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!
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