Roundtrip roadtrip to Mozambique

I finished work at the end of July and decided to spend most of my time prior to leaving the continent on yet another trip :) this time a bit further away - I went all the way to Maputo, Mozambique and back. As I approached the end of my time in Africa (for now), I thought it would be nice to go back to the place where my Africa experience began...

I took a combi (minibus) from Harare to the border at Mutare, which by the way is a beautiful town, right in the mountains... just awesome. Then I took a combi from the border to Chimoio in Mozambique, then yet another combi to a drop-off point in Inchope. There I was supposed to take a coach bus to Maputo, but I was told that there was no more space... I should have booked in advance. I wouldn't be able to make it to Maputo as planned, so I decided to go to Beira instead. It is the second largest town in Mozambique and was only a few hours away. I would spend the night there before trying to catch some kind of alternative transport to Maputo the next day. I arrived in Beira after dark, not knowing where to stay or who to call. Not many people there speak English either (and my Portuguese is pretty bad) haha... it would be an interesting experience :) then I realized that I could try and work my VSO connections (yeeaaaah) to at least see if there are any volunteers nearby to give me advice on accommodation. I called Seija, one of my VSO friends from Maputo and asked for a contact in Beira. She gave me the name and number of a woman named Hana, who happened to be the only VSO volunteer in Beira. I called her and she immediately offered that I stay with her. It was such a relief :) After having made no plans at all for staying in Beira (and considering they apparently have a problem with cheap accommodation), I was very happy to be able to sleep in a bed and take a warm shower :)

Hana, a VSO volunteer in Beira, Mozambique

The next morning (Sunday) I went to try and get a bus ticket but was told that they didn't have anything available in the next 3 days! That would really cut my time in Maputo very short, so I decided to spend the extra money and fly instead... the next flight I could get on was the following day. Hana was wonderful in showing me around Beira almost the entire day on Sunday. It's a great town, less busy than Maputo, also right on the coast and with more defined beach areas :) It was good to hear the Indian Ocean again and to sit at a restaurant by the beach and munch on some awesome seafood. Hana is placed at a school, teaching English. Prior to Mozambique she had spent some time in Angola and China (through different organizations). She is originally from the Czech Republic, so we had the Eastern European connection in common :) It was a great time. To see my pictures from Beira click here.

When I finally made it to Maputo I was greeted by Percia and some of her friends at the airport. I spent the next couple of days meeting with all of my Maputo friends who were in town! It was so great seeing them all once again. I was even invited to several VSO activities and I got to meet many of the new Mozambique volunteers. A friend of mine from Zimbabwe - Mandla - who works for KPMG is on a long term assignment in Maputo, so I was able to see him for a bit too. One of the days Percia and I went to a great restaurant in Maputo, right on the coast of the Indian Ocean and inside they had a bunch of sports scarfs for different soccer teams from around the world. Imagine my excitement when I saw one with the Bulgarian flag and the words "БЪЛГАРИ ЮНАЦИ!" on it! To see all of my pictures from Maputo click here.

The trip back to Harare was less eventful than the way in haha and I was quite ok with that :)