Mozambique

You can thank me later, but right now, stop whatever you’re doing and start researching your next holiday to Mozambique. Safaris, endless unspoilt golden beaches, incredible fresh seafood, dark blue and turquoise seas, diving, game fishing, snorkelling – not to mention those beautiful purple African skies and the orange-red sunsets that look like someone painted them to match your Negroni sundowner.

There’s about 2500 kms of Indian Ocean coastline, but this was my small slice of paradise for a few days …

… 90 minutes by speedboat from Maputo and a million miles from anything more taxing than deciding which gin to have with my tonic 🍸

In fact, I treated myself to a gin and bitter lemon on one occasion; they’d furnished my villa with ice and a lemon, so it seemed rude not to 😏

And anyway, I deserved it because it had been a frankly exhausting first day, with a spot of snorkelling, a dhow cruise watching the flamingos, and rather a lot of time bimbling barefoot along the sandy strand.

I fully appreciate that this photo looks likes I’ve painted pink blobs on the ocean, but it was a late and lazy attempt to record the afternoon!

And then the next day, after watching the sun rise…

… taking in the morning view over breakfast …

… and having a relaxing massage to sound of the Indian Ocean lapping the shore, it was time to see what life is like for Mozambicans, so I went to Santa Maria, a local village about an hour’s walk from the lodge.

Here is where they make the dhows. I asked how long it takes to make one. “About one month,” said my guide. “Or sometimes six.” I could get used to this pace of life 😉

These are monkey fruits, so called because the monkeys pick up two and bash them together, eating the one that breaks open and throwing the other away. Anyway, I’m not as smart as a monkey, so I had the lovely waiter back at the lodge cut it open for me to try…

It’s kind of sweet and sour, and you wouldn’t eat a whole one. More about that vile red concoction in the photograph later….

But for now back to the walk to Santa Maria along the main road into the village….

Past the well…

The local maternity hospital…

And the vegetable and meat stores…

Here is the nearest petrol station for 50 kms…

They’re hoping it’ll be finished next year.

This is the seed and fruit of the cashew. Mozambique is one of the top producers of cashews in the world, and with a dusting of peri peri spice 🌶, they are also one of the top beer snacks in the world.

Here’s a close of up of the fruit. The guide told me that the locals soak this in water and it makes a kind of beer. Then they take the beer, put it in a pot with a big fire underneath and collect the condensation along a metal pipe to make a gin. “Ooh,” I said, my eyes lighting up, “where can I try some of that?”. He shook his head, and walked away laughing, “no no no, not for you!” Spoilsport. But then again, I suppose he was the one responsible for getting me home again 😜

And then into the village of Santa Maria itself…

Past the village bread oven…

And on to the Saturday market…

Below is typical of a local general store.

Anywhere that sells gin and chocolate is all right by me.

I took the boat back to the lodge with plenty of thinking time on the way.

Mozambique got it’s independence from the Portuguese in 1975 after 10 years of sporadic warfare. A Marxist one party state took over and within a couple of years the country was plunged into a long and nasty civil war with central government sanctioned executions, over 1.5 million refugees fleeing to neighbouring countries, re-education camps, chaos and terror.

Elections were held in 1994 and a year later Mozambique joined the Commonwealth – the only member nation that had never been part of the British Empire. Portuguese is the official language, but everyone seems to speak English perfectly, and if the country is still on a political knife-edge, you’d never know it from friendliness and hospitality that every Mozambican I met extended to me.

And so, once again grateful for the chance to put life into perspective, here I am back at the lodge. This is the local Mozambique cocktail, half Tipo Tinto rum and half Sparleta Sparberry – otherwise known as Rum & Raspberry or R&R. It’s not really very nice at all. Although the second one is better. And the third is actually pretty good! Do not under any circumstances drink four. One, two, three, floor.

Dear god, if the next morning wasn’t a struggle! But I sucked it up, put my feet up and watched the sun rise again, with a couple of rods off the boat, waiting for a bite. Life doesn’t often get better than this ☺️ Three marlins 🎣 got the better of me that morning – they unhook themselves and then spend two or three minutes jumping out of the water at the side of the boat mocking you. But the mackerel weren’t so smart and ended up on the lunch table 🤤.

The food was generally so excellent that I didn’t once stop to take a photo of my meal, but here is the famous Peri Peri sauce, which absolutely knocks your socks off. Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Nando’s anymore!

The capital city of Maputo is worth a visit, and has a history dating back about 500 years. The Portuguese built a fort here, a restructured version of which now serves as the Military History Museum.

It also houses the remains of Ngungunyane, the last tribal king of Mozambique. I can’t tell you any more than that, because all the information was in Portuguese, but this wall art pretty much tells the whole story.

Maputo railway station is absolutely stunning – in fact, according to Time magazine, it’s the third most beautiful station in the world (after Gard du Nord and St Pancreas, if you’re interested).

It really is a fabulous piece of architecture and as well as being a working station, it’s a museum with exhibitions and photo galleries along its platforms.

Below is a photo from the gallery of what the station is still like during rush hour, which would be amazing to experience!

But one of the best things about the fact that I always end up in places on the wrong day or at the wrong time is that sometimes you get to experience it like this instead:

i.e. gloriously devoid of other people and seen in all its magnificence 😌

But the quid pro quo is there’s always something that I don’t get to see, and this holiday was no exception… Central Market – closed!

The Natural History Museum was open though and it’s housed in a beautiful building.

Everyone says this is the ‘must-see’ museum; I didn’t think it was all that good, but don’t take my word for it, you can judge for yourself…

The Botanicals Gardens are small, but quite pretty, and full of people taking wedding photos. There are also lots of bats, which I wasn’t expecting. Zoom in – there are dozen of them hanging in the trees.

Here’s a house that Gustave Eiffel built. Can not imagine how hot that must be inside in the summer!

But really, so much more of Maputo looks like this:

It has a bit of a war-torn and run down feeling about it, and so different to the beach and nature reserves from the beginning of the holiday; dark and slightly forbidding compared to bright, colourful and breezy, but it’s an interesting contrast and well worth seeing.

There’s a jazz bar at the railway station, and I’m guessing there are some great places for music and dancing in Maputo, but the guesthouse staff warned me about being a single female on my own, so I didn’t go out at night. Maybe next time.

And there will be a next time; Mozambique is firmly on my list of countries that require another visit 💕 🇲🇿