Moz Madness!!

Here we go, yet another White expedition into the unknown – how we love these!!

All packed with everything but the kitchen sink, 2 cars, one trailer and 10 people later – Vilanculos here we come… Eventually leaving at 9:30 pm and as always whipping out the road trip snacks 30 minutes from home. Little did we realize the unavailability of replenishing snacks once the border is crossed...

We arrived at the border early in the morning and started out our day and our Mozambique stay with being cheated out of our metikas by the locals at the boarder, I have to say they know what they doing. We at least managed to save our pennies and into the unknown we continue. The lush vegetation and quaint little villages passed us by as our tummies growled more and more for something other than Woollies muffins and toffees. These later became our amusement when handing them out to bewildered yet inquisitive little kids beside the road while someone is taking a pee in the bush. The public toilets are horrendous and the bush is much safer to enter with no risk of passing out while going about your business.

2 Days later we eventually arrived at our exotic location. Sweaty and hungry we were welcomed by local song and dance which soon turned sour with the bad management skills of the South African couple running Casa Chibububo. Amongst the other disasters in our holiday we had to deal with the background noise of them fighting and screaming at the staff and each other. This being while they were not gossiping about the guests to the quests. On top of their bad communication skills there was no power from 11am to 6 pm and then again from 10pm to 9am. The result was that our cyclone Fedora dented fridge was never on for long enough to produce a local cold 2M beer in needy times!!! All this apart we had a great holiday, the local Mozambiquen staff were very entertaining and friendly, they even joined us for local bar hopping one evening.

Then there was the weather, 4 seasons in one day turned into more like 8 seasons in one day!!! In one day we got soaked on the beach 3 times… It rained like it hadn’t rained in 30 years!!! We tried our luck with some Bazarutu island excursions to go snorkeling which turned into 14 people sharing 3 cups of 30$ coffee while crammed under the gazebo of a 800$ per night lodge! That morning we had woken up to a hot sunny day which then turned into cyclone warning rain by the time we arrived with our rubber duck on island nmber one. Eventually by the middle of the day it started clearing up and we all went home as red as Mozambiquen cooked crabs! We had a nice few hours spent on pansy island making Moz a little poorer with these sand dollars after all 14 of us excavated every inch of the 2 football fields sided sand bank where they occur. I say 14 because by now we have made some friends with a couple of pilots and their wives who were currently working in Mozambique and then decided to tag along. Little did they know what they were getting themselves into. You know how the White holidays go down, never a moment without compliant, exaggeration or drama!

With this development of extreme events throughout the holiday we decided to go pub hunting and drown our sorrows. We found a gem of a place which turned out to make and break our holiday, but that’s another story. Boabab backpackers, although 1st skeptical – you will remember our unforgettable experience with Boabab in Zanzibar – turned out to be the place to go, the party and the vibe was completely irresistible!. Some Pretorian guy staying there had a huge funnel and after a few local beers through the monster come rain, sunburn or bad service no one cared anymore and if you did you cant remember. I think we hold the record there for most funneled 2M’s in one night.

To bring my story to a close I would like to leave you with a little bit of valuable advice. Never ever go to Zanzibar twice and then expect to have an enjoyable holiday in Mozambique, I will guarantee your disappointment. After the blue waters, lovely weather and friendly Muslim crime free locals of Zanzibar Mozambique is bound to be a disaster. While it is our neighbor and we knew in some ways what to expect I think we just chose the wrong location and the wrong time to go! I will however consider going back as long as it is to Boabab or somewhere far far away from Vilanculos where the diving isn’t 5 times the price of everywhere else and where the tide isn’t so extreme as to never leave you with soft dry sand to sit on on the beach.

Thank you for an unforgettable experience Mozambique, but the White’s will seriously consider Zanzibar for a 3rd time before you see us again!