange nudibranch called a Spanish Dancer, the size of a large cucumber. Nudibranches are strange creatures which one only finds underwater. Their name means “Lungs on the outside”, and they come in all colours, shapes and sizes, but generally are small.

On the way back, which was slightly easier than outbound, Ty suddenly yelled to stop the boat – Whale Shark! We all grabbed our mask and fins and jumped in! He was a big shark, but unfortunately swam away as soon as we were in the water. Still, my first sighting!!

Back to base and it turns out my next dive – Chamber of Secrets has been postponed. Instead Steve books me on to another dive going to Salon later, hopefully by which time the swell will have reduced somewhat. I have lunch with a couple of nice Norwegian chaps. The food at the dive centre’s café is really good in fact, not cheap, but tasty. Though due to the power being out, I don’t get chips with my tasty blue cheese burger! Hard life, eh? A French guy on our table goes for a second burger. I shake his hand in admiration, but resist temptation. I’m supposed to be diving using buoyancy control, not belly weight!

Then I’m told – potentially there will be no more dives today because of the power out – their compressor they use to fill tanks is out of action.


Taking it easy, Tofo-style

I hang around hoping, and am rewarded – they find a couple of spare tanks with air and I’m going diving!

Dive 3: Salon

Dive Site Details:

Distance to Travel: 1km

Depth: 15 meters

Bottom Time: 45 minutes

Comments: Named due to the tremendous quantity of Cleaner Shrimps and the guests who regularly turn up for their grooming. A must for all Crustacean enthusiasts. This is truly Shrimp city! Expect to see White Banded Cleaner Shrimps, Banded Boxer Shrimps, Durban Dancing Shrimps and the secretive and rare Marble Shrimp. Regularly seen is the Red Reef Lobster. Get your buoyancy right and just float watching as the Trumpetfish cunningly uses you as camouflage to feed on the assorted Shrimps with a backdrop of swaying Glassfish. Can you find the fields of Gammeridian Amphipods? Another fascinating and relaxing dive

Topography: Sand bottom with stone boulders as a centre piece

Marine Life: Banded Cleaner Shrimps, Banded Boxer Shrimps, Durban Dancing Shrimps and the secretive and rare Marble Shrimp. Glassfish, Red Reef Lobster, Trumpet Fish and Gammeridian Amphipods

Finally, a site which is not so far, and also to the North, so we don’t hit the swell on the way out. I’m buddied with Henry, a Swiss-German photographer. He has the same camera as me, as in the one that I’ve broken. We do a negative entry. The current is quite strong this time, which is tiring. I also find that my weighting doesn’t seem right – perhaps because the suit is quite large and some air is getting into it. I have trouble staying down, and a leaking mask again! Grrrr!

Then Lars, a nice German chap who I was talking to before the dive, kicks me square in the nuts! Frankly, there are too many people diving in this dive! There’s a 12 year old girl with us too, she’s apparently been qualified for 2 years already! So, that all said, it was a quite nice dive. I saw Kuhl’s Rays, a couple of Porcupine Fish, some nudibranches, and Moray Eels, in both Black Cheek and Yellow Edge varieties.

After the dive, I enjoy a beer, reading H W Tilman in one of their hanging seats, watching the sun go down as a storm comes in, cooling things in.


Bamboozi

The evening passes amicably in Bamboozi bar, I notice that they have a board game called Bamboozle, perhaps the place was named after this game? On their television I see West Ham beat Manchester United, which of course identifies all the Brits in the bar in their jubilation. Then once again I retire early – 7am dive the following day after all. I wanted to replace my mosquito net, but contrary to what reception told me they have no nets behind the bar, so I repair the only hole I can see and seal up my bed, tucking the net in under the mattress all the way round. Again, overnight I am eaten ALIVE! This is too much… even when coated with mosquito repellent. I just can’t sleep properly like this. I abandon the net and use my sleeping bag liner, trying to seal myself in, something I can only do as luckily it’s not too hot, but still enough to sleep badly.

So I’m up at 6:15am, and out for my final dive, leaving Tofo Scuba at 7am.


Another day

Tofo and Back Underwater

So at 5:30am I’m at Base, looking for the shuttle. My guidebook says buses always run on time in Mozambique. Not today they don’t. In fact I was there 15 minutes early, but after about an hour wait, the bus finally turns up. With me are a Dutch couple and a German guy, so our 20 seater is relatively empty, and we assume that we’ll be moved on to a big bus somewhere, especially as we pull up at Fatima’s and find another 23 or so people wanting to board. The issue is not just the numbers of people, it’s bags - this bus has no space for luggage on top, underneath, anywhere. There are three large surfboards amongst the backpacks and other big bags.


Precarious

The local solution is to pile bags up in the back row of seats, losing 5 seats, then to string a rope across a couple of window frames, across the bus, and wedge the boards on top. Needless to say that if the driver at any time decided to brake hard, a row or two of people in front of the boards were either going to be decapitated or suffer severe injuries. The bus was packed like a sardine tin, especially as we had to squeeze the people who would have occupied the last row into all of the others. I had zero legroom, always a nice prospect for a 7 hour journey. How ridiculous that I’m paying double the cost of the local bus for this! We get away eventually at about 7am, bumping down the main road running N-S in Mozi, the EN1, including a particularly eventful set of potholes just after Xai Xai which cause all vehicles to swerve dangerously back and forth across the road to avoid them, hopefully keeping an eye on on-coming traffic.


Potholes and total lack of road near Xai Xai


Service stations

We pass the great Limpopo River, which flows through Botswana and Zimbabwe before emptying into the Indian Ocean here in Mozambique.


The Limpopo River

Along the road are dotted villages, almost all built in the traditional way, with round wooden walls and a thatched roof. I presume the majority of civilisation is close to this road, given that most people are walking for their transport, or cycling. There don’t seem to be many motorbikes. These small houses are more or less continuous all the way up to Vilhanculo, where it starts to get less developed.



We arrive in the afternoon in Inhambane, my destination. Inhambane is a colonial town which LP describes as charming and sleepy. It’s one of Mozi’s oldest settlements, and has some interesting buildings, but again, is so run down as to spoil it.

Most on the bus are going on to Tofo, but I get out, take my bags, and walk round town, first to Pensao Pachasa, the recommended spot in my book, where there is no space, and they’re not very helpful. They point to some other places which I can’t find. It’s too hot to be lugging my full pack round in this heat. I end up back at the Bus Terminal, stressed and wondering what to do. The other side of the market, I am pointed to a Fatima Backpackers truck, who ask me if I want a lift. I hesitate, thinking I should check if they have availability before going along. I get through to Fatima herself, who tells me they have space today, but tomorrow are full. It’ll do for now!

In the truck, on the way to Tofo, I meet a nice bunch who are here on a kind of reunion – they used to work here four years ago. Mix of English, Canadian and others. Arriving in Fatima’s Nest, I march up the sand to the bar, and have a Manica beer whilst waiting to be checked in to my dorm room, which is quite big – must be 20 people or so in one large chalet, and unfortunately not very airy. Back at the bar, I order dinner of fresh calamari, before continuing on the beers, getting me into the usual trouble!

Next morning, I have an argument with Fatima, which results in the “probably no space at the inn” being downgraded to “fairly certain..”, so I take my bag and leave, walking out on to the beach. I’m not sure what to do, so first to Tofo Scuba dive shop, if nothing else, just to dump my pack. With hindsight – Fatima’s in general I would not recommend. I’ve had bad experiences with both of their sites now. They seem to be capitalising on being the best known backpackers. Their Maputo outlet is really dirty and run down, and their beachside “nest” here is noisy and the chalets are poorly ventilated, so it’s rather uncomfortable at night, plus it has allegedly been the host to several thefts – although there is perimeter security, they let anyone in and out, and there’s no security on the rooms.

Incidentally, the day I write this, the people staying in Fatima’s are all in a bad mood and resolving to leave as last night the loud music went on until dawn, apparently being turned up even louder at 5:30am! I think it’s no coincidence that Fatima herself doesn’t live anywhere near the place. Unless you’re extremely into “party hostels”, I don’t recommend either outlet. Plus Fatima herself can be obnoxious and unreasonable, as she was with me, and who wants to give money to someone like that?

Tofo Scuba

Map of the area with dive sites

Tofo Scuba is a ten minute walk round the beach.



Inside, I meet the manager, Steve, who is English, easy going, and strangely looks familiar – he thinks the same about me, though we can’t place it. It does seem to me that all the best dive shops are always run by the English (no bias allowed in Samuel Crawley’s blogs, you understand). As he rightly points out, I haven’t dived for a while (6 months), so rather than going in deep, I should start with a shallow dive to get my fins back. This dive, the following morning, is “Simon’s Town”. I notice the dive schedule for the following day is really full – they have about a dozen or more dives going out, and they’re all busy – there are too many South Africans here, the whole town is flooded with them until the 3rd January, when there will be a mass exodus and the place will be quiet again.

From Tofo, I walk further along the beach to Bamboozi, the other famous backpackers.



Interestingly, I’d read up on the web about both of these, and the descriptions were quite accurate. Bamboozi is more family oriented, and more full of South Africans, many of whom are camping, often with 4x4s, and whole braais brought with them. Fatima’s is more international, and more of a party place. The bar restaurant at Bamboozi is in a fantastic spot, perched high up on a sand dune, or rather the “cliffs” behind the beach. They send me down to the reception which is at the back, next to the road. The two girls there don’t seem to know yet whether there’ll be space, but I get positive vibes from them. They want me back in two hours, when they’ll know either way.

This done, I need cash. Are there any ATMs in Tofo? No. You need to go to Inhambane, which is a complete nuisance really as there’s no other reason to have to go there – one can do all one’s shopping in Tofo village. I take a chapa to town, and chat with Frank, a German chap, on the way. He gives me a tip of a backpackers in Vilhanculos which may have space. In town, the bank queues are unbelievable. First I come across “Millennium BIM”, which has an enormous queue, so I head across town to Banco Austral (aka Barclays). On the way I spot BCI Formentini, who give me a card communication error. I head on to Austral, wait a while, the queue doesn’t even move one step forwards in 10 minutes. What is wrong with Mozambicanos? Why do they take so long at the ATM? Is there some sort of Tetris game built in if you answer Portuguese as your language selection?

Anyway, I give up with Austral and head back to Millennium, only to find the people I spoke to there have moved forwards a step or two in the last 15 minutes. This is also no good, so I head back to Austral again, where the queue is slightly smaller, even if moving at roughly the same rate. Once there I get impatient again (!), and decide that I will give BCI one more shot, as they had another ATM machine, and if not, well I’ll just go without food and come back another time. Finally the other machine gives me a different random error message, at least not comms failure, so I discover by gradually dropping my request that 2000M is the appropriate amount it was holding back for me. Not a metical more! This is about 40 quid.

The local bus (instead of chapa, thought I’d try) back takes 1 ½ hours! What a joke! It took forever to fill, but I kept thinking “they’ll leave now, I’ve waited so long”, then when it finally did move, it crawls along, stopping every few yards where we go through this rigmarole of the conductor and driver checking the ticket that they’ve already sold you to make sure you haven’t over-travelled or been overlooked by the conductor. Obviously some people drop their tickets then get into a big debate etc. And half the floor is stacked up with fruit, crates of coke and fanta, and all sorts of miscellaneous sacks. Kinda funny that the conductor had a rant at a mother for letting her child sit in its own seat, he was pointing to the regulations concerning allowed numbers of seated and standing passengers, as if they pay any attention to this here!!

With not enough time to sort out my accommodation, I head straight to the dive shop, where everyone is getting their kit together. I’m a bit nervous, not having done this for a while. Mostly I just don’t want to make a silly newbie error. I make a good start when my second air supply starts blasting air out – I went to shut off the main valve to the tank, but the correct thing to do is just to place one’s finger in the mouthpiece, and it stops. Simple, eh?



The pre-dive briefing is good, and I am buddied with one of the divemasters, the sweeper, who follows the group making sure no one gets left behind. Rahim in this case, a French chap. Little did I realise that this wouldn’t really work in my favour. In the briefing they explained that we would be doing a negative dive, a concept I hadn’t heard of before. This is where one completely deflates the BCD before entering in the water, and swimming straight down. More on this later. We walk down to the boat which is on the sand next to the water. As a group, and with some local help, we turn the boat around, then drag it out into the water. It’s quite choppy, and as boys aren’t allowed to jump in until the boat is deep enough to start the engines, we’re being thrown about a bit by the time we heave ourselves in and set off to the dive site.

Dive 1: Simon’s Town


Dive Site Details:
Distance to Travel: 7km from Tofo Beach. Approximately a 20-minute boat ride.

Depth: 14 - 18 meters

Max: 18 meters

Bottom Time: 40 minutes


Topography: Large chimneys of rock with an amazing amount of holes and gullies running outwards in all directions. A great dive when visibility is good, with large shoals of game fish swimming overhead.

Degree of Difficulty: A perfect dive site for those just starting out or wanting a long slow and relaxing dive with lots to see.

Visibility: Ranges from 10m to 30m

General: An intriguing reef with varying topography, home to many game fish and also often spotted on this reef is the Whale Shark.

I should remind the reader at this stage that I was feeling somewhat sub-par before this trip – having consumed much of the local Manica beer the night before, plus a plate of chips doused in fiery Peri Peri sauce. As we smashed our way through the huge swell rolling in from the South West, I resolve to have no more beer this evening. Once we’re all ready and in position, the site located with GPS, then we all roll backwards off the boat simultaneously, 12 people all hitting each other, fins in faces etc. It’s not pretty and I don’t know why they do it. Their excuse is strong surface currents, but this simply isn’t true. Sure there are currents, but nothing that’s going to be a disaster if you get in, adjust your mask and buoyancy before descending.

Simon’s Town is in fact a not very impressive dive site. Furthermore, my mask keeps leaking – another issue with negative dives when using rented equipment, you don’t identify these problems before you’re down at the bottom where there’s nothing one can do about it. Rahim is busy managing the tail end of the group, spending no time as my buddy except when I get bored and stray off a few metres to look at some coral, he reigns me in and tells me I should be sticking with my buddy! Cheeky sod. Worse to come, towards the end of the dive, he disappeared. What do I do, I wander? He is my buddy, so I should go through the lost buddy routine, but on the other hand he’s an instructor, am I supposed to be worrying about him? I find the dive leader, tell him I’ve lost my buddy, and he tells me he’s already gone up with some others, I should stay down. Great, thanks for letting me know, “buddy”! Not impressive!

We did however see a ray, a geometric moray eel, and some beautiful intricate blue coral, so all was not completely bad!

Back in the boat, I feel quite queasy though it’s resolved when someone hands out lolly pops! After undoing all my equipment, I march over to to Bamboozi, only to be told that there is no space. What do I do now? Just then, the woman decides to check with her colleague. Oh actually there is space, there’s an entire chalet you can have. Or there’s a dorm room bed. And how long can I stay? As long as you like!!! So why didn’t you know about this thirty seconds ago. It would seem that Bamboozi is a somewhat chaotic place. I’m put in a chalet called “The Bottom Hut”, which is a mini-dorm of three beds.



I later find out that they’d put the Spanish girl (Begonia?) in there and promised to let her have it alone! So I’m sharing with her and a Malaysian Chinese girl (Sally). Resisting my urges, I invite her to collect my pack from Tofo Scuba, as she expressed an interest in diving.


Tofo Scuba’s boats parked up

For a while in the evening, I read Tilman up at the bar, until the sun has well-and-truly set. Taking Tilman, I set off down the road to Dino’s for dinner. It’s pitch black, and takes about 20 minutes to walk. Dino’s is more bar and less restaurant-like than I expected. Nevertheless, their pizzas are truly delicious, with a fresh very thin base and flavoursome toppings. It does take forever though, as presumably my order is lost. On my way back along the dark sandy street, I came across frogs making loud noises, and what I thought initially was a local with a torch turned out to be fireflies, and, now looking for them, I realised that there were dozens across the field I was passing.

Hitting the sack, I sleep nice and early after yesterday’s shenanigans. Waking up early, I realise that my mozzie net is full of mosquitos! The horror! I’ve been eaten alive! In the heart of MALARIA country!

ROUND THE WORLD

Round the world! There is much in that sound to inspire proud feelings; but whereto does all that circumnavigation conduct? Only through numberless perils to the very point whence we started, where those that we left behind secure, were all the time before us.
- Moby Dick

LHR-JFK-SFO-NRT-HKG-JNB-CPT-LHR

What do these codes mean? That you have a phenomenal trip ahead of you! You'd be surprised what can be done if you have a little time on your hands - Round the World airline tickets are not carbon-friendly but they do enable one to see the world in one trip for a price that we can all afford.

So how do you go about realising the dream? First, a little planning. Pick a theme for your trip – perhaps you want to visit the Seven Wonders, or dine your way across Gastronomic Capitals, Football Stadiums, for the world is your oyster (they're best in Whitstable, no flights required)!

There are different tickets available, based on how many miles you cover, or continents visit. It may also be cheaper to start outside the UK – Gibraltar or Mauritius for example. Next, check the hub sites of your airline. In Asia, you’ll be in and out of Hong Kong or Singapore aplenty. Grab route maps from the web and see how these tie in with your plans. Sites such as Flyertalk.com and Expertflyer.com are free and very useful for research.

Insurance is very important, consider some that offer backpacker-customised packages. Take a digital photo of any important documents and e-mail to yourself, plus leave a copy with friends. There are very few dangerous places in the world if you travel with common sense, but assume you'll lose everything and be happy if you don't!

Budget for your trip, work on a per-day average cost, which will vary depending on the countries you'll visit. Be flexible though, don’t miss out on things you really want to want to do. You may only get this chance to travel once. Take a couple of different ATM cards on different networks. A small reserve of US dollars is always useful.

Stay in contact with home – you can buy a travel SIM card to save money, but it may be better to buy a local card in each country, especially if you’ll be there a week or more. Check your phone is unlocked and will work with other cards before you leave home.

What to take with you? Make a list. Then tear the list in half and take twice the money! It’s worth spending some money on basics like a good backpack, but remember that all clothes can be bought along the way, and leave space for souvenirs. If you'll be on the road for some time, post things home periodically, surface mail is especially cheap.

Now, with ticket in hand, go travel, remember to record your experiences, write a blog, keep a journal, upload some of your photos to the internet so friends and family can follow you. Consider writing a book, check out blurb.com. Who knows - you could be the next Michael Palin!

Happy 2008!

Quiet Maputo over Xmas

Christmas Eve, I walk down (and then up again – Maputo is quite hilly) to the Revolution and Art Museums.



They’re both closed. The revolution can wait a couple of days. I pass by several kids dancing crazy moves in the street outside a music shop. The city has a festive mood to it, despite the roasting temperatures. Some people are wearing Santa hats. Soaks up the sweat I suppose.



Edma picks me up in her sister’s car then we drive around together doing some errands, taking empty beer bottles to exchange for beers (and presumably some money). This is the simple concept employed behind buying beers (and other drinks) here – if you don’t bring your empties back, it costs more. Effective, eh? It would seem that Maputo has just about run out of beers though, I notice a couple of days later that the Fatima bar only has cans rather than the cheaper bottles. A capital city running out of beer before Xmas!



Next we drive down to a new shopping mall, randomly passing Irene sitting in a restaurant, who spots me and yells out hello. Small world. Maputo, like London, is a big city with a small centre, and an even smaller sphere for expats or those with money, so you do tend to meet people quite often. Anyway, I had passed by this mall near the waterfront before without noticing it, but it’s probably the nicest newest development in Maputo. Shame I only discover it now! Inside, we go to the large supermarket (HyperMaputo), to buy bits and pieces. Interestingly there are special queues just for eggs, potatoes and chicken, presumably because they are the staple foods here. I think they are rationing them to a certain amount per customer – 2 chickens and a dozen eggs.



Back at Edma’s house, I meet her Mother, Grandmother, Sisters, Nephew, Nieces, and daughter, Chantelle. Lots of female hormones in this house! They’re very welcoming though, and I pass Christmas Eve in their home, with music, lots of delicious food – a very nice potato fish dish, meats, tuna wraps and other things. My lowly contribution was a panettone cake which I had found in one of the supermarkets. In my enthusiasm to try everything I pick up too much food, and guiltily leave some!



They ply me with cold beers from the fridge, before it cools down enough for me to switch to wine. I should explain that the heat and humidity, even in the evening, is such that the slightest exertion, particularly for me with my warm blood, leads to perspiration, hence my attempts to do as little as possible!

After eating, rather than waiting for midnight, it is time for everyone to open their presents, especially of course the children. Everyone seems happy with the gifts passed round.



Soon it’s midnight, we fail to go to midnight mass because we’ve run on so late and furthermore we can’t find any confirmed services, and so as we sit outside the house in the cooler air, we wish each other Feliz Natal. What a pleasant evening.

A Short but Sweet Christmas
Next day, Christmas Day, Dad calls first, when I’m just contemplating getting up. Edma collects me for lunch at hers, only leftovers but it still tastes good! In the afternoon, Edma’s sister drives me around town, giving me a tour whilst also showing me the route she jogs. We stop off to have a look at Coconut Lounge, the cheesily-named best club in Maputo. It just sounds so bad, and yet it looks so cool! I won’t get to see it though, as I’m off soon.





They drop me back at my hotel to use Skype to make a few Xmas phone calls. It’s been such a hard day that I have a late afternoon snooze which over-runs into evening and, errr, night! Merry Xmas!!

Boxing Day, things open and return to normal, though I’m surprised to see Mimmo’s Restaurant still closed. I try calling Fatima’s Backpackers to ask about their shuttle to Tofo, but run out of credit, so I walk over there. No one is about. I wait a while. Still no one. Is it slightly unreasonable to assume that there should be someone on reception during the day? I head off, but later call them, and speak to the person who should have been there. I’m told to go back, and before 5pm or they won’t book it for me. Arrogant sods. I decide I’ll walk down to the closer Base Backpackers and see if they do a shuttle too. Later.

Next I meet Irene at the Polana Centre, and we take a cab to Costa do Sol restaurant, which takes some negotiation to get down to the 200M it should cost. By this stage the clouds have rolled back and my goodness, it is corking hot! It’s unbearable being anywhere without AC or a good breeze, and this taxi seems to fulfil neither requirement.


Happy now food is on the way

At Costa do Sol, we take a seat inside (outside is full), and order prawns and a Greek salad. The prawns are, as usual, delicious, and the salad works well with them, as do the potatoes soaking up the buttery sauce the prawns have been dressed with!


Tasty

I am a little jealous of the next table where they have king prawns, but it’s too hot to be eating lots, and really it’s too hot for anything but cold drinks and iced tea sipped from the comfort of a nice swimming pool.

Back in town, I accompany Irene to the bank across the road, which may have something to do with the insides being air-conditioned, then we retire to the even better AC in my room.



The Eve of Christmas

Irene

When she heads off, I discover that the internet is not working (and worse, will not work again until after I’ve left, sob!), so I walk down to Base Backpackers to confirm the shuttle. They use the same one as Fatima’s apparently, and all I need to do is come down to Base at 5:30am. It all seems a bit too easy, and certainly shows that there was no need for me to go to Fatima’s to book the damn thing.

In the evening I meet Edma, who as usual makes me wait whilst she gets ready.


Maputo by night

I get to say goodbye to lovely four-year-old Chantelle, who gives me a big kiss goodbye, woo!


Chantelle and Edma

Edma and I go to her German friend Daniela’s house, who is hosting a surprise goodbye party for Leonie, who is off the following day to Namibia. Lots of people leaving the following day, the 27th, I think it’s the “respectable time after Xmas” date.


Like sisterrrrs

Dinner is nice, with rice, a salsa-tuna dish and a passion fruit dessert. Some at the party do not want alcohol, so for some fresh air I volunteer to go out to the petrol station nearby to buy some coke and fanta. Amusingly, they won’t sell me any, as I don’t have empty bottles to swap out. I resort to a few expensive cans of Diet Coke instead. When I return, Edma asks me why I didn’t know that I wouldn’t be able to buy without empties. BECAUSE I’M A TOURIST!!!

Interestingly, a couple of the guys at the party are working on a project with the British Council to write poetry, both in Portuguese and in English – one of them will be going to the UK shortly as part of this project.


Poetry in style

It’s still too damn hot, and the beers are barely keeping me comfortable, until suddenly the temperature drops. It starts to rain, gently, then heavily, then settles down to drizzle. The rain is like a circle for Edma and myself – it was rain that first brought us together, as we were stuck under a shelter in Fatima’s. It’s sad to say goodbye, she’s a very lovely person who has taken good care of me in Maputo. I hope she’ll visit me in London one day.