Way back home

Today evening is my leaving party in my favorite Africa Tropical bar in Inhambane...
Tomorrow, way down to Maputo in the day where I will meet the two turkish guys I met in Nelspruit.
Friday all the way to Jo'Burg where Nicolette and Peter will receive me and bring me to the airport saturday.
I am very glad all those poeple are around me for this journey because I hate the idea I have to travel for 4 days to reach my tiny village in France.
Then university will start for me Tuesday in La Rochelle. I know I will stay the first 2 weeks in a house with a man originally from Cameroun!!! Africa in La Rochelle, the perfect transition isn't it ????

Kulima and sensitisation

ement

One of the project Kulima is running nowadays consist in sensitisation for children. Las Tuesday, Rodao and Mary invited me to join them, as the children they visited were not so far, close to Inhambane. Tuesday was also Inhambane’s day, celebration of the city for the 52th time. It is a public day, it means, I could sleep longer, just I live right on the square where the celebration began, 7:30, super grasse mat’!!! Music, speech, meeting, the square was over full, A Praça dos Heroas, cheai de gente tao cedo!! Anyway, I visited the children outside there where it was quiet. Kulima organizes some games, or, they should but somehow, the children have to decide themselves or the teachers kind of give some ideas, but hey! It is Mozambique, organization and practice are not the best in the world yet. I taught them a game to introduce themselves and we did play it for more than a half hour. In Europe, children wuld be bored after a round, they did 5 or 6!! Some children, who won certain games get a T-shirt extra brought by Kukima!! Then, they can enjoy some theatre, talking about the importance of education, the right for all children to go to school, the way they can speak with their parents about it, even the girls, because no, they don’t have to be a mother when they are 13, they have the right to be educated as well as every body, for their future, learning writing and reading, sometimes, it’s more about the problem of violence in the family, about HIV, hygiene and sanity… The troupe adapts the presentation depending on the number of actors, the public…

Finally, Kulima gives a meal for everybody, some chicken, rice and bread with a cold drink, unfortunately, this is the highlight of the day for many of them I guess, not because they like eating, as it is the case by us, but because they have the opportunity to…

On the evening, I went with Luis to the concert organized pelo dia da cidade de Inhamane. It was supposed to be live music, I was thrilled about this opportunity. Well, it was honestly and objectively a bad performance, though I enjoyed it.

What else… I did horse riding last week end in Tofo, at 7 in the morning on the beach and in the bush, I loved it of course, then the day in the restaurant, bar and beach, wonderful!!

Some extras next week : pictures!! Rodao gave me the ones he did at school, and I “stole” Kulima’s one to memorize my lovely Inhambane’s town. The project is a bit stagnant at the moment, I am creating some documents for some ideally future tourists, map, history of the city…waiting for Lynne coming back next week and giving a dynamic to it again!! Poor Lynne, she should have arrived Sunday, but LAM, the Mozambican air company, the only in the country, cancelled the flight and reported it to Monday. I’m sure she is very pleased to stay one more day in Jo’Burg…

Rodao, and a teacher

Mary

Trip to Morrumbene/Linga Linga

It can sound like a long long excursion but it is not. Well kind of actually. Morrubene is situated 50 km north of Inhambane. The point in getting to Morrumbene is to turn right to get to Ponta Linga Linga with about 20 km of sand roads, if you don’t get lost, wich has been our case, of course, but not too much, just okay.Vigh, a Malaysian guy, was the Couchsurfer for the week end and didn’t mind going on a trip to Linga Linga instead of staying in Inhambane, as it was the plan arranged with Dylan, before he leaves Mozambique. Vigh arrived on Friday noon, Dylan joined us later in a very little local baraca, the closest to Kulima around Tip Tinto. We ended the evenings after a round of 2 other baracas, just enough to not have a hangover the next morning. Early ready, we made our way to Maxixe to do some shopping and started the research of the Funky Monkey accommodation Dylan had heard about and I read about in the last edition of LP. Vigh did the trip at the back, African attitude. A Ponta is in the middle of thousands and thousands of coconut trees straight or not depending on the density, which makes it more beautiful. As we finally found the place, after nearly got stuck in the sand once, we found out that they either escaped a couple of month ago or a storm destroyed the place but anyway, nothing was in state to receive anyone. Then we had to go back to Morrumbene lodge on the other side of the little piece of earth advanced in the ocean behind Morrumbene. We paid more than a backpacker price but had a real house for us with the splendid beach 200m of our door. A paradise view again, such a natural beach, white sand, no construction around but the lodge, hidden behind some coconuts, strictly nobody else. Just a simple pleasure of exclusivity. As proper tourist, Vigh and I had to go to the water as soon as we arrived while Dylan prepared the grill for the meat he stocks in Dongane directly imported from South Africa. He must have cooked for 8 persons, so that we had the same the next day for breakfast. A short but wonderful excursion for the week end, I will definitely remember the beach in Linga Linga as one of the most clean and calm I know.

Bem vindo em Moçambique

From South

to

Southern Africa

Such a long time I have not written here. Is it a good or a bad sign? An EXTRA GOOD of course. Don’t satisfy yourself with ”good” things, even if it is better than normal things. Anyway. My situation is South Africa in Nelspruit in Old Vic was too chaotic and not satisfying enough for me, even more after my week holidays in Mozambique.
To make it short, let’s say, I spoke with Lynne the last night of my stay at her house about the fact it could be eventually possible that she introduces me in Kulima, the NGO she is working for. Lynne is a fantastic person and convinced me almost more than myself to do it. I will always remember what she told me this night at the “home baraka”, after I confess her my fears about all the situation, and in two minutes she changed my naive and stupid mind in a calm, clear and determined mind : when you are in your 20ies, you are scared and you don’t do it, when you are in your 30ies, your are hesitating but after a while you do it, in your 40ies and after, you are confident enough to know there is no reason not to do it. So just because I was scared I shouldn’t have done it even if it was the best for me? And sincerely, even for Bella today I’m sure it’s not the end of the world, definitely not. Yes, I am just speaking about breaking my contract with Dave and Bella and escape of this area, I would almost say of this country. I am sorry, South Africa is a beautiful beautiful country, but unless you are an ethnological student, and then the field is I’m sure one of the most interesting in the world, you don’t want to live in South Africa for the moment, even more in my case, white European born with the brain of anti-racism. Mamamia, I can’t explain all what I have been thinking since my first step on the African ground but it is for me one of those things that make me grow up very fast. Bla bla bla I should have been short, I just write my thoughts one more time, and I’m not sure one of you can follow me, as if I wouldn’t have the occasion to speak about it here. Of course yes, and with everybody, white South African, white Europeans, white Mozambican, the Blacks… ah yes, I forgot, maybe not everybody. Now I am very sarcastic, it is also one of those things…
Then I arranged my contract with Poitiers in France, Sylvanie and Sophie helped me to do everything on time and properly. I informed Dave and Bella I would not stay any longer. Dave was not so surprised, Bella maybe a bit more, ( about Bella and Elise’s relationship : when they asked me the reason of my decision, among the other one, I also said her face to face that I didn’t like the contact between us, and she sort of understood it, she knows anyway she is not good at dealing with people, and I am not one of her kind cleaning ladies fearing her because she is white and has got more money than I have, so I could tell her…sad).
I contacted Jimmy, my first contact in Mozambique I met at the terrace drinking a coffee, we were the only guest this day in “Punto final” in Inhambane. Jimmy arranged a lift for me from Nelspruit to Inhambane with Dylan, a guy from Nelspruit working with him. So an other adventure was going on. And one more happened in between…not so unexpected after all. I mean, I spent almost 3 months in South Africa, I would have missed one of the mot common experience without it. Indeed, Dylan picked me up this morning after our introduction the previous evening in the Keg, with beer and some shooters, I thanked Dave and Bella who had given me a nice card to tell me thank you too, they have been very very nice…at the end of the day what to say : we just don’t have the same idea of contact, communication etc but respect each other for other abilities maybe, just too different to function together anyway, this period is over. Then Dylan had to fetch some stuff in the city centre in a shop. Waiting for him inside the car, by a diversion I didn’t realize it was one of course… they stole my bag!!! And of course, with everything extremely important inside : ot the most important this exactly day : my passport!!!! I am in South Africa, plan to go in Mozambique for almost three months, organize a Visa for 3 months at the consulat in Nelspruit after 2 visits with all papers, declaration etc shit administration, and 2 hours before I finally leave and start a new, free life, my passport got stolen!!! It was so hilarious that I was not shocked, I didn’t wonder, I was kind of sad but even not. Just it should happened, too bad, almost passed through but finally not… Then begin my week “holidays”. I was supposed to arrive in Inhambane on the Wednesday evening after one night in Kruger with Dylan the Tuesday. Finally, we spent Tuesday night in Pretoria!!!! Ready to get to Johannesburg the next day and sort out a temporary passport for me to be able to cross the boarder… Dylan was as simple as an angel, really, he drove me to Jo’Burg, borrowed me as much money as I needed (oh yes because naturally, my credit card was also in the bag, as well as my camera, so sorry but no more photography, unless I can steal some from some people around… what else in the bag? The bag itself, a souvenir of my Mozambican holidays, my labello!!!!, some cash but not a lot, and….a stick anti mosquitoes!!! Really bad luck!!!). We spent one more night in Nelspruit, on the way back to Mozambique, too tired that evening to drive till the border though. We arrived in Dongane on Thursday, not much later than planed, but without the night in Kruger… that sucks!!! Jimmy didn’t help calling us to know how we were, he was more worried for me than I was, this person, Jimmy, met 20 min on this terrace was becoming somehow my Mozambican father or brother or friend, for me as well as for him. As he says, it is this kind of loveable situation. Then I spent the end of the week not in Inhambane, not yet, but in Dongane, a wonderful place where Dylan, Jimmy and his mum are working. A golf resort, they are actually building a village with private houses for holiday visitors, most of them South African. Dongane is situated between the Indian Ocean and 5 or 6 lakes of soft water. It is just gorgeous. Hamac on the terrace, Jimmy bringing me a cup of coffee in the early morning, Dylan training kayaking in the lake 10 meters away, Anabela sitting close and telling stories about her life in the past and her love for her country. Un petit bout de paradis.
Hunting warthogs was one of my few activities except lying…it was fun!!!
1 hour drive in the sand , we drove the bush road on the Sunday to Inhambane and not the main road. I met Rodao, colleague and Couch Surfer by whom I spent a night before settling in Lynne’s house. We watched the Euro Cup final together with Lauretina Breta.

Kulima

Finally in Kulima then, we met with Lynne very happy to see each other again here. I met the provincial director for Inhambane, Eric Perrin. Yes he is French, but it’s not all. He comes from Centre too, from Indre too, from La Brenne too, he actually comes from Saint-Gaultier and was at school with my mum!!! He showed me some photos of his school years and I could recognize my mother sitting on the same bank!!! Is that not totally crazy??? Le monde est petit, ok, mais à ce point là. Je me demande même si c’est pas un signe du destin, c’est dire si je suis stupéfaite !!!
So then my job : my main task is to create a project and organize as much as possible for a sustainable tourism in the Inhambane province. This is crazy again. I have not started studying tourism management and now I must make a whole project from the very beginning for a possibility to accommodate tourists by local people on my own!!! Is that not the best job ever???? It is, at least for me in my position, I just couldn’t dream better. I just arrive here without knowledge about anything even without being able to speak a word of the official language and I have the responsibility to bring such an interesting project as far as possible. I am so happy with this job, just with it I would be satisfied here, but all the rest is as fantastic as my job.
My second main task is to organize an event for tourist for one day. On this project, I just start this week. We just decided what we want to do with Lynne before she left to Canada, I must start right now. The first task of my day is to open a new Word page and start to write more or less what our idea is… more about it later when better definite.
Lynne left last Monday for 6 weeks, back to Canada. So I have the big house for me alone, kind of sad because it is so much fun to live with Lynne, but I enjoy it in some way too. On the two main projects, we are supposed to work together, then actually, she is busy with other things in Canada, I do the sustainable project and the event, send her my work every day and she gives me more ideas, ask me when it’s not clear, gives me feed backs, or at least, it’s gonna be like this up to this week, normally…
Kulima is a Mozambican NGO, in duty since 1984, present in 7 provinces, employing more or less 250 persons. To summarize very quickly, they arrived in association with a French organization with the first goal to help people during the war and replace them after it in kind of descent conditions, then they were busy working to give a new dynamism in agricultural fields by bringing tools, improving it… Now they are mainly into prevention about SIDA and malaria, Eric wants to use the tourism for the profit of the communities, which is kind of absolutely not the case for the moment in the whole country.
The colleagues in Kulima are all very nice, friendly, smiling as all Mozambican person does, the office is 5 minutes walking distance from home, my office hours are flexible. For one week now I have Portuguese lessons every day, I think for 2 more weeks, at least so I am able to buy bread and eggs in the official language and come easier in contact with the people in the administration I use to visit for the project. I must say that it’s already possible though thanks to Spanish. If my interlocutor make the effort, he speaks slowly Portuguese, I speak slowly Spanish, and we can just communicate like that. So great!!! Mas agora falo um poco portugues. Eu gusto da idioma. Estou a aprender. Posso dizer os numeros, os nomes da familia, coisas entao, e e muito bem de poder falar algunas palabras!!!

At least remember the name KULIMA, that it is a Mozambican NGO, working in Integrated Socio-Economic Development within the communities, so if you do hear about it, pay attenion!! soon coming : sustainable tourism with Kulima in Inhambane - Tofo !!! accommodation by local families...

http://www.kulima.org/Kulima/home_english.html

My mozambican life, quickly

My 2 first weeks in Mozambique were just thousand times better than my first 2 days in South Africa. It’s not fair for South Africa, I want to remind here that I do think South Africa is worth it, it was just for me one of this experience you don’t expect but don’t regret either. Have I already regret just one? … !!! I had a good introduction to the town, to people, to the job with Lynne the first week. We had an amazing, amazing party last Saturday from 12pm to 4am with some other volunteers, some Couch Surfer, and so many more tourists and nice people around. I spent my first Sunday on the beach in Tofo with Ana and Pascal, our 2 lovely Couch Surfer last week end. 2 other dutch CS spent Tuesday night here, Jean Christophe arrived Saturday and left tomorrow morning. I am sure it won’t be so many visits all the time, but Couch Surfing can be a full time job somehow… it is before all a very nice company every time, Couch Surfing is such a good concept really. Although, I would not have this kind of week every week, it would be a lot too exhausting.

Virée au Royaume du Swaziland

Deux trois mots en français, the rest in English (see below)

Là-bas, le roi règne sur ses sujets, et même si ça peut nous paraître à nous d’un goût moyenâgeux, en Afrique, ça se fait, et j’irais même jusqu’à dire que c’est ce qui se fait de mieux. Le Swaziland, c’est un million deux cent ou trois cent mille habitants, une monarchie absolue, une alphabétisation meilleure que dans beaucoup d’autres pays africains, ce qui n’empêche tout de même pas un chômage très élevé et un taux de contamination par le virus du SIDA vers les 40%. De la pauvreté aussi, c’est-à-dire, les gens sont pauvres mais arrivent à manger à leur faim grâce à de la solidarité, l’agriculture étant la première source de revenu du pays. La monarque est très respecté, même si quelques étudiants ont déjà tenté une revendication pour un système plus démocratique, non suivie et non écoutée. La criminalité swazi doit être aussi importante que dans n’importe quel pays occidental, les transports en commun sont utilisés par la population noire en général mais les touristes les empreintent aussi sans crainte. L’anglais y est généralement parlé, toutefois, dans les villages, le swazi seul est la langue de communication, là où l’anglais n’est pas utile, ou bien en signe de conservation de la culture swazi, comme au village que j’ai eu l’occasion de visiter (voir un peu plus bas). La vie n’est pas chère, la monnaie est le lilangani, égal au rand sud africain.

J’ai utilisé pour la première et probablement dernière fois le Baz Bus pour me rendre là-bas. Je suis partie avec deux US girls (d’Hawaii exactement!!!!!), Zamo, mon chauffeur préféré, était le chauffeur ce jour-là, il m’avait réservé la place à l’avant pour le trajet !! sympa ! Le Baz Bus est vraiment super, tous les chauffeurs sont sympas et helpfull, Zamo nous a tous bien guidés à la frontière ( on est accueilli par le drapeau avec un grand portrait de Mswati III, roi actuel, ambiance super détendue, toute petite frontière, gardes relax, complètement différent du Mozambique où la pagaille générale est stressante). Le Baz Bus est l’occasion de rencontrer des personnes et papoter pendant les longs trajets et trouver sa compagnie du soir puisque tous s’arrêtent dans des mêmes auberges. Les deux Hawaïennes et deux autres Français allaient au même endroit que moi, on a sympathisé du coup tous les cinq.

So I continue in English.
The King of Swaziland has 11 wifes, so many children I don't remember the amount. Everybody can claim belonging to the royal family then...

Twice a year, the whole Kingdom celebrates with the King. First the young girls dance for him and at the end of the day he chooses one for him, then the young boys celebrates their traditional occupation, indeed huntig with traditional clothes and songs... The tourists are very welcome to take part in the celebration, I guess it can be an amazing experience to attend at it.

The 2 French people, the 2 Hawaiians and I staid in Sondzela Backpacker, always recommended by Dave and Bella. Sondzela is in the middle of a nature reserve, where you can experience the wild life by foot : so great!!!! As we arrived by night, we couldn’t see our environment but it smelt, sounded and seemed like we would wake up with the big smile. I was really looking forward to seeing the sunrise.
We went directly to the main camp to see some swazi dance and songs : a bit wired to sit in an armchair with all other white tourists looking at those black guys dancing and singing, but I also felt they enjoyed doing it then it’s fine. Even if the tourists are not here they dance and sing, just maybe not with the flag and the King on the back…
The Euro championship was already on, then Nicolas had to watch it… I sat at the campfire for a few hours with Black Label, nice people from everywhere going or staying everywhere, very nice evening.

I woke up, ah ah ah , ah merde, it’s still night, I can’t see anything…I was so impatient!! A couple of hours later, the sun started shining and the mountain appeared behind my window just on the top of my bed : I let you enjoy the view :


We organized a full visit day together. First the shuttle from Sondzela drove us out of the reserve and we took a minibus to the craft market : impressive!! A hundred shops with the same stuff in each on the same place!! Here is the market for tourists, no authenticity but a lot of things the tourists just love bringing home…so I did some souvenir shopping there. Then we returned to the fruit market and bought plenty of vitamin. Sri and Rasa are vegetarian, they were very pleased to be able to find so nice fruit and veg’. Around midday, after a complicated way back, our receptionist brought us to one of the four villages of the reserve 30 minutes walking distance from Sondzela : here you are, walking, watching zebras, impalas, wild horses, warthogs, … We met then our guide, actually our translator. Indeed the guide was the chief, or the chief’s wife but her husband died a couple of years ago so she is in charge of the village. She speaks swazi that’s why we needed the help of a translator-guide. She welcomed us very warmly with some children who were walking around. Songs, dance. Mama swazi taught us some swazi words : well some, more than 2 and it was over. I do like learning languages, but I can’t remember any words she brought us. We also learnt swazi dance and song : as you can imagine, we were just able to sing the melody, and some tons that sounded familiar to us from time to time, although she repeated the song with us 5 or 6 times…we were kind of bad pupils I must admit. Then she explained us how the swazi hunt, eat, sleep, what the men do, what the women do. She showed us dishes, bedcover, jersey… the dance we learnt was easy, same repeated foot, I think we danced it like for 10 minutes, which was nice because we really got the rhythm and the contact with “our teachers” was very nice after this experience. We felt like we became swazi, so did the chief think. After songs and songs, the children let us go, at least the four of us but didn’t want to let Nicolas. They were playing dancing together following the melody of the chief’s wife. I enjoyed this instant because it was a true instant. Even if Nicolas a tourist was and the children the swazi children were, at this instant, they really had fun together, forgetting who was entertaining who. It was Africa!…

On the way back to the main camp, we stopped at the lake where we hoped we would see some hippos or crocs, but nothing. A bit disappointed, we hurried to the restaurant, it was time to have something to eat : grilled impala for the French, soup for the Hawaiians, poor vegetarian, I feel really sad for them sometimes. The South African love making braai = barbecue. I had a braai last time with some people staying over the week end. It was so nice, huge piece of meat, the men looking after the fire, the women cooking the pop and salads. Anyway, the vegetarians can still taste the salads, but they don’t know what they miss!! Here down the terrace of the restaurant a crocodile was lying : great! After our lunch-diner, we decided to return to the lake thinking we could be lucky this time. And we were : the hippos were lying in the water, even a baby hippo, look at me with my new friends!!!
We had a very good day all together, nice company in this part of the swazi kingdom, awesome….On our way back to the backpacker; just enjoying the view of the mountains behind the fields and the red earth trails.

I spent my second evening with a German guy, playing pool and watching stars without too much light pollution : possible in the reserve, nice nice.
Second morning, I had to go back to Nelspruit, waouh, it hurts… But it was not yet the end of my trip. The problem was, no Baz Bus this day, then : minibus. It is the point : even if it is not safe blablabla, I alone feeling in jail in my nice though Old Vic, I just take the chance when I don’t have an other possibility. Straight to Mbabane (capital ), I should have taken a bus to Nelspruit. But I came too late, he left already. I knew something would go wrong, I mean wrong, just I knew for some reason I would most probably come late at Old Vic, I was supposed to work at 1pm…So then I took a bus to Pigg’s Peak : the highest swazi peak is 1900m high. I really didn’t regret it : beautiful landscape again. In Pigg’s Peack, an other bus drove me to the border where I was supposed to find a bus straight to Nelspruit. In Matsamo at the border, the guards revealed me, there is no straight bus to Nelspruit, I must first go to Schoemansdale, then Malelane, then Nelspruit… aïe, it was not the plan!!! The officer offered me to ask the cars coming crossing the gate/the border and find a lift or me : thank you for your help guy!! So kind of him. The first car he asked : one black girl and a black guy : going to Nelspruit, great!! Ah no not great, they don’t want to take me because I am white… all right! Take it for you and wait……ça fait mal hein…… A car drove me eventually to Malelane where I took the bus to Nelspruit and asked the bus driver to drop me off before the taxi rang at a safest place. Back at 1:45 pm, not as late as I thought finally.

I am very happy to have taken the chance to go to Swaziland. Now : because I don’t stay in Nelspruit any longer, I escape, finally, I leave Tuesday the 24th or Wednesday the 25th to Mozambique, I thought I wouldn’t have the opportunity to get there. I should have gone there and in Drakensberg + Durban in July as Dave and Bella had given me two weeks holidays. I’m still not going to visit the Drakensberg mountain and it is really a pity because I am sure I would have love it. But now I am on my way to Inhambane and I am also quite sure I will love my life there. Lynne assures me I will have a very nice time there with her and the Mozambican style…I can just believe it. à suivre

One week in Mozambique

Dave and Bella gave me one week holiday and I got the occasion to enjoy the private transfer to Maputo with the Dutch students teaching in Schoemansdale who were also going for their last week in Africa. On the way, kms and kms of sugar cane. Dave took us to the memorial of Samora Michele who was the president of Mozambique and died with a couple of his colleague on a plane crash. They built a memorial on the place the accident took place with the rest of the burnt plane. I am not sure a lot of people get to there because it is quite lost in the middle of nowhere, but it was a good feeling to see some people involved in it even if the museum is not bigger than a few photos of the member in the plane and some words about their position and their role.

At the boarder, Dave arranged everything for us, with a tip of R10, we got the Visa easily and faster. Lots of Mozambican were crossing the boarder by foot with their huge amount of bags and food, regards to the very bad conditions for them at the moment in South Africa. Indeed, all of you heard about the trouble happening for a couple of week now and I received some emails of you worried about my situation. What's happening here is crazy even if it doesn't change my own situation. Most of the victim are Mozambican or Zimbabwean established in South Africa with the hope they can find a better life here than in their country. The South African claim they steal the money, make the suburbs unsafe and take the few jobs available. And for this reasons and wrong ideologies, people get murdered in a very grisly way. The murderer burn their victims alive, strangle them, shoot them if they answer with a foreign accent at their questions. These are the terrible picture you probably saw, or maybe not, but they appear here in the newspaper. I haven't heard any report on white foreigner attack; I would have thought it would give the chance to some of those criminal to in the confusion though. Funny to think that the president of South Africa Mbeki claims since the last election in Zimbabwe the situation in the neighbour country is under control and there is no reason to panic when his population in his country kill those same neighbours...total confusion...

In our first km in Maputo in our vehicle registered in South Africa, a guy in the next car as we stopped greeted us friendly before giving this sad reproach : "what's up in your country with us man? what do you think of we would do the same here?" At this moment, you realize how awful the situation is. However, it wouldn't happen in Mozambique, crime exist also but the difference is an attack in Mozambique means you get robbed, South Africa you get killed. I don't speak about Zimbabwe because I'm not sure how it is but everybody agrees to say, it's worse than South Africa. Don't wonder if they come through here to get some peace, even if it is a complete paradox for us.



Maputo is safer than Jo'Burg or even Nelspruit, but it's far to mean it is safe. Some parts of the capitale are to avoid by day as by night, and by night, ue a taxi everywhere you want to go, don't walk alone,... in a part of the center, street with restaurants and cafes you can walk, always with precaution though. You wouldn't live alone in an appartment in Maputo either, a guard for each house etc...



Dave took us first to the fish parket to have some lunch. I was wondering to see how unconfortable the girls felt when a couple of young people trying to sell us things, walking close tu us keeping talking even if you don't listen to them. It's their business, it can be annoying, but if you are a bit confident and you show them you are not interest then they leave you in peace. After 10 minutes, each of them was come around us and eventually let us the chance to relax. Dave went to the market and bought some prawns, before we went there and smelt the nice fresh fish, prawns, crabs,... it is not a big market, almost a tidy one, with 15 sailors maybe, fruit and vegetable also available. The nice thing about this famous market is to buy your fish and give it to the chef of the restaurant of your choice to cook it for you. Fabulous isn't it?






**********INHACA**************

Inhaca is an island close to the capital. Just the ferry boat is an adventure, jumping in a motor boat before the arrival, I wouldn't recommend it if you have more than one bag, the Mozambican do though, taking everything they can from the mainland to the island to bring to their family and it's a kind of funny mess when you arrive there, more funny than anything else actually.I stayed there in this little hut with other Mozambican tourists from Maputo too.3 or 4 villages in total on the island, the main one is the one here, it means : some shops for tourists, 2-3 bars restaurants, a little-tidy market and a huge lodge for people from oversee with ambiance Club Med on the evenings, too bad...

A motor boat took us for 300 Meticals, 100 rands, 8 euros to Portuguese island, nowhere there just sandy beach and wild desert bush.

2M is the most popular beer in Mozambique, even though I enjoyed the sweet cheap rum : Tippo tinto.




Once back, I was pleased to meet American 2 guys in The Base, central backpacker in Maputo also going to Tofo with the minibus, so I wouldn't have my first long journey on my own. At the taxi rang at 5:30 you can buy every kind of food or other products for your house and on all the way, people all along the road selling fruits, sofas, shampoo.... the mozambican bread is lovely, white bread quite similar to french bread, delicious!! sweet pineapple for 1 euro, coconut for 5Meticals, I don't even try to make the conversion in euro it would be ridiculous.

*********Tofo / Inhambane*********

Tofo is the tourist place in Mozambique : just backpackers, restaurants and see-activities companies, beaches, souvenirs and food market. Lots of accommodation facilities,... I met the duth girls again there even if we didn't stay at the same place, Tofo is such a place every tourist is it was very unlikely I wouldn't have seen them there.

I don't believe it yet but I did swim with whale sharks!! just amazing and unbelievable, but so easily available here, it is a must really even if you are not keen on diving or snorkelling. I must say I was hesitant for the diving tour, maybe later, so I went for the ocean safari and snorkelling. On the wednedsay, normally my last day in Tofo / Inhambane, the tour was cancelled because the weather was too windy and the Tofo Scuba member were not sure they are able to see whale sharks. Too bad, I HAD to come back the day after if I really wanted to do that, so I decided to stay one more day. It just made my trip back to Nelspruit in one day and I didn't know exactly how but anyway, it was one more day holiday on the beach and one more evening with Lynne in Inhambane. So I went on the Thursday, on the tour I met the 2 guys on the right hand side here, a Canadian and a Greek living in Belgium and Germany. It is an unforgettable experience. I didn't expect to be able to jump out of the boat and be so close to the huge peacefully shark!! When I jumped into the water the first time, I almost touched it so close I was!! impressive and king of frightening also...

After all those emotion we deserved a nice meal ; the 3 of us ate seafood at the nice restaurant Casa de comer in a charming environment.

I stayed the first night in Tofo at Fatima's nest which is a very nice backpacker right on the beach, sand everywhere cute little grass huts… For the second night, I stayed at Lynne’s house, a Canadian girl working in Inhambane. She has a house with a free room and bathroom, ideal to receive people. I don’t know how many Couchsurfer she met here before me but a lot. I felt good in her company as soon as we met at the market. Cooking, drinking some Tippo tinto bought in the next baracca. I fell in love with Inhambane because everything is available by foot and it’s safe to walk around, even at night time just make sure to be a group of minimum 2 people for more security and have fun : go to the market, the shops of the nice Indian community, to the restaurant, have a coffee in the morning, a beer in the evening… I met Jimmy on a terrace one morning waiting for the bus to Tofo, we spoke together for 20 minutes and exchanged our phone number which was a great idea for the rest of my African events I think. I’m sure we are going to meet again in the next weeks so he could explain me better chat he is up to, sort of golf place with accommodation…
The second evening by Lynne, a friend of her, Luis, came to cook prawns and coconut rice. It was as simple as delicious, such a great dinner really. Luis is still at school but also a professional DJ. Lynne recognised he has the skills to be better and to become a real DJ and they try to find Luis a school in Canada to study more about electronic music… The third evening we went to 2 barracas and staid until the middle of the night, I slept one hour before I took the minibus to Maputo. Once back in the capital, no time for an overnight, I had to find a minibus going to Nelspruit the same day. The bus driver and a young Mozambican in the bus were very helpful, the taxi driver drove me right to the minibus going to Nelspruit. BUT it was only 5 of us who had to get to Nelspruit, I was waiting in the taxi right in the sun from 11:30am ‘till 3:30pm without any clue if I eventually would be able to arrive in Nelspruit this day. The taxi driver informed us finally that he was not going but organized an other taxi for us, it’s what usually happens if his taxi is nit full obviously. I was glad a guy also going with me could speak English and explain me what was going on ‘cause I felt a bit hopeless during 4 hours reading my book trying not to be impatient… Finally I arrived by nicht at the taxi rang : exactly what you don’t want to, the driver let me wait for my Thabo taxi inside his bus then I felt safe. But Dave and Bella still now repeat me that I must NOT recommend it to their clients because it is really too dangerous. It’s actually not just because of the security, that’s more or less manageable with a bit of sense, but because of the way they drive, fast, risky, and the state of their vehicle…and that’s right, you can’t do anything to avoid it.
Anyway, I arrived safe at Old Vic with the biggest part of my heart staid in Inhambane, peacefully town with charming population. Lynne and Luis’ company, sun and beach, African landscape with grass huts in the little villages all along the road, woman with colourful dress and bandanas in their hairs…