Southern Mozambique

Vilankulos cont.

Keeping us in shape required taking on the locals!

Our evenings were spent braaing; fish, prawns or muscles with good tunes and cold beers. Tough life!

Thanks again to the locals they made sure we didn't go hungry!



















Morrungula yet another perfect spot

What a spot! Situated at the end of a huge bay with white beach sand running it s entire length with a great point break out front, it’s not surprising that most people we spoke to said that this was their favourite piece of Mozambiquean coastline. We chose our spot with care, amongst the GP registration holiday makers and all their toys! With the beach meters from our baracca, (4 posted thatched structure with half walls) plenty of shade and lots of grass it was the ultimate! The rustic remote beach was to be our playground for the next few days. We had a couple of paddle surfs at the point break, a game or two of soccer and well the rest was spent running, walking and exploring the area. On one occasion we went searching for fire wood in Mlevi, great timing as we shuddered up to the top of the hill we looked across to an orange red ski that oozed with life. One evening after we went for an evening walk to a remote beach bar which we had discovered the day before. It wasn’t long before the lights had to be turned off. In these parts of the world, electricity is generated micro locally, and at 10 o’clock the generator is stopped. Alias, as the lights dimmed the lovely welcoming bar ladies pulled out their couple of candles and the eveing went on! With the sea breeze flowing through the open planned beach bar it was a time like this that made us smile.








100km detour to buy 2 pine apples…..boy was it worth it


A little drawing game en route to Guinjata Bay was so distracting that we missed our turn off and ended up doing an extra 100km! Trying to adjudicate between Pablo, Leonardo and Irma required my undivided attention, it did however lead us to the most delicious pine apples ever tasted!

“10, 10, 10!” The gathering of young kids kept yelling standing on tip toes to reach up to Mlevis window. 10, the one English word the locals have taken a liking to for the past 100km. Pine apples, tomatoes, onions, garlic, mangos they all cost 10!

Boy I can’t wait to fill up Mlevi!

K2K hits another homer, thanks to Jeff’s Resort!

Searching for a new and exciting beach along this stretch of coast can be quite a difficult task given the current company! Andrew, Chris and Julia have all spent various varsity holidays roaming the Mozambique coastline, being on an adventure of exploration into the unknown we couldn’t settle for anything familiar. Guinjata Bay, just south of Inembane was one little hide away which none had experienced.

The thick sand track winding its way through the coconut forest eventually lead us to the top of a high dune, over looking a never ending beach below! There we met a friendly, helpful and enthusiastic team who know what they are doing when it comes to building beach bungalows! Sorry, did I say bungalows? Thanks Jeff, your little hide away is about to become over run with more out going outdoor adventurers, I only hope that they can fit their booking in given your current availability!

Camping has become routine and the thought of sleeping in a bed, having a hot shower, and drinking from the tap have all become something which we try not to think about! Well that has all but changed and Jeff’s Place, has distorted our way of life and introduced us back into the ways of civilisation! Though our long beards and smelly clothes still give us the edge when it comes to bartering I’m quickly realising that we are heading into familiar territory!

For those of you looking for the perfect spot to explore the jewels of the Mozambiqican coast Jeff’s Place in Guinjata Bay dosen’t get any better! The incredibly positioned bungalows overlooking the warm ocean, world renowned dive sites, superb game fishing (so I have been told!) and endless deserted beach lined with coconut palms should keep you out of trouble!

View from my room!


Snorkelling in the eye of the storm!!!!!

Until now we have not been doing an awful lot of snorkelling despite paddling over some really beautiful looking reefs, mostly due to the fact that we kept on forgetting the snorkelling gear, so when we heard that there were some nice snorkelling spots just off the beach where we were staying in Morrungula we jumped at the opportunity. We found out all we needed to know to prepare us for a pleasant morning of marine viewing and set out bright and early the next day to catch the tide at its lowest.

It was a perfectly calm morning and the sea was glassy, so despite the very minimal cloud cover, conditions could not have been better. We paddled the kayaks not much further than 500m out and paddled down the coast not more than a kilometre or so by which time we could see some dark clouds brewing something serious in the distance but still not threatening us in any way. Andrew and I quickly got our snorkelling gear on and jumped in to the big blue, moments later, after some less than exquisite sitings of a fish or two, we were being surrounded by huge black clouds which literally burst. The wind picked up from nothing to a gale force before we could even get in to our boats but eventually we were all in and heading for land as quickly as possible. Luckily the wind was behind us but paddling was still very tough with chop big enough to surf down, I was struggling a bit paddling in the single which had no rudder system and realised just how well Rich had done paddling that boat for hundreds of kilometres over the last few months. Slowly but surely we made it back to our starting point with only the final obstacle left to tackle… the waves breaking on to the shore. Jigs and Andrew were up first and cruised in effortlessly and after Richard glided in without a problem I was not quite as worried, however I was not quite as graceful in my attempt and my nose came down the wave diving straight in to the water which sent me flying head over heals in my boat and spilling all the snorkelling gear which I had hurriedly thrown in at my feet. I washed up on shore but we could not find the mask and snorkel. All in all it was an exciting experience, maybe not in the way we had hoped but a good adrenalin rush nonetheless.

Mlevi the Roo

Before setting off we were told not to put more than 75kg on the roof of Mlevi! Well that was sort lived and for the past 3000km we have been travelling with closer to 750kg! Thankfully the Mozambique government together with the rest of the East (majority of the contactors have been Chinese) have been hard at work and the roads up north are improving dramatically!

Our shocks have been taking the brunt of it all but have recently decided to give up the ghost resulting in the renaming of Mlevi to Roo! The notorious 15km stretch across to Guinjata Bay was like being back on the water, every bump sent us bouncing down the road like a over sized Roo.

We have since arrived in safely in Maputo were we are currently getting them replaced before we land up like most Roo’s as road kill lying lifeless on the side of the road!