BootsnAll Travel Blogs

An early start had me out on the street being escortd to the bus stop by the ‘security guard from the hostel – a security guard who was about 20yrs older than me, a few inches shorter and hobbled as he walked whilst looking around with his one eye……I kid you not!….at least he had a uniform on. anyhoo we got there and I jumped on the bus to be told that I would have to pay extra because my bag was too big – my bag was actually dwarfed by  most of the gear the locals were carrying but apparently that didnt matter. I got him to drop the price to 50mtn from 100mtn, then told him I would pay when I got off. We then waited for about an hour before the driver tried to start the engine…and failed due to the battery being flat – we had to get out and push except I refused cos I was paying extra for my bag, this appeared to be acceptable :^$. Once started we head off north to the border. fairly uneventful trip apart from the fact that it must have been the bumpiest drive EVER by a bus that remained in one piece – the road existed in places and didnt in others. Arriving at Tete, the ‘conductor’ reminded me that I was gonna have to pay the 50 Mtn…however there was a Mozzy guy sat next to me on the bus who offered me a lift from the bus station to where I would get the Chapas to the border -so, as he drove up in the Land Cruiser that was waiting for him, I jumped in and off we went – HA! I win (for a change) further up the road I jumped out and was escorted across the road to a pile of blue and white metal trash with a few pieces of rubber and glass partly attached: this was the Chapas to the border apparently. Hey ho, I thught and jumped on. As it happens they were nice guys and once they had filled the oil and wrapped some wire around the exhaust we were off: I got prize place with a front seat again and for less than I had been told in Chamoio than it would be…which was nice. We arrived at the border some 3 hours later. After routine stamping of passport, I started to walk through the gate into no-mans land…you know: its usually around 200m wide between countries?…..well not this one: No-mans land is actually 6km wide! with a town inbetween!!! not really sure how that works, but it meant I had to get a taxi through it…which I had to bump start cos the battery was flat

And so I queued for abut an hur to get into Malawi: INSTANTLY things changed – there was a nice tourist officer who told me where to stay in Blantyre (Doogies Lodge) and showed me where to get the minibus (not called Chapas over here) it dukly arrived and I spent the next 2 hours in the front seat again chatting to Peter (a local) and the driver (Richard) the weather turned pretty nasty with a mahoosive thunderstorm for about an hour, but the roads werent bad and we made it OK….just as I was about to get out, I was told to hang on (here we go again I thought: I’m gonna get ripped off for summat) Peter then explained that the driver was gonna drop everyone else off and then take me to the hostel – just to make sure I was OK and didnt get too wet!!!! 5 minutes later and there I was at Doogies! so I paid the driver a nice tip and then kicked over his bag of mangoes (whoopsie)

Doogies is quite a happening place with a VERY busy bar (mainly due to the happy hour promotion ongoing) but quiet dorms – just me and a belgian guy who arrived just after me, in ours. We showered (separately) and then headed to the bar for a quick beer and food. One Carlsberg and a chicken pitta later, and I was in bed for some desperately needed sleep……which I didnt get due to a bad case of the runs! not sure if it was the pitta or the 2 VERY unripe peaches that Peter had given me in the minibus. Anyhoo, it was clear by the morning.

Blantyre

named after Dr. Livingstone’s home town in Scotland (Livingstone ‘found’ Malawi in the 1850’s) its a big place with a small central area. Very african with tailors mending or manufacturing clothes on the streets with Pfaff sewing machines, but a VERY different feel to Mozambique: everyone seems very relaxed and friendly. I bought my first umbrella today too: cos it was stottin down for most of the morning

not much else to report at the mo, except I’m listening to Bing Crosby singing Christmas songs as I write this…and it STILL doesnt feel like Chrimbo to me

Tomorrow, I head for Cape Maclear and Gecko Lounge hostel on the shores of Lake Malawi – I’m staying there till after Christmas then maybe heading on to Likoma island…thoguh I’m told that Gecko Lounge is THE place to be for New Year’s eve…so we’ll see

well after deciding to leave Tofo, I got up early (like 4:30) to get a lift from the shuttle bus…however I hadnt been given a recipt to show I’d paid my hostel bill, so the security guard wouldnt let me out!…after waking the bar-girl who couldnt remember that it was HER I’d paid (!) we eventually sorted it out. Of course now I had to get a Chapas to Inhambane, so an hour and 30mets MORE than was agreed later :^( I arrived at Inhambane where I decided -as I was still quite early for the next bus- to get a Dhow across the estuary to Maxxis (the northern route bus station) I passed captain John (EH!) my bag then waded after him into the dhow – obviously getting my shorts wet in the process…….only THEN did aforesaid captain go back to shore to get more people and CARRY them over so they DIDNT get wet!!!!! Then we ran out of wind half way across and they had to row/punt the boat across!…1.5 hrs later we arrived JUST after the bus had left!

So another chapas it was, which was fairly uneventful (I paid extra to sit in the front away from the crammed locals) arrival at Vilanculos was marked by more boys wanting to take me to the hostel (to be fair I would have strugged to find it without them) The Baobab Beach hostel is canny …a round grass roofed dorm for 8 people (one of which was a gin loving old woman (I almost printed ‘lush’ instead of woman) from Kenya and a guy called……err…we’ll call him Oswald for reasons to be found later.

My first day was spent on a RIB for a snorkelling trip to Bazaruto island and 2 Mile Reef: we landed to the voice of the dive master (there were divers on board too) telling us that it was safe to leave our bags around on the beach as there was no theft………yep, within 5 minutes a family from Malawi had their bag pinched including car keys and camera etc. (they got everything except cash BACK the next day…strangely)

anyhoo, the snorkelling on a rocky wall jutting out of the island was incredible…loads of fish you’d be happy to see on a ‘Blue Planet’ episode, however the best was yet to come: 2 Mile Reef is a coral reef with what looked like EVERY kind of fish on it!…shallow (3-4m) waters and fab visibility made this the snorkel of a lifetime if you go to Mozambique you HAVE to do it! one couple saw a turtle and shark, while another couple saw Manta Ray too! (oh, we went with Odyssea based at the hostel)

next day and I wasnt feeling well – thought it was gonna be Malaria, but it petered out, so I have no idea, anyhoo, I went out with …Oswald….to a local bar which was a bit risky apparently: anyhoo we had a great night playing pool with the locals and beating them all except Albert (well done fella) on the WORST pool table youve EVER seen!: it had 3 A3 sized patches on the felt which weere just tacked on (so the ball followed the edge if you got it right/wrong) and the balls were all dented and the single cue was crap!….then Oswald started to dance with the local…err…..girls…..and got stuck with a real pretty one with no front teeth! anyhoo, we did a deal with a ocal to take us to the islandss cheaply and returned to the hostel….complete with …….girl. Oswald was pretty worried at this stage and gave me his wallet as he stayed outside with her to send her packing….he got into the hostel about 15 minutes later…..

I took a dhow with Rodriguez’ outfit (Amor Do Mar) over to another island the next day which was a real nice trip beautiful bay with incredible sand beaches and great snorkelling (not as good as 2 mile reef tho) and with lunch of Kingfish, rice, sauce, bread and soft drinks with the ubiquitous Mango for dessert, included for 1000MTS (about 22 quid, including National Park entry)

I left there today at 4am heading up to Malawi on bus via Chimioi, wher I’ll have to overnight at a pretty average hostel here in town till 4am when I get the next bus to Tete and then a Chapas to the border

just a quick note afore I get to write up properly: drove 10 hours from Cape town to Kimberley (and early crashed due to falling asleep at the wheel!) then flew from Kim to Joburg, then Joburg to Maputo. AND I ... [Continue reading this entry]

well, Gilly stayed for 2 weeks - we had a ball!

shame was the weather was pretty dodgy (the garden route had 12 inches of rain in 3 days......meaning floods and lots of damage: we stayed at Plettenberg Bay at a ... [Continue reading this entry]