Dhow ride to Bazaruto Island – best snorkeling we’ve ever had (smile smile).
Africa
Watch this little guy – he’s upside-down…
We decided to stay in Pomene for a week – an unusually long stay for Ralph and I, who normally crave to be on the move. It was the place we’d been looking for – campsite right on the beach with basic facilities i.e. drinkable water on tap and a fire pit.
There were even lights in the campsite, although we stayed away from the electrical outlets as the recent flooding had played havoc with the wiring. We still managed to get some work done, using Mpandangare’s cigarette lighter charger to power our laptops.
Again, we were the only people there, and so we were spoilt with the undiverted attention of the wonderful managers Neville and Wendy.
Neville’s encyclopedic knowledge of nature made the place come even more alive for us – he took us on a walk through the mangroves and identified most living things in view. He’s even had a fish named after him – the M….Ayliffe – close relative of the delicious flame goatfish! The girls interviewed him to find out more.
We went out in Neville’s rubber duck, into the estuary where we saw a humpback dolphin, then south to the tip of the peninsular, ripping over the swell and shouting with exhilaration.
How amazing is Ralph’s video of us standing in the back of Neville’s bakkie, wind in our faces, powering along the beach to look for shells a few miles up. Odie the English Pointer ran alongside, chasing the huge migrating colonies of Little Terns. It was a joy to see Ralph’s beaming face in Mpandangare driving beside us.
By the time we left we’d perfected the gentle art of drift swimming – jumping into the sea and letting the current nudge us down about 300m north to get out in front of the lodge for a dip in the pool.
Life was filled with simple pleasures – shell collecting, playing ninja on the beach, washing up, drawing and eating mangos.
My lasting memory will be of stepping out of bed, into soft sand. It felt so right.
Neville took us to a very sad place. During the war in Mozambique (mid 1970s to mid 1980s), hundreds of thousands of innocent people died (as the USA and Russia fought their proxy war). Civilians were the main casualties. In the early 1980s, a boat carrying 30 women and children to relative safety on the Pomene sand spit, capsized in a SE storm. Everyone drowned. Local tradition has it those those who die at sea must be buried on the shoreline. So the victims were all buried in the mangroves on the beach. Over time the estuary has changed shape, and waves have eroded the burial beach. We found human bones scattered like seashells across the beach as we landed. Below a palm we found a well-preserved skull. It was extremely sad to hold it and try to imagine past events, but also there was something beautiful about it. We buried the bones on the beach where we found them.
The recent Indian Ocean cyclone spread plastic across Mozambique’s beaches. The plastic normally floats far out to sea, the product of pollution in Asia, India, the Arabian Peninsular as well as East Africa. Within half an hour we’d filled the back of Neville’s Land-cruiser. The beach is now clean, but we fear the next spring high tide will bring more. So much plastic – we found dozens of tooth brushes…
We found this beautiful fellow on the Pomene dune-road. He/she is a Cape Chameleon, changing from bright lime-green on the road to mottled-grey once vegetation was reached. He walks funny no?
Hi everyone!!!
I’m sorry I replied so late. We haven’t had any internet for a couple of weeks.
Today we saw a really cool chameleon on the road. The way it walks is hilarious!!!!!!!
We are learning bits of Portuguese. It’s a lot like Spanish. It’s pretty easy.
When Mila got bitten by the meerkat, we thought the meerkat (Flower) might have rabies. Don’t worry, it didn’t!
Last night we stayed in a beautiful lodge. There was going to be a cyclone so all the staff got sent home. The two managers (Neville and Wendy) had four great dogs that we played with all day.
We have videos of the last week on the blog.
Bye!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Everyone, Mila here. I am having a lot of fun in Africa. I can’t believe it’s only been 3 weeks because it feels like much longer. We’re seeing lots of cool animals. If you look in the videos and field guide you will see some of them. Today we found a chameleon on the road and when it went onto a plant on the side of the road it changed from bright green to dull green. It was amazing. We will add photos and a film of it soon.
From,
Mila 🙂
Mozambique has been a really interesting ride so far. A place of extreme beauty but also sadness. Exposure to poverty, limited choice of food, super friendly people who’s lives were ravaged by war imposed by outside forces (in the late 70’s and ’80s), vulnerability to the environment (floods, drought, cyclones) – an eye-opener for us all, especially Bea & Mila.
Highlight of trip so far has been a 20km beach run at Pomene. We drove south in strong wind and amazing waves with Bea and Mila whooping it up on the back of Neville’s bakkie – 4 dogs included. Mpandangare is loving the soft sand as much as the water – long may it continue.
Music by Dawes (thanks Brian)…