We had a late start to the day, having had too much fun the night before. We did miss out on most of the heat so it wasn't too bad.
Took a taxi to the baixa area (lower escarpment part), where most of the classic Maputo buildings are found. Started at the train station, which makes lists of top railway stations in the world. Then zigzagged our way to Praça da Independéncia. Stopped in at the Info building near the plaza, and were met by a gregarious woman. We had beeen referred by both the good book (Lonely Planet) and our hotel in Ilha to call on Jane Flood, who runs walking tours of Maputo, with an architectural focus. Turns out the woman who welcomed us was indeed the one-and-only Jane Flood! She had loads of recommendations for us, and was very helpful.
It was getting late in the day, so we finished our tour of the plaza and then took a taxi home. Maputo is known for its king shrimp, so we headed over to Marna Brasa based on the recommendation from the guest house folks. It was excellent, with a vinho verde. (Most restaurants here have three categories for wine: red, white, and green. The green refers to the age of the wine - verdes are very young wines).
...
We were up at a more reasonable hour this morning. Had the same breakfast (scrambled eggs, buttered toast with the crust cut off, bacon, fruit salad, plain yogurt, and good tea/coffee). It's a standard breakfast served almost everywhere we go, but they do a good job of it here.
Started at the National Art Museum in the baixa. It was good, although half of it was under construction. Walked across to Txhapo Txhapo, a hip little restaurant recommended by Jane Flood. It was quite good, and their mixed fruit drinks were excellent. The air conditioning was a nice break from the heat.
Then onto a couple art galleries in search of souvenirs. First went to Núcleo de Arte, which had some very interesting paintings and sculptures in their showroom. Walked next to Tilandia, which was also good, although I found Núcleo to be more interesting. We went back and this time wandered through the back rooms beyond the bar, where the artists were at work, or at least in the process of getting inspired. (By that I mean drinking and smoking up). There were more pieces on display here, for lower prices. We ended up buying two paintings and two sculptures. It was a long process to pay, as they had to unpack a new printer to print off the document needed to take art out of the country.
By the time we were done it was almost 5pm so we took a taxi home. We had no energy to head out, plus the restaurant at the guest house was quite good and had great atmosphere. Their special of the day was grilled shrimp, so while in Maputo, eat as Maputans. Had another vinho verde, and called it a night.
Maputo was a really enjoyable city, with lots of arts and culture, and really cool architecture. The food was also really quite good. We were glad we tacked it onto our trip to Mozambique.
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Maputo, Mozambique
Breakfast was dull at Hotel Milénio. We were still feeling full from the heavy curries at dinner, so I just had boiled eggs and a bun. The stuff labelled as butter was some sort of processed stuff so I didn't have any.
Anyways we packed up and took a taxi to the airport, a short 3km drive from the centre of town. This was our only internal flight in Mozambique and the only option was LAM, of which I read unpleasant things about their reliability and cancelled flights. We arrived two hours before our flight, and were promptly and efficiently checked in. We boarded on time, and left the gate on schedule. Maybe we were lucky, or maybe you just can't trust everything you read on the web. We scored with the emergency exit row seats and lots of leg room. Flipped open their in-flight magazine and saw a feature article on Jardim de Aloes, where we had just stayed! Overall we were quite pleased with our LAM flight.
In Maputo the guest house had arranged for a taxi to pick us up and sure enough there was a driver with an Sr Erick Da Sousa sign waiting. From the air, I hadn't seen much traffic and it was a quick ten minute drive on good roads to Sommerschield Guest House, in an upscale residential area. We were greeted by Rita and Sylvia, who were great at making us feel at home. They opened the guest house because they wanted people visiting Maputo to have a home away from home.
They have a little restaurant open all day and so we had some lunch, and then headed out to tourist for the afternoon. Walked all the way into town down Av Julius Nyerere, about 4km. The architecture in Maputo is really cool - mostly designed and influenced by Pancho Guedes. The architecture is very distinctive and if I saw a picture of a random building I could likely guess if it was from Maputo.
We stopped in at JN 281 to check out the menu (based on their high rating in tripadvisor), made reservations, and then took a taxi back home. Had some issues with the water (they were doing some work at the guest house to add another 5,000L tank, there have been water shortages in Maputo recently). But everything was fixed up and we were good to go. It was still a bit early so we had a beer on the patio, with a nice breeze blowing through.
Then onto JN 281. Their specialty is picanhna, a popular cut in Brasil but not so common back home in Toronto. We both ordered it. The owner, Pedro, came by to recommend wines. He was quite the character and wine connoisseur. We selected our wine, which he decanted and then came by every couple minutes to sniff to see if it had opened up yet. In the meantime, we were being served slices after slices of picanhna, cut super thin and medium rare. We were worried we would fill up before Pedro allowed us to drink the wine! Finally he gave up on the the bottle, and opened another pricier one (but for us, Pedro said, the same cost). Because this also had to breathe for five minutes, he suggested a caipirinha, to which we obliged. It took them almost five minutes to make the drinks, but never mind, it takes time to make a good drink from scratch. Eventually we had the wine with the picanhna, which went very well.
Somehow we still had room for dessert, a homemade chocolate mousse of a secret family recipe. It was excellent. We took a taxi home and rolled ourselves into bed, rather full from dinner.
Anyways we packed up and took a taxi to the airport, a short 3km drive from the centre of town. This was our only internal flight in Mozambique and the only option was LAM, of which I read unpleasant things about their reliability and cancelled flights. We arrived two hours before our flight, and were promptly and efficiently checked in. We boarded on time, and left the gate on schedule. Maybe we were lucky, or maybe you just can't trust everything you read on the web. We scored with the emergency exit row seats and lots of leg room. Flipped open their in-flight magazine and saw a feature article on Jardim de Aloes, where we had just stayed! Overall we were quite pleased with our LAM flight.
In Maputo the guest house had arranged for a taxi to pick us up and sure enough there was a driver with an Sr Erick Da Sousa sign waiting. From the air, I hadn't seen much traffic and it was a quick ten minute drive on good roads to Sommerschield Guest House, in an upscale residential area. We were greeted by Rita and Sylvia, who were great at making us feel at home. They opened the guest house because they wanted people visiting Maputo to have a home away from home.
They have a little restaurant open all day and so we had some lunch, and then headed out to tourist for the afternoon. Walked all the way into town down Av Julius Nyerere, about 4km. The architecture in Maputo is really cool - mostly designed and influenced by Pancho Guedes. The architecture is very distinctive and if I saw a picture of a random building I could likely guess if it was from Maputo.
We stopped in at JN 281 to check out the menu (based on their high rating in tripadvisor), made reservations, and then took a taxi back home. Had some issues with the water (they were doing some work at the guest house to add another 5,000L tank, there have been water shortages in Maputo recently). But everything was fixed up and we were good to go. It was still a bit early so we had a beer on the patio, with a nice breeze blowing through.
Then onto JN 281. Their specialty is picanhna, a popular cut in Brasil but not so common back home in Toronto. We both ordered it. The owner, Pedro, came by to recommend wines. He was quite the character and wine connoisseur. We selected our wine, which he decanted and then came by every couple minutes to sniff to see if it had opened up yet. In the meantime, we were being served slices after slices of picanhna, cut super thin and medium rare. We were worried we would fill up before Pedro allowed us to drink the wine! Finally he gave up on the the bottle, and opened another pricier one (but for us, Pedro said, the same cost). Because this also had to breathe for five minutes, he suggested a caipirinha, to which we obliged. It took them almost five minutes to make the drinks, but never mind, it takes time to make a good drink from scratch. Eventually we had the wine with the picanhna, which went very well.
Somehow we still had room for dessert, a homemade chocolate mousse of a secret family recipe. It was excellent. We took a taxi home and rolled ourselves into bed, rather full from dinner.
Monday, November 28, 2016
Nampula, Mozambique
We had another enjoyable breakfast at Jardim de Aloes wth Bruno and Judy. Judy gave us a tour of the other two rooms, which had cool antiques that she had collected over time. It's almost like they started the b&b to have somewhere to display all their art! They've also done a great job restoring the place - the old roof beams are hand-hewn from iron wood and are in great shape.
Our driver was waiting at 10am to drive us to Nampula, 2.5 hours from Ilha. We had arranged for him to drive us to see e highlights once in Nampula. We could have just walked around but it was the hottest part of the day.
We stopped first at the busy Sunday market, which had mostly local items for sale. There was a small area with souvenirs, but nothing special. We saw the Cathedral of Nossa Senhora de Fâtima from the outside. Then off to the National Ethnography museum. There was a small market behind the museum, which had better quality than the Sunday market. For a transit stop, it wasn't too bad of a town.
We arrived at Hotel Milénio about 3pm. I was a bit surprised that they had my reservation as they had been spotty with emails. We threw our stuff in our room and grabbed a snack in the hotel lobby (the main restaurant was only open until 3pm for lunch, we just a missed it). We then tried to have a beer, only to discover to our horror that the hotel was dry. This was not mentioned in the Lonely Planet.
So we just used the rather fast wifi to catch up on news.
It's a bit dangerous to walk around at night, so we had dinner in the hotel restaurant. It was mostly Indian food (there's a sizeable population of Indian descent in Nampula). Probably would have gone better with beer but as previously mentioned, the hotel is dry.
Our driver was waiting at 10am to drive us to Nampula, 2.5 hours from Ilha. We had arranged for him to drive us to see e highlights once in Nampula. We could have just walked around but it was the hottest part of the day.
We stopped first at the busy Sunday market, which had mostly local items for sale. There was a small area with souvenirs, but nothing special. We saw the Cathedral of Nossa Senhora de Fâtima from the outside. Then off to the National Ethnography museum. There was a small market behind the museum, which had better quality than the Sunday market. For a transit stop, it wasn't too bad of a town.
We arrived at Hotel Milénio about 3pm. I was a bit surprised that they had my reservation as they had been spotty with emails. We threw our stuff in our room and grabbed a snack in the hotel lobby (the main restaurant was only open until 3pm for lunch, we just a missed it). We then tried to have a beer, only to discover to our horror that the hotel was dry. This was not mentioned in the Lonely Planet.
So we just used the rather fast wifi to catch up on news.
It's a bit dangerous to walk around at night, so we had dinner in the hotel restaurant. It was mostly Indian food (there's a sizeable population of Indian descent in Nampula). Probably would have gone better with beer but as previously mentioned, the hotel is dry.
Sunday, November 27, 2016
Mozambique Island, Mozambique
Breakfast at Jardim de Aloes was on the mid-roof terrace, shaded by the large leaves of an old almond tree. We chatted with Bruno and Judy about our trip, places to see in Ilha (Portuguese for island, and shorthand for Mozambique Island), and restaurants to try and those to just have a coffee.
It was just after 10am by the time we started touring around Stone Town. There was hardly anyone about - probably because it's the hottest part of the day. The old alleys and buildings are cool to see, half of them in states of reconstruction. In five years or so Stone Town will look very different.
We zigzagged through Stone Town, stopping in at the one souvenir store to browse. (I'm sure the number of stores will change too as tourism increases).
By noon we were tired from the heat, and stopped in at Anchor d'Ouro for pizza. Whiled away a couple hours sipping on lime drinks. We thought about a coffee but the power was out so they couldn't run the machine.
We walked back home to wait until 3pm for the cooler air to wander around the rest of Stone Town. There was a wedding somewhere in Ilha and we saw cars decked out in tissue paper flowers, and women in bright red dresses.
Had a beer in the hostel across the street from our hotel, and then went to our rooftop terrace to watch the sunset.
We debated trying another restaurant for dinner, but ended up at Karibu again. Had their tuna with sesame seeds which was the highlight, and a couple other dishes.
We watched the stars from our rooftop terrace after dinner. The wifi was finally working so I posted some pics.
It was just after 10am by the time we started touring around Stone Town. There was hardly anyone about - probably because it's the hottest part of the day. The old alleys and buildings are cool to see, half of them in states of reconstruction. In five years or so Stone Town will look very different.
We zigzagged through Stone Town, stopping in at the one souvenir store to browse. (I'm sure the number of stores will change too as tourism increases).
By noon we were tired from the heat, and stopped in at Anchor d'Ouro for pizza. Whiled away a couple hours sipping on lime drinks. We thought about a coffee but the power was out so they couldn't run the machine.
We walked back home to wait until 3pm for the cooler air to wander around the rest of Stone Town. There was a wedding somewhere in Ilha and we saw cars decked out in tissue paper flowers, and women in bright red dresses.
Had a beer in the hostel across the street from our hotel, and then went to our rooftop terrace to watch the sunset.
We debated trying another restaurant for dinner, but ended up at Karibu again. Had their tuna with sesame seeds which was the highlight, and a couple other dishes.
We watched the stars from our rooftop terrace after dinner. The wifi was finally working so I posted some pics.
Saturday, November 26, 2016
Mozambique Island, Mozambique
We had arranged for a dhow back to Mozambique Island at 2pm, so had a relaxing morning. Packed up our bags which had become more strewn about than normal cause we had had four nights here, plus there was lots of space to spread out. Had lunch, and then boarded the dhow. It was full tide so the dhow was able to come all the way up to the lagoon, and we didn't need to wade through water to board.
Our stay at Coral Lodge included a day trip to the Island, so we had a guide for the afternoon courtesy of Coral Lodge. We docked, and has our bags taken to Jardim de Aloes, owned by a friendly Italian named Bruno. A couple minutes later our guide (Eddie) arrived and we rushed off on our tour.
We quickly saw the Palace of São Paulo and the Fort of São Sebastião. Our guide explained the dark history of slavery with Mozambique Island. There's two colours of rocks used to build the fort - the black coral rock was cut out by slaves from the southern part of the island. That area (Makuti Town) is the poorer half, which floods during rainy season due to the digging out of all the rocks. The lighter coloured rocks were brought from Portugal as ballast for empty ships coming to pick up slaves.
After the Fort we walked through the alleys and streets of Stone Town, and then through Makuti Town. The contrast is quite obvious. We reached the southern point (the island is about 3km long) just in time for the sunset.
By the time we walked back to our hotel we were pretty much done for the day.
Our room at Jardim de Aloes was filled with really cool antiques. My end table was an old safe. It was almost like staying in a museum!
Bruno had recommended Karibu's for dinner, and gave directions - left, right, right, follow the road with the archways, take the fork to the right, pass through two pillars, and you're there.
It was a great little Portuguese restaurant, in a centuries old building with original floors and 20' ceilings. The food was excellent - we split two appetizers and two mains which was too much food but we wanted to try everything.
Walked back home (the alleys are really beautiful at night), and fell asleep.
Our stay at Coral Lodge included a day trip to the Island, so we had a guide for the afternoon courtesy of Coral Lodge. We docked, and has our bags taken to Jardim de Aloes, owned by a friendly Italian named Bruno. A couple minutes later our guide (Eddie) arrived and we rushed off on our tour.
We quickly saw the Palace of São Paulo and the Fort of São Sebastião. Our guide explained the dark history of slavery with Mozambique Island. There's two colours of rocks used to build the fort - the black coral rock was cut out by slaves from the southern part of the island. That area (Makuti Town) is the poorer half, which floods during rainy season due to the digging out of all the rocks. The lighter coloured rocks were brought from Portugal as ballast for empty ships coming to pick up slaves.
After the Fort we walked through the alleys and streets of Stone Town, and then through Makuti Town. The contrast is quite obvious. We reached the southern point (the island is about 3km long) just in time for the sunset.
By the time we walked back to our hotel we were pretty much done for the day.
Our room at Jardim de Aloes was filled with really cool antiques. My end table was an old safe. It was almost like staying in a museum!
Bruno had recommended Karibu's for dinner, and gave directions - left, right, right, follow the road with the archways, take the fork to the right, pass through two pillars, and you're there.
It was a great little Portuguese restaurant, in a centuries old building with original floors and 20' ceilings. The food was excellent - we split two appetizers and two mains which was too much food but we wanted to try everything.
Walked back home (the alleys are really beautiful at night), and fell asleep.
Friday, November 25, 2016
Cabaceira Pequena, Mozambique
The hottest part of the day is between breakfast and lunch so we relaxed in our villa, watching dhows pass by on the water, a nice breeze going through the open windows.
After lunch we were restless so decided to try to walk to the point closest to Mozambique Island, where we could see a big baobab tree. On google maps I could see a foot path the whole way so it didn't seem too complicated. We asked the manager if it was dangerous and she said it was okay, but preferred if we went with a guide from the lodge. She also provided aqua shoes as we had to cross the lagoon.
We started out at 3pm, feeling a little silly having a guide carrying water for us for what we figured was a 30 minute round trip. The guide set out at a quick pace, and we were at the 400-year old baobab tree in about 15 minutes. Then the guide continued on, more inland thorough grasses, then back to the shoreline. We passed by piles of rocks and wood which the locals use to dry out the white rocks, which are ground down and used for whitewashing walls.
We eventually arrived at the village of Cabaceira Pequena, pop. 1,600. Our guide (and most of the staff) are from the village. We walked down the main road, seeing village life as it has existed for centuries. Saw women getting water from the well just outside town. There were four mosques, a hospital, and a primary school. On the way back to the resort, we passed by a soccer game which half the village was watching from the sidelines. It was two teams from the village, teenagers, who were really good. We stopped to watch for a couple minutes, during which one team made a substitution and by the time they changed shirts (they only have 11 shirts for each team) we had left to get back before sunset.
It was really cool to see the village, and the two hour walk was much more than we had planned.
We cleaned up and went to the main lodge for dinner. We had the "Mozambique special" which was rice and five different curries. It was okay. They ran out of our favourite, the prawn curry. We had a last beer at Coral Lodge and then headed off to bed.
After lunch we were restless so decided to try to walk to the point closest to Mozambique Island, where we could see a big baobab tree. On google maps I could see a foot path the whole way so it didn't seem too complicated. We asked the manager if it was dangerous and she said it was okay, but preferred if we went with a guide from the lodge. She also provided aqua shoes as we had to cross the lagoon.
We started out at 3pm, feeling a little silly having a guide carrying water for us for what we figured was a 30 minute round trip. The guide set out at a quick pace, and we were at the 400-year old baobab tree in about 15 minutes. Then the guide continued on, more inland thorough grasses, then back to the shoreline. We passed by piles of rocks and wood which the locals use to dry out the white rocks, which are ground down and used for whitewashing walls.
We eventually arrived at the village of Cabaceira Pequena, pop. 1,600. Our guide (and most of the staff) are from the village. We walked down the main road, seeing village life as it has existed for centuries. Saw women getting water from the well just outside town. There were four mosques, a hospital, and a primary school. On the way back to the resort, we passed by a soccer game which half the village was watching from the sidelines. It was two teams from the village, teenagers, who were really good. We stopped to watch for a couple minutes, during which one team made a substitution and by the time they changed shirts (they only have 11 shirts for each team) we had left to get back before sunset.
It was really cool to see the village, and the two hour walk was much more than we had planned.
We cleaned up and went to the main lodge for dinner. We had the "Mozambique special" which was rice and five different curries. It was okay. They ran out of our favourite, the prawn curry. We had a last beer at Coral Lodge and then headed off to bed.
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Cabaceira Pequena, Mozambique
We woke up jetlagged at 4am, Heather wandered out to the deck facing the ocean to watch the sunrise at 4:30am. (We're at the eastern end of the time zone, the sun is up from 4:30am - 5:30pm). It was cloudy so it just got brighter but no colours. It was very surreal to watch in our tired state.
We fell back asleep until 8am or so and then went to the main lodge for breakfast. The food was great again, although the tea was disappointing, maybe cause our last trip was to Sri Lanka. Heather said the coffee was good though.
We didn't do much until lunch, adjusting to the heat and the time. Then more eating. It was a seafood stew, with lobster, calamari, shrimp, fish. Way too much food but very tasty. I added a little homemade piri piri sauce, which was too hot for me.
After lunch we tried snorkeling up the lagoon but the tide wasn't high enough and so we gave up. The snorkeling gear was brand new, the best I've ever used.
I walked down the beach and tried not to step into the crab holes. The holes are ginormous here, about 4" diameter. The crabs come out of their holes with sand, scoot sideways like in the cartoons, dump the sand, and then scoot back in. Very entertaining. There were also the most interesting shells I've ever seen. I'll have to post a pic of our collection.
Dinner was a choice between seafood and something else. We went with seafood, getting our fill while on the coast.
...
Today we had a little excursion to a nearby island. We tried more snorkeling near the island, but the visibility was bad, so didn't try for long. Had a pretty picnic lunch on the island. It's supposedly one of the highlights of a stay at Coral Lodge. The staff do a great job, but it's just not our thing. It was interesting enough though, and the shells on the beach were even cooler.
Came back home in the dhow, relaxed, cleaned up, and we're just having a cocktail before dinner. There's no wind today, and so a million mosquitoes. The hotel gave us bug spray which we used liberally. There's other guests that arrived today so we no longer have the place to ourselves, it's okay though, I tipped the maître d' so we have the best table :)
We fell back asleep until 8am or so and then went to the main lodge for breakfast. The food was great again, although the tea was disappointing, maybe cause our last trip was to Sri Lanka. Heather said the coffee was good though.
We didn't do much until lunch, adjusting to the heat and the time. Then more eating. It was a seafood stew, with lobster, calamari, shrimp, fish. Way too much food but very tasty. I added a little homemade piri piri sauce, which was too hot for me.
After lunch we tried snorkeling up the lagoon but the tide wasn't high enough and so we gave up. The snorkeling gear was brand new, the best I've ever used.
I walked down the beach and tried not to step into the crab holes. The holes are ginormous here, about 4" diameter. The crabs come out of their holes with sand, scoot sideways like in the cartoons, dump the sand, and then scoot back in. Very entertaining. There were also the most interesting shells I've ever seen. I'll have to post a pic of our collection.
Dinner was a choice between seafood and something else. We went with seafood, getting our fill while on the coast.
...
Today we had a little excursion to a nearby island. We tried more snorkeling near the island, but the visibility was bad, so didn't try for long. Had a pretty picnic lunch on the island. It's supposedly one of the highlights of a stay at Coral Lodge. The staff do a great job, but it's just not our thing. It was interesting enough though, and the shells on the beach were even cooler.
Came back home in the dhow, relaxed, cleaned up, and we're just having a cocktail before dinner. There's no wind today, and so a million mosquitoes. The hotel gave us bug spray which we used liberally. There's other guests that arrived today so we no longer have the place to ourselves, it's okay though, I tipped the maître d' so we have the best table :)
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Cabaceira Pequena, Mozambique
We finally reached Coral Lodge in Mozambique, 39 hours after we left Toronto. We were trying to figure out if it's the most distant place (time-wise) of all the places we've visited. Without doing all the math, it's up there.
We flew Toronto- Amsterdam- Johannesburg on KLM. The first leg was on an older plane and it was funny to watch everyone trying to use touch gestures on a non-touch screen. There were auto-massage booths at Schipol (€2 for five minutes) that were great. I would have extended my massage but was trapped by the chair and couldn't reach to tap to pay with my iPhone in time.
We stayed overnight in Johannesburg at Sunrock Guesthouse near the airport. The next morning we were back at OR Tambo Intl to catch our flight to Nampula in northern Mozambique. The check-in and departure was really quick, and we were on our way!
The bureaucracy was very structured on arrival. We had to show our Yellow Fever certificate before even entering the airport. The immigration official very closely checked our facial features to make sure it matched our passport pics.
The Coral Lodge driver was waiting at arrivals for us. We tried to get meticals from the ATM but the machine wanted a 6-digit PIN so it didn't work. Oh well. We had USD and rand so we were okay for cash.
It's a tight schedule to get to Coral Lodge from Nampula in the same day as the plane arrives with just enough time to drive to Mozambique Island (2.5 hours) and then cross back to the mainland by dhow (30 minutes) before it gets dark.
The road from Nampula to Mozambique Island is the best paved road in the country. There was a little notebook in the car with the background of each town we drove through. Saw lots for sale along the roadside - grass bundles for thatched roofs, sacks of charcoal, cashew fruit.
The bridge to Mozambique Island is a single-lane road. Every 500m or so there's a place to pullover and allow opposing traffic to pass. The full Mozambique Island is a UNESCO heritage site and it looked really cool as we drove through. We have a couple days here later on to explore.
We reached the north end of the island where we transferred to a dhow. There's no pier or anything, we just rolled up our pants and waded through knee-deep water to board. The water was calm and the sun was just setting as we navigated the sand bars at low tide.
We reached Coral Lodge a few minutes after sunset. We waded into shore while the staff picked up our bags and carried them to our room. We're the only guests right now (there's 10 villas, so it's not busy even when full). We have the entire beach to ourselves which fades into the distance on both sides.
We cleaned up and went to the main lodge for dinner. It was a three-course meal, all very excellent. First was calamari, freshly caught that day. Then a half-lobster each, which was so big we didn't even finish it. Dessert was panacotta, wrapped in a thin shell of fresh mango. Mmm good. A very enjoyable start to our vacation!
We flew Toronto- Amsterdam- Johannesburg on KLM. The first leg was on an older plane and it was funny to watch everyone trying to use touch gestures on a non-touch screen. There were auto-massage booths at Schipol (€2 for five minutes) that were great. I would have extended my massage but was trapped by the chair and couldn't reach to tap to pay with my iPhone in time.
We stayed overnight in Johannesburg at Sunrock Guesthouse near the airport. The next morning we were back at OR Tambo Intl to catch our flight to Nampula in northern Mozambique. The check-in and departure was really quick, and we were on our way!
The bureaucracy was very structured on arrival. We had to show our Yellow Fever certificate before even entering the airport. The immigration official very closely checked our facial features to make sure it matched our passport pics.
The Coral Lodge driver was waiting at arrivals for us. We tried to get meticals from the ATM but the machine wanted a 6-digit PIN so it didn't work. Oh well. We had USD and rand so we were okay for cash.
It's a tight schedule to get to Coral Lodge from Nampula in the same day as the plane arrives with just enough time to drive to Mozambique Island (2.5 hours) and then cross back to the mainland by dhow (30 minutes) before it gets dark.
The road from Nampula to Mozambique Island is the best paved road in the country. There was a little notebook in the car with the background of each town we drove through. Saw lots for sale along the roadside - grass bundles for thatched roofs, sacks of charcoal, cashew fruit.
The bridge to Mozambique Island is a single-lane road. Every 500m or so there's a place to pullover and allow opposing traffic to pass. The full Mozambique Island is a UNESCO heritage site and it looked really cool as we drove through. We have a couple days here later on to explore.
We reached the north end of the island where we transferred to a dhow. There's no pier or anything, we just rolled up our pants and waded through knee-deep water to board. The water was calm and the sun was just setting as we navigated the sand bars at low tide.
We reached Coral Lodge a few minutes after sunset. We waded into shore while the staff picked up our bags and carried them to our room. We're the only guests right now (there's 10 villas, so it's not busy even when full). We have the entire beach to ourselves which fades into the distance on both sides.
We cleaned up and went to the main lodge for dinner. It was a three-course meal, all very excellent. First was calamari, freshly caught that day. Then a half-lobster each, which was so big we didn't even finish it. Dessert was panacotta, wrapped in a thin shell of fresh mango. Mmm good. A very enjoyable start to our vacation!
Saturday, November 12, 2016
Toronto, Canada
We're off to southeastern Africa for six weeks to see Mozambique, Victoria Falls, safaris, and trekking in Lesotho. We didn't think we'd be back on safari so soon (we were in Uganda three years ago), but on our last couple trips we've met a few people who have really liked Mozambique, and so the trip was planned around that.
The Mozambique visa was one of the more laborious visas that I've applied for. There's no consulate in Canada, so we had to FedEx our passports with return envelope (I would have said couriered, but the instructions specified FedEx) to the Mozambique embassy in Washington, with proof of flights, hotels, 2 photos, and a money order payable to the embassy. I wasn't sure how to declare the contents on the FedEx site (to send across the border) as there's a dropdown with dozens of options including a birth certificate, but no passport. I think I selected personal items. The embassy processed our request rather quickly, and within three days we had our passports back with a nice looking full-page visa sticker.
In South Africa we're renting a car for almost three weeks. Car rentals are pretty cheap there, about $20 / day. Almost half of that is for the GPS! It's left drive in South Africa, and I've rented a standard, so it will be a little different. I have driven stick in England for a couple days, and didn't run into anything, so we should be okay.
Our friend Marissa and her friend Nancy are joining us for a couple weeks for the safaris in South Africa and Swaziland. You may remember Marissa from some of our previous trips. In Swaziland we're hoping to see rhinos at Mkhaya Game Reserve. The accommodations are a little freaky -- the walls on the cottages are only about waist-high, with the rest open to the outside!
Victoria Falls is the last of the big four waterfalls that have been on my list forever (the others being Niagara, Angel Falls, and Iguazu). There's others that have added to list over time, such as Kaiteur Falls and Gullfoss, but it started with those four because they were marked on the world map I had at the time. Victoria Falls is at low-flow while we're there which means we can swim in Devil's Pool, overlooking the falls. We're staying in both the Zimbabwe and Zambia sides of the falls (or Zim and Zam, as the guide books call it), so we'll get to a total of six countries this trip.
The Mozambique visa was one of the more laborious visas that I've applied for. There's no consulate in Canada, so we had to FedEx our passports with return envelope (I would have said couriered, but the instructions specified FedEx) to the Mozambique embassy in Washington, with proof of flights, hotels, 2 photos, and a money order payable to the embassy. I wasn't sure how to declare the contents on the FedEx site (to send across the border) as there's a dropdown with dozens of options including a birth certificate, but no passport. I think I selected personal items. The embassy processed our request rather quickly, and within three days we had our passports back with a nice looking full-page visa sticker.
In South Africa we're renting a car for almost three weeks. Car rentals are pretty cheap there, about $20 / day. Almost half of that is for the GPS! It's left drive in South Africa, and I've rented a standard, so it will be a little different. I have driven stick in England for a couple days, and didn't run into anything, so we should be okay.
Our friend Marissa and her friend Nancy are joining us for a couple weeks for the safaris in South Africa and Swaziland. You may remember Marissa from some of our previous trips. In Swaziland we're hoping to see rhinos at Mkhaya Game Reserve. The accommodations are a little freaky -- the walls on the cottages are only about waist-high, with the rest open to the outside!
Victoria Falls is the last of the big four waterfalls that have been on my list forever (the others being Niagara, Angel Falls, and Iguazu). There's others that have added to list over time, such as Kaiteur Falls and Gullfoss, but it started with those four because they were marked on the world map I had at the time. Victoria Falls is at low-flow while we're there which means we can swim in Devil's Pool, overlooking the falls. We're staying in both the Zimbabwe and Zambia sides of the falls (or Zim and Zam, as the guide books call it), so we'll get to a total of six countries this trip.
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