Inhambane - Tofo, a corner of paradise in Moçambique

Rein checking in –

“I am sitting in the SA Airways Club Lounge at Maputo Int’l Airport as I write this belated blog post. We’re on our way out of Moçambique to Johannesburg and for the second time on our sabbatical journey we have been upgraded to Business Class. We must have been collecting a lot of good karma this year to be pampered like this each time we travel J!

A lot has happened since the last time we wrote on our blog.

After spending our first couple of days in our new home in Maxixe, we ventured out across the bay to discover the beautiful town of Inhambane. Getting there is an African adventure in itself. We decided to not wait for the big ferry, which runs every hour, but instead to hitch a ride on one of the private little boats that run across the bay and back as soon as they fill up. As we walked to the end of the peer we saw the boat waiting there was filled to the brim with passengers and life stock, so we thought we’d have to wait for the following boat to arrive and fill up. But no, to the captain the boat wasn’t full at all and we were piled on top of the other travellers to set off across the bay to Inhambane.

The cathedral

Inhambane is a beautiful little town, provincial capital in fact and appears to be frozen in time in the 50’ies. It is only a 20 min ferry ride from Maxixe, but a world apart. Where Maxixe is the region’s business hub on National Highway 1, Inhambane is a laid back, charming place, filled with historical buildings in various stages of disrepair. We visited the markets, had lunch in a beautiful art deco restaurant and just wandered around town before heading back home across the bay at the end of the day, where reality hit us again.

The town markets

Communist souvenirs: Karl Marx street

Inhambane's colourful architecture

Restaurant Verdelho in a stunning Art Deco building

We really weren’t feeling at ease with our bare apartment above the office in Maxixe. Of course for local standards, the apartment was outright luxurious with three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a view across the bay. But without hot water and only the barest of furniture we couldn’t see how to turn it into a cosy home for ourselves. We had just arrived a few days before, but felt deserted and left to our own devices in an alien place, where we didn’t speak the language and people couldn’t really understand us. On top of that, our colleagues at the TNS office, were off for the whole week after the weekend so we would be on our own without really knowing what we were supposed to be doing on our project here.

We resolved to have a discussion with them before they would leave for the week. So the next morning, at 8 am we set down to have a heart-to-heart about the situation and our frustration with not having any clarity on our project. The outcome of this meeting was that Simon and I were to go and explore the region as if we were tourists. To try out the beach resorts, the villages and to basically be tourist in this holiday paradise for a week to get to know the “product” we were supposed to develop a marketing strategy for. Obviously, we jumped at the opportunity to go on a holiday, trading in our depressing apartment in Maxixe for a beach hut in Tofo!

After this discussion our colleagues set off for their trip up north for the week and Simon and I went to the local coffee shop to plan our week. As we were sitting at the cafe, starved for some (western) people to chat with in English, Simon struck up a conversation with a couple of tourists sitting at the other table.

Our lovely new friends: Adam & Aurella, just married!

And so we met Aurella and Adam, honeymooners from London. They had spent a week on a beautiful five star resort further up on the north on the coast and were now planning to "rough" it backpacking down the coast of Moçambique. They had just been dropped off at Maxixe to get the ferry across to Inhambane and onwards to Tofo.

We told them that they must stop at Inhambane town and gave them tips on where to get the best coffee, lunch and well, why not stay the night in this lovely B&B we spotted there. In fact Simon and I had been walking around Inhambane town the day before to see if we could find somewhere for us to stay as an alternative to our bland apartment in Maxixe. We said goodbye with the vague intention to maybe catch up again some time at Tofo when we’d get there later in the week. We walked home after that and Simon prepared our first meal in the flat; no mean feat if you have a kitchen with a stove and a fridge, a pot, two knives and no bench or table top to prepare things on. Of course Simon’s wasn’t deterred by any of this and rustled up a delicious salad and bread meal.

The following day we asked the office driver to take us around the Inhambane peninsula to check out the famous beaches that everybody had been talking about. We drove around the bay, through Inhambane town and onwards to the tip of the peninsula through some stunning scenery to arrive at a wonderful little beach side village centred around a small local fruit and vegetable market. We had arrived at Tofo and instantly loved it.

We stopped there for lunch on the town square with a view of a stunning white beach and an azure blue ocean. This was bliss, as we dug into our local fish curries. After lunch we wondered around town and walked onto the beach and found a pretty little white cottage at the far end of the town beach, overlooking the bay. This was Casa Azul, and turned out to be the loveliest little B&B you could imagine. A white little beach cottage with four tiny rooms, each individually styled and decorated in a bright melange of sunny colours, a beautiful, shady terrace in front, decked out with cosy sitting areas, for the guests to enjoy sunset drinks. The place was so warm and light, we instantly felt at home. We spoke with the housekeeper and booked a room for us to spent a few nights on the beach, the following day.

The cliffs of Tofinho, just around the corner of Tofo are a great place for whale spotting

Much lighter of heart than we had been feeling since days, we returned homewards to Maxixe with the knowledge of having a sunny stay at Casa Azul ahead of us. As we drove through Inhambane on the way home we spotted Aurella and Adam walking on the streets and indicated the driver to stop. We hopped out to say hello, feeling good about running into fresh acquaintances in our new hometown, and smiled as they told us they had followed our advice, booked into our recommended B&B in town and had spent the day checking out all the sites we had recommended. They said they’d make their way over to Tofo the following day so we told them about our recent “trouvaille”, the Casa Azul.  They said they’d check it out and we all agreed in any case to meet up for drinks the following evening at a Tofo bar, mentioned in the guide book.

That evening we came home with a renewed sense of excitement with the recent turn of events and the prospect of a mini holiday at the beach and a nice evening with our new friends.

The following morning we made our way to Tofo where, upon arrival at the Casa we were told by Laura, the owner that “our friends” had already checked in. We deduced from this that Aurella and Adam had found the place, liked it and taken a room. And sure enough, a little while later they strolled up from the beach and we all settled in for drinks on the terrace.

Tofo Beach

Our B&B, Casa Azul

The view from Casa Azul

The terrace with Laura, the B&B owner

The next three days were just pure bliss and relaxation. I would wake up early morning as the sun shine streamed in through the window, jump out of bed and onto the beach for a refreshing dive into the ocean. After my swim, breakfast of fresh fruit salad, Italian coffee and omelettes was served on the terrace. By mid-morning we’d be lounging out on the hammocks to read a book, or go for a stroll along the quiet beach, followed by lunch of fresh seafood. Then back to the hammock for some more reading and by sunset, drinks on the terrace and dinner somewhere in town with the four of us.

Our beduin tent like room 

Preparation for the reef dive in the afternoon,
skills practice in the pool

One day we dedicated fully to Simon’s maiden dive (plus a refresher course for me). Practice in the pool in the morning and then out with the boat to the reefs in the afternoon. We were under for over an hour, which is pretty impressive for anyone, but even more so for a first-time diver like Simon. He loved it and I was delighted to be back down. We saw an incredible variety of fish, including clown fish, moraines, trumpet fish, etc. and we could hear the calls of the whales swimming by in the distance. I think it got Simon hooked so now we’ll need to get him to complete his open water accreditation so that we will be able to make deeper dives together in future as well.

In short, we had an incredible time in Tofo and before we knew it, it was time to move on to our next destination on our tourist reconnaissance trip. This was a resort just around the northern tip of the peninsula, known for its deserted beaches and quiet solitude. To be honest, we were so happy staying at the Casa in Tofo that we really had no desire to move on at all. But “duty” called and so we organised a shuttle service to Barra Lodge on the Friday.

The charming visitors at Barra...

It felt like a completely different world there. The lodge was a huge complex of cabins, restaurants, beach club, swimming pool and a big new development of apartments blocking the ocean view of all the rest. We checked into our cabana and decided to check out the beach club for lunch. The beach itself was beautiful, wide and continuing south as far as the eye could reach. But the club was run over by Afrikaners lunching on whole chickens and buckets of fries, washing it all down with litres of beer. The atmosphere was a far cry from the quirkiness and local fun of Tofo.

After lunch we went for a long walk along the beach and were shocked to see all the development going on along the shore. We could only imagine the hordes of tourists from South Africa that would flock the beach during the holiday season and we felt sad to have left our little piece of heaven behind in Tofo.

We stayed the night at Barra because we really had nowhere else to go, but the next morning after breakfast asked for a shuttle straight back to Tofo in the hope we could spend one more night at the Casa, before having to go back to Maxixe.

(to be continued)

Our first week in Moçambique

Rein checking in –

“It’s been exactly a week since we arrived in our new home country, Moçambique. During that time we have been through a lot.

To be honest, it isn’t easy to arrive in a completely new destination, to make it your home, for the third time in one year. We are getting a bit jaded with the discovery of new destinations, the challenge of creating a home base out of whatever you can bring in two big back packs and the struggle that comes with finding your way around unchartered territory.

And just when we felt that we were getting there in Maputo, we had to repack our bags again yesterday morning to head out to, what we hope is our final destination: Maxixe in Inhambane province; where we arrived last night after a long, long drive up north.

But let me start at the beginning.

Maputo City Hall

Simon already wrote about our first impressions of Maputo. Truth be told, we were a bit shell shocked by all the advance warning we had received about how dangerous Maputo could be. We were acting like two scared rabbits that have been frightened to death and barely dare to leave their cage. Once we did manage to venture out and do a bit of exploring we soon learned the city isn’t all as bad as the misfortune predictors had it made out to be. While remaining vigilant we started to enjoy the city for what it is; a multi-faceted capital of a country with a dramatic history undergoing rapid change. 

The Municipal Markets

The fish section

The city is scattered with buildings in various states of glory, or despair, from several by-gone areas: The imposing colonial buildings from the Portuguese oppression era, the colourful Art-Deco buildings from a period of hope and optimism, the depressive monstrosities of the communist episode and finally the glitz and glamour from the recent economic boom. And then of course there are the Moçambicans; ever smiling, always in a good mood and in for a good time.

Remnant from soviet times

A striking Art Deco building in the city centre

Costa do Sol restaurant,
a Maputo institution since the 1930'ies

The "Villa Algarve", former HQ of the Portuguese secret police

Thus we had a good first weekend, in which we explored and discovered and met new people.

Drinks with Becca and Sam

Then on Monday came the start of our first real working week in a very long time. The office of TechnoServe is located in Maputo’s central business district in an office building that could really be anywhere in the world. We started the day off very civilised, meeting with some colleagues over a cappuccino on the plaza of the office block, surrounded by people in business attire and it really felt like being back at work in Brussels, Melbourne or New York…

Those first days were filled with meetings with several people within the organisation to get our head around what it is exactly that we are expected to be doing for the next two-and-a-half months. Now we are 5 days ahead, have an equal number of meetings under our belt and things aren’t getting much clearer… It’s becoming very déjà-vu from our Indian volunteering experience.

In the meantime we travelled from Maputo to Maxixe by car, which was an adventure in itself. The ‘ute’-van was packed to the brim with our luggage in the back and 5 travellers in front, with my being lucky to get the front passenger seat, as Simon sacrificed himself for what turned out to be a 7 hour trip, to be squeezed into the middle seat – which, without any leg room, strictly speaking wasn’t even a seat – between the two sisters Madeira, who were hitching the ride with us.

After waiting for an hour to be picked up from our hotel, the moment we set off, the driver and the sisters entered into a heated discussion in Portuguese with a crescendo that we are starting to associate with the passionate locals here. Simon and I just settled in for what we knew was going to be a long and animated drive. Once we left the city the food containers came out and the sisters started preparing sandwiches from the back seat and passing them around to all of us. Soon we were contently munching on delicious home cooked Mozambican food while enjoying the passing scenery.

Street vendors catering to the travelling public everywhere

While the driver was speeding at 140 k/h (!), we passed through lovely country villages, with a striking mix of traditional African huts and Portuguese colonial architecture from the 30’ies through the 50’ies, in faded pastels.  Along the road we saw thousands of uniformed school kids marching back home and at intersections of the road, colourful clusters of women trading local produce, such as cashews and tangerines. The moment the driver would pull the car over for a short brake locals selling food, drinks and trinkets surrounded us.

A colourful mural on-the-road

A roadside bar along the way

A colourful village where we stopped so the Madeira sisters could stock up

The moment it became known they were in the market for goods,
they were surrounded by vendors!

By the fall of evening we arrived in Maxixe at the TechnoServe office, cum guesthouse. The guidebook had warned us that there is not much reason to stop in Maxixe, other than to fuel up on the way further north. After our first day here, we are afraid the guidebook might be right. Maxixe is a provincial town along National Highway One, with one restaurant and two shops… The guesthouse is located two streets back opposite the local school. It is in fact a three-bedroom apartment located above the office. While it is very spacious, with its three bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen and living area, it is also very bare and scarcely decorated and a far cry from our comfy little hotel room in Maputo. It will take a lot of creativity and imagination to turn this place into a “home” for us for the time to come. It is at times like these that I irrationally despair if we will ever be able to rebuild the home we so carelessly gave up last December.

Tomorrow one of our local colleagues will take us across the bay to Inhambane town, the capital of the province. According to the guidebook, this is one of Mozambique’s prettiest coastal towns, so we hope it can serve as a place of respite for us to soak up on some atmosphere and colour as an antidote to the grey drabness that is Maxixe… After all it is only a short ferry ride away and an important part of the reason we are here in the first place: to help promote the region as a tourist destination of choice. Let’s hope that Inhambane provides some good “material” for us to work with…”

- Rein checking out.