Maputo, Mozambique:
When I left Auckland, Marie from work told me to email her friend Mick, who she used to work with in software sales but now farms chilli peppers in Africa. So I did. He needed assistance setting up an accounting system for his business, and I was looking for volunteer opportunities to help stretch my backpacker’s budget. So I signed up for “somewhere between 2 weeks and 2 months” on the farm in Maputo.
Travel Icon: 0/5. When I say, “Maputo”, you probably say, “Who??”
Fun Factor: 4/5. After being here for 2 months, the best way that I can describe Mozambique in relation to the rest of Africa is that it is like continental Europe to the UK. The people have a culture, a pride, and a sophistication that is apart from it’s English speaking neighbours. Mick’s theory is that it’s because there was an independence war where they Mozambicans threw their colonists out, and then fought a 30 year civil war - this means that the people have the passion and pride to fight, and lack don’t have the English-inspired culture of subservience of their neighbours, where the English rulers “granted” independent rule.
Despite being the world’s third poorest country, this sophistication is manifested everywhere. An early 1900’s train station designed by Gustav Eiffel is restored and used as a café, art gallery and night club where you can chat with local artists, there are French, Chinese, and Portuguese cultural centres, and best of all, there is very little racial/cultural segregation - bars and restaurants are packed with tables of people of all colours, all mixed up, and all bantering and laughing on equal terms(the rest of Africa is not like this at all).
Grit Factor: 6/5. Like Leonardo di Caprio said, “TIA, bru”(This is Africa). In fact, Blood Diamond was filmed in Maputo. A former Portuguese colony, noone speaks English, which just adds to the culture shock. As do the guards with assault rifles outside most buildings, the lack of continuous (or any) paving on roads, the police road blocks where being threatened for a bribe is commonplace, and the fact that you are a foreigner, completely out of your comfort zone, with a target on your back , all because of the colour of your skin. The best way that I could sum it up on a Skype call to Mum was to point the webcam at the inside of my apartment’s front door - there is a jail style steel grill with dead bolt and padlock, then a solid wooden door with two deadlocks and two wooden bars that get placed across it at night. This is all in case someone gets past the two armed guards and metal door 12 floors below.
My favourite part of all of this is that despite there being a reason for all of these precautions, you can walk up to anyone on the street, smile, shake hands, and (if they speak some English), start a friendly conversation with some great banter. These people are a lot of fun.
Ihla de Mozambique, Mozambique:
Mick was too busy to sit down and go over the accounts with me, so he sent me 3000Km north with his cousin who was visiting from Aussie.
Travel Icon: 3/5. Mozambique Island was the first capital of Mozambique, and the initial point of settlement for traders from across Europe, India, Africa, Arabia, and China.
Fun Factor: 3/5. Spending our days wandering the dusty streets of Stone Town, sailing on traditional fishing dhows to nearby islands and beaches, and watching the sunset from the rooftop with beer in hand, this place is the complete picture postcard destination.
Grit Factor: 2/5. People are poor but friendly, and the island is used to tourists.
Mozambican Roads:
It was time to head back South to the farm, and 3000Km is a long way, especially on these “roads”. So I set off with Joe, a fellow traveller from Ireland.
Travel Icon: 3/5. You know those pictures of Toyota Hiace vans with 25+ people packed in, plus large sacks of rice, the feet of live chickens sticking out here and there, and maybe a goat or two on the roof? That’s how we roll.
Fun Factor: 1/5. After 30 hours on buses over 3 days (the final day being 16 hours straight), it doesn’t matter if your bags are soaked through from thunder storms and a leaky roof, if your ears are ringing from being continually blasted by African beats through a cheap yet overpowered stereo system (even if the buses rarely work, the stereos always do), or if you’re muddy from helping to push the bus with the other 40 passengers when it got stuck at a toilet stop - pretty much anything will be counted as “fun”.
Grit Factor: 5/5. Sitting down all day isn’t necessarily easy. Especially when you realise that privileged white people aren’t the only groups of people on the planet which contain outspoken racists and bullies. On our second day of bussing we had 5 hours where the man behind us was shouting and making fun of us in the local dialect. How could we tell? Because every sentence contained the word “Muzungu” (“white person”) and was followed by cackling laughter. Being the only whiteys on the bus, and being at the narrow end of his pointed finger, we were pretty sure that we were the butt of his jokes, and it wasn’t nice. The nice thing was that the next day our faith was restored by a young mother with her infant tied over her back, who we spent 16 hours sitting next to, and shared lychees and bread rolls over smiles most of the way. It’s sad that small minded bigots are everywhere out there, but warming to be reassured that they are by far the minority.
Tofu Beach, Mozambique:
Initially a 3 day stop before heading back to the farm, a very cool bunch oof people and a small visa complication meant that I stayed 10 spectacular days and nights here.
Travel Icon: 3/5 I had never heard of it before, but this place is a diving Mecca and world-famous beach destination.
Fun Factor: 6/5. Open water diving certification achieved in one of the world’s premier diving locations? Tick. Swimming in the sea every day and most nights? Tick. Seeing the sun rise most days? Tick. Sleeping on the beach? Tick. Dancing ‘til sunrise? Tick. Making an amazing group of friends from around the world to share all of this with? Tick. My first night I was talking to Liz from the USA, and she warned me, “this is a great place, but don’t get stuck here!”. I thought that she was kidding.
Grit Factor: 5/5. Getting off the bus at Maxixe, we caught a quick ferry to Inhambane where we found that all the transport to our next destination (Tofu Beach) was finished for the night, and there were no beds under US$50 left in town. So Joe and I took turns at napping on a park bench under a streetlight while the other sat on the curb, pinching himself awake and concealing a large, serrated knife that Joe had bought from a Somali Pirate in Ethiopia (more for deterrent value than something that we would actually use). Yarrrr!
At around 3am a local walked up and told us to come with him - saying that we were not safe there, and that there were bad people around, he convinced the ferry terminal guard to let us sleep on benches behind his gate. Luckily the guard stayed awake (we think), and didn’t decide to rob us himself.
Livingstone, Zambia:
What to do for Christmas and New Years Eve? Head to Africa’s premier destination, Victoria Falls. Coincidentally, Mick has a chilli farm operation in Livingstone (Elephantpepper.com), so we jumped on a cheap plane and flew up here.
Travel Icon: 6/5. Where the Zambezi river drops over 100m, and is 1.7Km across, the falls are one of the 7 natural wonders of the world Enough said.
Fun Factor: 5/5 Rafting on one of the world’s best whitewater high volume rivers, watching the hippos and crocs while cruising the Zambezi at sunset, driving into the bush to check on small scale local farmers’ chilli plots, or just stopping the car to say hello to zebra in the bushes - the locals aren’t kidding when they call this “The Real Africa”.
Grit Factor: 3/5. It’s hot, it’s dusty, but a cool pool and a cold beer are never far away(just make sure that the monkeys don‘t steal your food!).
Photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=578624&id=808690304&l=19dcec0196
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