Week 4
The week started as I finished the last one, with me continuing to travel gently up the beach front resorts of Mozambique coast. It was a very enjoyable, and cheap form of travel, camping for less than $10 night, food bill of not much more, and beer only a dollar fifty a bottle. Here's a few random shots of places on the coast - all very scenic and tourist friendly.
At one of the resorts I took a "sea safari" which is a fancy name for a short boat trip followed by some snorkeling. The lure of this trip though was the potential to swim with whale sharks. These, for those who have forgotten their marine biology are gentle 6 to 10 metre plankton eating animals. Of course no trip guarantees you will see them, but we hit pay dirt and ended up being able to swim with 9 of them. And best of all most were playful juveniles who gave us an amazing experience as they swam around us in the water, often passing within a metre of you. (The photo below was taken by someone else on a different trip but gives you an idea of how beautiful they are).
After awhile though I had to turn inland and take the highway across to Zimbabwe. This gave me a couple of long, and very hot, days riding to fully appreciate the niceties of the local road surfaces (occasionally smooth with the random deep pothole to keep you awake, more regularly deep potholes occasionally connected by a short smooth patch) and driving styles. Amongst the other vehicles you soon learn to keep a very wary eye out for the local "combi's" which are minibuses used for local inter- town transport. Combi's only leave a town when they are full with people and their roof rack, and often a trailer, are full with luggage - they then hurtle up the highway with a mission to overtake everything in front before suddenly jamming on the brakes as they need to let someone off or more often because they've spotted another potential passenger at the road side that they're convinced they can squeeze in. The net result is you are continually playing leap frog with them and you soon start to recognise the individual vehicles, usually by their luggage load - oh god here comes that three piece suite again he always cuts to close as he comes by, or oh it's only the fridge he always leaves plenty of room.
Once back in Zimbabwe you find the road surfaces improve considerably, which is a bit of a surprise, and the driving doesn't, which isn't. I'm currently in the capital Harare after having spent a couple of days in the very picturesque hills of the eastern highlands and another day at Great Zimbabwe (where I spent time with Megan when we were in the 4x4 and impressed me enough to justify a second visit). Below are a few photos of sights and people on the way.
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| Look carefully - they seemed remarkably unperturbed |
The week started as I finished the last one, with me continuing to travel gently up the beach front resorts of Mozambique coast. It was a very enjoyable, and cheap form of travel, camping for less than $10 night, food bill of not much more, and beer only a dollar fifty a bottle. Here's a few random shots of places on the coast - all very scenic and tourist friendly.
At one of the resorts I took a "sea safari" which is a fancy name for a short boat trip followed by some snorkeling. The lure of this trip though was the potential to swim with whale sharks. These, for those who have forgotten their marine biology are gentle 6 to 10 metre plankton eating animals. Of course no trip guarantees you will see them, but we hit pay dirt and ended up being able to swim with 9 of them. And best of all most were playful juveniles who gave us an amazing experience as they swam around us in the water, often passing within a metre of you. (The photo below was taken by someone else on a different trip but gives you an idea of how beautiful they are).
After awhile though I had to turn inland and take the highway across to Zimbabwe. This gave me a couple of long, and very hot, days riding to fully appreciate the niceties of the local road surfaces (occasionally smooth with the random deep pothole to keep you awake, more regularly deep potholes occasionally connected by a short smooth patch) and driving styles. Amongst the other vehicles you soon learn to keep a very wary eye out for the local "combi's" which are minibuses used for local inter- town transport. Combi's only leave a town when they are full with people and their roof rack, and often a trailer, are full with luggage - they then hurtle up the highway with a mission to overtake everything in front before suddenly jamming on the brakes as they need to let someone off or more often because they've spotted another potential passenger at the road side that they're convinced they can squeeze in. The net result is you are continually playing leap frog with them and you soon start to recognise the individual vehicles, usually by their luggage load - oh god here comes that three piece suite again he always cuts to close as he comes by, or oh it's only the fridge he always leaves plenty of room.
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| A dreaded combi - this one lightly loaded |
Once back in Zimbabwe you find the road surfaces improve considerably, which is a bit of a surprise, and the driving doesn't, which isn't. I'm currently in the capital Harare after having spent a couple of days in the very picturesque hills of the eastern highlands and another day at Great Zimbabwe (where I spent time with Megan when we were in the 4x4 and impressed me enough to justify a second visit). Below are a few photos of sights and people on the way.
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| School kids are everywhere - Zimbabwe, irrespective of other issues has highest literacy rate in Africa |
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